The Village Where Men Are BannedÂ
Umoja in Kenya started out as a refuge for victims of sexual abuse. It was founded in 1990 by 15 women who were raped by British soldiers and its population has expanded to include any women escaping child marriage, female genital mutilation, domestic violence and rape. Photographer Georgina Goodwin visits the single-sex community.
Rebecca Lolosoli is the founder of Umoja and the village matriarch. Growing up as a member of the Samburu tribe, Lolosoli attended primary school and then nursing school but dropped out early due to a lack of money to pay for school fees. She married at the age of 18 and then started her own business selling goods. As she learned of women who had been raped by British soldiers training nearby, she began to speak up to help them. In retaliation, neighborhood men beat her, and when her husband did not protest the beatings, she left him. Lolosoli, along with several other women who were also survivors of violence, established the Umoja Womenâs Village, which means unity in Swahili. To sustain themselves, they sell beadwork and open up their village as a tourist attraction. With the money they have earned, they built a school for their children and those in surrounding villages and eventually purchased the land they live on. (x)
The Samburu are closely related to the Maasai tribe, speaking a similar language. They usually live in groups of five to ten families and are semi-nomadic pastoralists. Their culture is deeply patriarchal. At village meetings men sit in an inner circle to discuss important village issues, while the women sit on the outside, only occasionally allowed to express an opinion. Umojaâs first members all came from the isolated Samburu villages dotted across the Rift valley. Since then, women and girls who hear of the refuge come and learn how to trade, raise their children and live without fear of male violence and discrimination. There are currently 47 women and 200 children in Umoja. Although the inhabitants live extremely frugally, these enterprising women and girls earn a regular income that provides food, clothing and shelter for all. (x)
All photographs by Georgina Goodwin for the Observer
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