This Tuesday Special Assignment brings you the story of a remarkable Kenyan community on the shores of Lake Victoria. There, in an unprecedented occurrence, the villagers of the Luo ethnic group have used the AIDS epidemic to transform their culture.
According to Kenya’s ministry of health, one out of four people at Orongo village, on the outskirts of Kisumu in the west of the East African country, are HIV-positive. Up to five men die of HIV-related illnesses each week in the district, leaving behind many widows and orphans.
“The men die first,” says Florence Gundo, of the Orongo Widows and Orphans Group. “They die because they’re in denial of AIDS… the women acknowledge the virus and go for tests, which makes them live longer.”
But while all the signs at Orongo point to death, the widows of this village live in hope, unwilling to surrender to the ravages of the disease. Even though horrific statistics cast long shadows over Orongo, its story is not one of despair in the face of suffering and discrimination. It is a tale of endurance, courage and love.
Culture and its proponents prevent Luo women from inheriting and owning their deceased husband’s land and properties. The widows themselves are deemed property and often ‘inherited’. They are forced to marry male relatives, usually brothers-in-law, according to an ancient custom known as ‘ter’. But the women of Orongo are emerging victorious in a battle against practices they consider oppressive and cruel.
And, remarkably, they put their success down to AIDS. It has revolutionized Luo culture at Orongo. Widows and elders have joined hands to successfully fight the practice of ter, arguing that widows with HIV could infect their “inherited” husbands.
We visit the home of Betty Tom, an HIV-positive widow whose husband died 3 years ago. Betty is in her mid twenties – the average age of Orongo’s new widow generation – and was chased off her husband’s land after his death, because she refused to be inherited. But she has since managed to convince her in-laws that she’s got the right to own land and choose who she wants to take as her partner. Today Betty lives on the same compound with her in-laws and is the legal owner of her husband’s piece of land.
Betty is not alone. Every widow at Orongo, whether HIV-positive or not, now has the right to refuse to be inherited. Moreover, they’ve defied tradition by starting to write wills so that their children will have legal access to their land in the future.
Today women from all over Kenya and neighbouring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania visit Orongo village to learn how to fight for their rights.
My Dead Husband’s Land is directed by Mia Malan and was filmed by Dudley Saunders.
