Culturally-bound Samburu women unwilling to embrace family planning

Samburu, Kenya: Samburu County is famous for holding onto retrogressive cultures, which have allegedly caused anguish and pain to women and children. As the rest of the world and Kenyan women opt for the boardroom hence giving birth to a manageable number of children, in Samburu and to an extent the larger North Eastern, most women shun modern contraceptives while others have never heard of family planning.

Mary Lesiamito, 60, a mother of eight from Samburu West constituency, was married at a tender age as a third wife by a man, now deceased about 30 years her senior.

After her husband, a driver with the Kenya Police retired, the reality of providing for her children dawned on her since her husband’s pension was shared among her co-wives too.

Asked why she did not use modern family methods despite vigorous campaigns by the Government and other agencies, she says Samburu was sparsely populated and many children were needed to fill the land. She also says, “children are a blessing from God and a source of prestige”.

She continues, “I and other women thought family planning was a conspiracy by the Government to reduce our (Samburu) population and bring squatters and the landless from other communities to own our land”.

Another resident, Susan Leaduma, a retired nurse and a mother of seven says despite the Government’s initiative, the community is yet to embrace family planning. Though Lesiamito and Leaduma do not regret having their children, they now vehemently support family planning and contraceptives because of the enormous resources involved in raising large families.

Miriam Lesharna, 33, a mother of three says, “We never visit hospitals for contraceptives, and neither do we have the knowledge on the usage.”

Lesharna says the nature of their culture as pastoralists see their men migrate frequently in search of water and pasture for their livestock. She states, “My husband can stay away from home for even three years. That gives me enough time for spacing my children. Our culture does not allow promiscuity and I wait until he returns”.

And the men, despite their absence are culturally a difficult lot. Samburu, like the larger Kenya is patriarchal and here, the husband has the final word. The women say their men warn them against seeking medical services. “Instead, they make us use herbs,” says Lesharna. But girls suffer worse fate than their mothers. They face the beading culture, which the Samburu’s perceive as a practice meant to reduce immorality among the Morans. In the beading culture, a girl as young as eight and who is yet undergone FGM, are built for small huts where the Moran who beaded them are free to visit at will. The beaded girls are not expected to conceive and when they do, they are forced to procure unsafe abortions, which might cause complications in the reproductive health that may lead to infertility and even death.

Beading culture

Worse still, the Moran, always a close relative is not under any pressure to marry the girl he beaded. And the Morans strongly defend the practice. Willy Lepuchitit, a resident denies that they sleep with the young girls. “We engage the girls at the age of eight years but never sleep with them until they become of age”.

But health workers and human rights activists from the area say the practice is widely spread. Josephine Kulea, who founded the Samburu Girls Foundation in 2012 which rescues beaded girls, victims and would be victims of Female Genital Mutilation and early marriages says beading is widely spread.

The Foundation has rescued 169 girls, out of which 67 have been beaded with 23 having given birth. “The 23 were lucky because once their parents and elders learn of their pregnancy, they would be forced to abort,” said Kulea, adding, “In some occasion’s babies are killed at birth with a tobacco concoction.”

Kulea, who was born in Samburu and escaped the cultural practice narrowly as her parents had shipped her to a boarding school, says in trying to rescue the girls, they receive resistance from elders and even elected leaders.

Though Kulea has received accolades around the world for her efforts, she says they face an uphill task with interventions of women reproductive health in the county.

Kulea believes that the Reproductive Health Care Bill, 2014 drafted by Nominated Senator Judith Sijenyi if passed, would save female adolescent especially from pastoralists like the Samburu.

The Bill proposes that the National and County Governments shall make available contraception and family planning services, including contraceptive options, counselling, information and education.

Every health care service provider prescribing a contraceptive method shall provide information to the person to whom the prescription is being given as to its advantages and disadvantages and ensure informed consent.

The Bill also proposes that the Ministry of Health shall develop policies to protect adolescents from physical and sexual violence and discrimination including cultural practices that violate the reproductive health rights of the adolescents; and to facilitate adolescents’ access to information, comprehensive sexuality education and confidential services.

Informed decisions

The Bill seeks to make provision for the actualisation of reproductive rights. The right to make free and informed decisions, which is central to the exercise of any right, shall not be subjected to any form of coercion and must be fully guaranteed by the State, like the right itself. Respect for protection and fulfilment of reproductive health and rights which seek to promote the rights and welfare of every person particularly couples, adult individuals, women and adolescents.

The Bill also seeks to deal with the issue of inadequate facilities at county government hospitals, especially in terms of emergency services including but not limited to ambulance services and equipment for intensive care services and gynecological services as well.

The Bill seeks to bring forth the issue reproductive health for the adolescent and mentally unstable persons, which has been neglected for some time. It gives for guidance.

Despite the above challenges, there is a gradual increase in the uptake of the modern means of contraception by the Samburu community.

This is attributed to the increase in the number of literate people –read university going students and graduates, and the vigorous campaigns spearheaded by various Non-governmental organisations such as Amref Kenya, which consists of  World Vision, Imeraisha Afya +, Afya + and USaid.

When the informed women visit health centers, they get stigmatised by either their in-laws or grandmothers and the society at large. “They are not aware of their rights. Contraceptives, besides preventing pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases saves girls lives.”

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, according to Joan Otieno, the Chief Officer at the Samburu County Referral Hospital, there is no data on the knowledge of reproductive health and the uptake of contraceptives in the region.

“Samburu women are not aware of the modern contraceptive methods. They have low knowledge on the issue. Also, lack of a defined transport system due to poor roads see women living deep in the villages lacking access to health centres.”

Even as there are few health centres in the County, for people like Kulea who would like to reach the communities, they are hindered by lack of roads.