Umoja, Kenya

Samburu women have a subordinate position in their society.^[2] They are not allowed to own land or other types of property, such as livestock. Women themselves are considered property of their husbands.^[2] They can be subject to female genital mutilation, forced marriage with the elders, rape, and domestic violence.^[4]

In 2003, Amnesty International reported credible evidence of numerous rapes of Kenyan women by members of the British Army for decades.^[5] A case was brought up against the British military for the rapes of over 1,400 Samburu women. The case was "cleared".^{[6] [7]} These women were abandoned by their husbands because they were considered to be "defiled."^[8] Other men drove the women out of their houses fearing they would now contract sexually transmitted diseases from their raped wives.^[9]

After many women found themselves without homes, they created Umoja.^[10] Rebecca Lolosoli is one of the founders of Umoja,^[11] and came up with the idea of creating a village for women when she was recovering after being beaten for speaking out against female genital mutilation.^[3][12] Eventually fifteen women came together to found the original village in 1990.^[3][13]

In response, some men established their own, eventually unsuccessful villages nearby.^[14][10] The men tried to set up a rival craft business or would try to dissuade tourists from stopping at Umoja.^[15] The women eventually bought the land the men were occupying.^[16]

The villagers first started out by selling vegetables they bought from others, since they did not know how to farm themselves.^[2] This was not very successful, and the village turned to selling traditional crafts to tourists.^[16] The Kenya Wildlife Services took notice and helped the women learn from successful groups in areas such as the Maasai Mara, in order to improve Umoja's business.^[16] The women also had help from Kenya's Heritage and Social Services and the Ministry of Culture.^[4]

After Lolosoli visited the United Nations in 2005, men in the neighboring village filed a court case against her, hoping to shut down the village.^[14] In 2009, Lolosoli's former husband attacked the village, threatening her life.^[17] For a time, the women fled the village for their safety.^[17]

The women of the village currently own the land itself.^[4] As of 2021, the village's application for a community title over a tract of grazing land is undergoing government consideration.^[12]

Umoja is located in north-central Kenya in Samburu County, near Archers Post.^[4] The village is made up of manyata huts^[3] built from a mixture of earth and cow dung on an abandoned grassland.^[18] The houses are surrounded by a fence of thorns^[13] and barbed wire.^[3]

The people of the village have an objective to "improve the livelihoods of women due to rampant poverty and counter the problem of women being abandoned by their families."^[16] The village also takes in runaways or girls who have been thrown out of their households,^[16] and raises orphans, abandoned children and children with HIV.^[16] The village has also provided asylum for women fleeing violence from the Turkana District.^[19]

Residents in the community must all wear the traditional clothing and beadwork of the Samburu people.^[20] Female genital mutilation is outlawed in the village.^[20]

Men are permitted to visit the village, but not allowed to live in Umoja.^[8] As of 2015, one man visited the village daily to do work tending to livestock.^[13] Boys raised in the village are asked to leave when they reach age eighteen.^[21] Only men who were raised as children in Umoja may sleep in the village.^[20]

The village also takes in orphans, runaways, and abandoned children.^[16] In 2005, there were 30 women and 50 children living in Umoja.^[8] As of 2015, there were 47 women and 200 children living in the village.^[13]

Residents of Umoja are engaged in traditional Samburu crafts which they sell at the Umoja Waso Women's Cultural Center.^[8] Crafts include colorful beads,^[13] a home-brewed low-alcohol beer analogue^{[citation needed]} and more. The items are also available on a website.^[22] The women also run a campsite for tourists visiting the nearby Samburu National Reserve.^[1][21] Every woman donates ten percent of her earnings to the village as a tax to support the school and other needs.^[2]

The village suffered lack of income in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12]

In traditional society, children are engaged in tending livestock, but in Umoja, all children can get an education.^[20] There is a primary school that can accommodate 50 children.^[15] The village has also been able to open a nursery school.^[23]

Residents of the village go to other villages to promote women's rights and in order to campaign against female circumcision.^[24]

The women of the village gather under the "tree of speech" to make decisions for the town.^[13] Lolosoli serves as the chairperson of the village.^[16] All women in the village have equal status to one another.^[20]

• Women only space
• Umoja: The Village Where Men Are Forbidden
• Jinwar, a village run along similar lines in northern Syria
• Gerudo, a fictional clan where only one man is born every 100 years

• Official website of the film "Umoja, the village where men are forbidden"
• The Land of No Men: Inside Kenya's Women-Only Village (2015 video)
• Kenya : le village où les femmes font la loi — rfr

0°38′N 37°38′E / 0.633°N 37.633°E / 0.633; 37.633