The Samburu beads of bondage
What you need to know:
- Among the Samburu, once a girl is beaded in a specific manner, she is open for a sexual relationship with a newly circumcised warrior.
- Morans, who are not supposed to marry due to their roles in the society, can still have unrestricted sexual relationship with the girl they have beaded.
- Girl's mother is required to erect a small and private house- ‘singira’ for the girl, where the moran can get in at any time and have intercourse with her.
The decorative beads Samburu women wear around their necks are meant to accentuate their beauty but behind the attractive, eye-catching coloured beads, lies the pain they endure in the community.
Among the Samburu, once a girl is beaded in a specific manner, she is open for a sexual relationship with a newly circumcised warrior locally known as a ‘moran’. The morans present the girl with red beads that signify that he has started a temporary relationship with her.
An outsider may be blind to the deep-rooted tradition, but the beads speak of bondage of the women and girls in the community.
In the practice, the morans, who are not supposed to marry due to their roles in the society, can still have unrestricted sexual relationship with the girl they have beaded.
Private house
“So endorsed is the tradition, that the mother of the girl is required to erect a small and private house- ‘singira’ for the girl, where the moran can get in at any time and have intercourse with her,” a resident of Samburu, Juliet Leparleen, tells Nation.
Ms Leparleen says the retrogressive culture has remained one of the worst silent forms of sex slavery, and that the girls have nowhere to hide.
Samburu County Director for Gender Culture and Social Services Letipila Nasiaku revealed that the practice has, since time immemorial, denied girls access to education leading to a high level of illiteracy among girls and women in Samburu.
It has also exposed them to early marriages, unwanted pregnancies and the risks of HIV and Aids as some morans (warriors) often bead multiple girls as sexual partners. The practice is still deeply rooted, especially in the far-flung villages.
Samburu morans during a rite of passage ceremony in Maralal. In their culture, morans present a girl with red beads that signify he has started a temporary relationship with her.
"Once they (girls) are beaded, they are exposed to risks that they cannot get out of. They are also subjected to psychological stress at early stages of their lives," says Ms Nasiaku..
According to the beading tradition, the warriors are allowed to have a temporary sexual relationships with the young girls from a recommended clan or the same clan as the warrior. The morans buy the red beads for the girls after getting a nod from girl’s family members.
The community believes that beading young girls is to prepare them mentally for marriage in the future. Beading signifies that the girl is 'taken' and no one else can launch a bid to have an intimate relationship with her.
Ms Nasiaku terms beading as a form of defilement since all the girls that are beaded are underage and should be in school.
"Beading practice is as harmful as FGM because both are against the fundamental freedom and rights. We should stand firm to eliminate it as well as FGM," she says.
Covid-19
Samburu County Women Representative Maison Leshoomo notes that most school-going girls have been beaded during the stay-at-home period due to the Covid-19 pandemic and chances of getting back to school are minimal.
"We will see a crisis if schools re-open today because we will not have girls to take back. It is a crisis," Ms Leshoomo notes.
She has called on political leaders to be at the frontline in discouraging beading practice.
