By Paul Odhiambo, DevReporter, Migori County
The Suba people are one of minority groups living along the shores of Lake Victoria in south west Kenya.
Like any other community in Kenya or Africa, the Suba people have several problems affecting their development. Some of the problems result from inherited cultural practices, some of which may not be in tandem with the current thinking at the national and international levels.
The Suba culture had in the past endorsed early marriages as well as other cultural practices.
In the past, some of the cultural practices among the Suba encouraged teenage marriages as parents of the victims were offered goodies as bride price, ranging from tens of cows to hundreds of shilling worth of gold, all of which symbolised wealth at that time.
We took a visit to Nyandiwa Beach, a town in the Sub-County of Suba South in larger Homa-Bay County. We met Jane Wambogo, an 18 year old mother of two young daughters.
She shared that that in the year 2017 at the age of only 14 years old, her father told her to accept and get married to her current husband so that they could get some cows in form of dowry, which could help their family till land.
Jane says that she did not want to get married. She just feared her father. Her efforts to decline were futile after her mother joined in support of the father. As a result, her dreams of completing her education were abruptly and prematurely ended as the man immediately took her to be his wife.
Abducted
In a visit to Mfang’ano Island, we met another lady by the name Awino, a 49 years old mother of five. She also shared her story of how she was prematurely married off.
She said that back in the year 1985 when she was 15 years old, she was abducted by two strong men who bungled her into a pickup. She added that her father had earlier told her that since her family was poor, she needed to get married so that from the dowry payment, her younger brother could get school fees for his secondary school education
Her late husband offered to take care of her brother’s school fees if only she could agree and become his third wife at that very tender age. She declined the offer but the next move was abduction by her current in-laws.
Homa Bay County leads
Child marriage is the number one driver of teen pregnancies in the country, according to a report titled the State of Kenya Population 2020.
According to the report, Homa Bay County is one of the counties in Kenya registering the highest number of young mothers, at 70 percent. Two thirds of women between the ages of 20 and 49 in Homa Bay got married while still minors.
Solutions to early marriages
According to the Suba South Sub-County Children Officer, Mr Samwel Odhiambo, all the local stakeholders like religious organisations must work together to ensure that awareness is created among the Suba, regarding the negative effects of early marriages.
He added that the community should also be educated on issues pertaining to the benefits of girl child education.
