info@risingtogreatnessorg.com
Written by: Amolo Shariffa
11th of October 2024.
Economic vulnerability is the lethal weapon that men have been consistently using against women to victimize, torture and subject them to all forms of exploitation and abuse.
Jessica and Vivian are women artisanal small scale miners (ASSM) that work so hard to fend for their children, in the gold mining sites of Ikolomani, Kakamega Kenya.
The two women are married and their husbands consistently abuse alcohol, and other drugs, subject them to gender based violence and take away the power they ever have (little money that they get from mining).
Dear Reader,
I know you are wondering why they cannot leave their awful marriages and start over again.
Vivian has been depending on her husband economically at a very young age. She was married off by her parents who were very poor and could not take care of her together with her other four siblings.
In her marriage she has sired four other children. Every time she thinks of leaving the marriage, she remembers her parents’ financial situation.
She has decided to venture into small scale mining as her source of income. The wages are very low but she chooses to work anyway.
“As a woman I am not allowed to go near the shaft because men say that the gold will disappear. I know it is just a way for men to ensure we do not get to know the amount of gold they have extracted. They want to give us low quality and keep the most valuable gold to themselves. It is sad because even after getting more money the only thing they think of is marrying more women and abusing drugs. We want someone to help us get our rights. We want men to be on our side, this is not a competition, we just want to complement each other. If I have money our children will have food, stay in school have proper shelter.” This is what Vivian told us when we met her.
Jessica has refused to be pinned down by her situation. She has chosen to fight. Jessica has formed a number of women groups to empower them economically. The groups engage in activities like table banking, crop farming and selling their crops, rearing of chicken, pigs, sheep and goats. “My husband wanted to turn me into a sex tube. He promised to support me and my family and never kept his word. I got empowered by Rising to Greatness organization. At first he used to butter me every time I could participate in your sessions. He had to give up because I kept coming. I was not going to stop. I knew this was my way out. Right now he only has one option; to support me. He now finds it easier when buying things in the house because whenever he pays school fees, I can buy food. We do not fight anymore. He supports every decision I make. He now tells other men to support their wives. Women are now joining groups to grow themselves financially and it is heart- warming. We have a total of 20 groups with each group having 10 members. Had I had given up, we could not have been here today. I know this is a long journey but we have to keep pushing.” Jessica’s story is one of its kind.
In our conversation with the area chief of Ikolomani Mr. Shikoti, he stated the following:
“Organizations come and go. It may be financial constraints, end of the project or reasons well known to them. We will never blame them. We still thank them for the effort they made. Rising to Greatness Organization has been here with or without finances. They check on our progress, either through phone calls or coming to the ground. They do not want the work they did to amount to nothing. They can only stop doing this when they are sure we will not ‘relapse’. Isn’t that what a great counselor does? Initially I used to go to the mining to solve cases of women being denied their pay. Right now women are coming to me to find out on how they can register their groups and start having other income generating activities. As the area chief of Ikolomani, this is all I ever wanted. To RIGO thank you for having the people of Ikolomani at heart.”
This project is called Migodi ya Usawa and funded by amplify change with an aim to contribute to the prevention and response of gender based violence amongst women and girls in the gold supply chain of Kakamega.
“There is no limit to what we, women can accomplish.” Michelle Obama.
