Why men are forbidden from living in Umoja Village

There is a village in Kenya known as the Umoja village where Men are forbidden from living. The village was discovered by Rebecca Lolosoli and some other Women in the year 1990.

The people in the Village consists of different Women that ran away from alot of female harassments. They ran away from circumcision, child marriage, they also ran away from domestic violence and inequality.

There used to be alot of oppression from the Men in the Samburu tribe, this led to the creation of the Umoja village. The Women decided that they wanted to be respected and they also wanted to be heard in the village.

In the Samburu tribe, Women are only seen as their husband’s properties, they are not even allowed to own any land or property.

Rebecca and the other Women decided that they won’t sit around and depend on anybody to give them what they wanted.

Every Woman in that Umoja village has a story to tell, some of them ran away to the village to escape from different traumas. The village has helped the Women to be dependent on themselves instead of being dependent on men.

The Women in Umoja have proven that they can actually work like the Men, and they are also as strong as the men are. There was a time that the Men from the village tried to attack the Women and they also made an attempt to kill Rebecca but they failed.

Their Men have also tried their best to create similar village for Men alone but it failed too.

The village of Umoja is confined to Women alone and even though the Men can visit sometimes, they are not allowed to live with them. If any Umoja Woman gives birth to a son, he would leave the village once he clocks 18 years.

The son will stay in a village close by in other to serve as security to their mothers. Since there are no Men in the village, the Women oversee every aspect of life in Umoja.

The Women in the village sell beads and other traditional crafts in other to make a living. They also have farms where they plant and harvest crops for sale and consumption.

Umoja village is now a tourist center and people normally pay money to visit the area. The Women of Umoja represent the typical feminist in the world, they do not depend on the Men for Survival.