Rebecca Lolosoli | |
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 Portrait of Rebecca Lolosoli | |
| President | Présidente du village d'Umoja |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1962 Wamba, District de Samburu |
| Nationality | Kenyan |
| Profession | Écologist |
Rebecca Lolosoli (born 1962) is the founder and matriarch of the Umoja village in the Samburu County of Kenya. [1] [2] The village is a refuge for women fleeing sexual abuse, and men are banned from the village. [3] She plans to run for local office and will be the first Samburu woman ever to do so. [4]
Lolosoli, born in 1962 in Wamba village, was one of six siblings. She attended Wamba girls' primary school in 1971 but left before completing her education.
Lolosoli was born in the village of Wamba in 1962 and was one of a family of six brothers and sisters. [5] In 1971, she attended Wamba girls' primary school. Later, she enrolled in a Catholic nursing training center but had to drop out six months before finishing due to financial difficulties. [5] At 18, she married Fabiano David Lolosoli, [6] with a dowry of 17 cows. [5] She established her own village business and became an advocate for women's rights. [1] When she was assaulted and robbed, her husband did not intervene, prompting her to leave him. [7] In 1990, she co-founded the village of Umoja with four other women, establishing it as a sanctuary exclusively for women. [8]
In 1995, the women of Umoja elected her to chair the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO), an organization for the enhancement of women. She held the post for ten years. [5]
In 2005, Lolosoli attended a United Nations conference in New York. [9] She received death threats from local men over her stance on women's rights just before she went to New York. [10]
Umoja was attacked in 2009 by Lolosoli's former husband, armed with a gun. He chased the women out of their home and allegedly was looking for Rebecca, who was not home at the time. [6] In 2010, she was awarded the Global Leadership Award from Vital Voices. [1]
When she was 15, she had her cut, a traditional rite practiced in the region. [11] Later, she was sold for 17 cows and forcibly married to an official Kenyan businessman when she was only 18 years old.
Rebecca narrowly escaped rape by British soldiers at Archer Post military base, a recurrent crime in the region (It is estimated that 1,400 rapes were perpetrated by British soldiers in the 1990s). There began her commitment to the feminine cause.
Indeed, Rebecca acquired a certain financial independence through the sale of manufactured goods and thus opposed the patriarchal tradition of the region. [12] Subsequently, she began to raise the problem of rape at local government meetings, which earned her to be severely beaten and robbed by Samburu men. Faced with her husband's disinterest and inaction, Rebecca realized that her life was in danger. She ran away from home and created the village of Umoja [13] [14] in 1991 with the help of 15 other abused women. The year 2010 marked a turning point in the life of Rebecca Lolosoli since she finally obtained the right to divorce. [15]
The creation of the village, reserved only for women, challenged a tribal system in which women could not have land or livestock or access to education. The village ensures the safety of its members (63 people in 2011) but above all offers possibilities for the future. As Rebecca Lolosoli has said:
"They become socially and economically independent and make decisions on matters that affect them directly"
From the beginning, Rebecca Lolosoli has held a central place in the village as a democratically elected matriarch. In order to meet their needs. Rebecca and the members of the village first sold agricultural products such as corn, sugar, etc. However, in the face of the low profits, they are moving towards other sectors such as the sale of pearl jewelry. [16]
Economic success made it possible to purchase land for 200,000 shillings ($2,700) in order to gain land legitimacy against rival villages. In addition, the money raised allowed for the creation of a museum and a school for the children of Umoja and its surrounding villages. The popularity of the village and its uniqueness in the region has made the village a tourist destination. Rebecca's unusual career and her ongoing fight for the emancipation of women has been very well received internationally. [17]
Lolosoli chaired the "Maendeleo Ya Wanawake" Organization (MYWO) from 1995 to 2005. A non-profit organization of women volunteers with mission to improve the quality of life of rural communities in particular that of Kenyan women and youth. [18] Four years later, Diane von Fürstenberg noticed her on a trip to Kenya and signed her up for Vital Voices, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works in collaboration with the main actors of economic, empowerment women's political participation and human rights. This NGO was founded by Hillary Clinton in 1999. Rebecca received a "Global Leadership Award" in 2010 for her courageous initiative in the fight for women's rights. [19]
In the same year, stylist Diane von Fürstenberg presented a spring collection inspired by traditional clothing from the village of Umoja. In 2009, these creations had already been presented during the parade of the DVF Catwalk.
In 2011, Lolosoli met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Women in the World Summit in New York, bringing together the most influential figures in the fight for the recognition of women's rights. In 2012, Lolosoli received the GR8! Women Award for her commitment and her fight for women's rights. [19] This title was awarded to her, along with 17 other women, in Dubai on March 7, 2012. [20]
Lolosoli's story is recounted in Alyse Nelson's 2012 book Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World. [21]
Wangarĩ Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Diane von Fürstenberg is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon von Fürstenberg. Following their separation in 1972 and divorce in 1983, she has continued to use his family name.
Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) is a women's NGO that deals with issues to do with women's rights and gender equity in Kenya. It was founded in 1952 by a group of European women and was then under the umbrella of the Department of Community Development and Rehabilitation. It has approximately 600,000 groups contributing to a total membership of about two million women. Phoebe Aisyo served as the first African chairperson of the organization. It is currently chaired by Rahab Mwikali Muiu and has various agendas in its mission statement, including maternal, child health and family planning and training women in leadership and development.
The Samburu Project (TSP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California, founded on the promise of delivering access to clean water to the Samburu pastoralist community in northern Kenya. Since its inception, the Samburu Project has drilled 137 wells, that currently provide water to over 100,000 Samburu individuals. The organization is recognized as both a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and a Community Based Organization (CBO) in Kenya.
Umoja Uaso is a village in Kenya. The village, founded in 1990, is an all-female matriarch village located near the town of Archers Post in Samburu County, 380 km (240 mi) from the capital, Nairobi. It was founded by Rebecca Lolosoli, a Samburu woman, as a sanctuary for homeless survivors of violence against women, and young girls running from forced marriages or female genital mutilation. The women of the Samburu people do not agree with violence and the traditional subordinate position of women.
Margaret Wambui Kenyatta was a Kenyan politician. She was the daughter of the first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, and his wife Grace Wahu. She served as the mayor of Nairobi from 1970 to 1976 and as Kenya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1976 to 1986. She was thereafter appointed as a Commissioner with the Electoral Commission of Kenya from 1992 to 2002.
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The Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards honor international women leaders in the fields of human rights, economic empowerment, or political reform. The event takes place annually in early spring at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Umoja, the Village Where Men Are Forbidden is a French documentary film about the Kenyan village of Umoja, directed by Jean Crousillac and Jean-Marc Sainclair and released in 2009.
The history of the evolution of the traits of women in Kenya can be divided into Women within Swahili culture, Women in British Kenya, and Kenyan Women post-Independence. The condition and status of the female population in Kenya has faced many changes over the past century.
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Phoebe Asiyo is a former parliamentarian of Kenya, ambassador to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), mother, and grandmother. She was UNIFEM's ambassador from 1988 to 1992. She was the first woman elevated to the position of Luo elder for her efforts to promote education for girls, women's rights, and gender equality in Kenya. Fondly called Mama Asiyo, she has dedicated her life to improving the political arena in Kenya, the role of women and girls, and those affected by the HIV epidemic. She was the first woman in Kenya with its 42 communities to become elder.
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