The Luo tribe is a Nilotic people group who live along the Lake Victoria region in Western Kenya. The tribe numbers approximately 3.3 million.
Culturally, the Luo people represent a complex, intricate and intriguing worldview that arouses both the intellectual and religious curiosity of the societal critic. Although the Christian faith reached this region almost a century ago, the Luo people still cling to some outdated customs, taboos and traditions which are opposed to the tenets of biblical Christianity.
Wife inheritance
One such cultural practice of the Luos is 'wife inheritance'. This practice exerts prohibitive rules upon the Christian widows and makes them slaves of anti-Christian practices. The practice of wife inheritance is most degrading, dehumanising and painful to the Christian Luo widow. Under this practice, a Luo woman is forced to be 'inherited' by a married cousin (or any kinsman) of her deceased husband upon his death. Originally this practice was meant to ensure the continuation of the offspring of the dead man and also to provide the widow with a canopy of male headship and protection. Now, however, the original intention is overshadowed by numerous aspects that make the practice maximally and diabolically oppressive to the widow. Godless, lazy and wayward men have grabbed the opportunity to exploit the cultural practice by becoming additional dependants to the widows who already have enough burdens to bear. Also because the evil practice of wife inheritance is culturally forced upon the widows, the Christians who do not want to go through the practice for biblical reasons are especially pressurised.
Pressure to conform
To make the widows succumb to the 'wife inheritance' practice, the Luo culture imposes some rules to ensure that all the widows conform. Unless a widow goes through the inheritance cleansing ritual, she is (1) not allowed to attend social functions in the village and among relatives. She is viewed as a bringer of death and a bad omen. Even carrying someone's child is a taboo. (2) She is not allowed to engage in any economic activities such as farming. Even erecting a new house for her by anyone else apart from her male inheritor is a taboo. (3) She is threatened with wasting diseases leading to death. Failure to go through the ritual of wife inheritance is said to lead to a complete wipe-out of the widow's children and future offspring.
These cultural threats have made the vast majority of Luo widows slaves of psychological fear and of endless poverty and oppression. Even the Christian widows who have attempted to liberate themselves from these superstitions and oppressive systems are lonely, neglected and isolated. But thank God, a few Christian widows have chosen to suffer physically rather than bow down to outdated and demonic pressures in the name of culture.
Church response
Some church denominations want to uphold the current status quo of the Luo widow. They encourage wife inheritance and they feel that the practice must remain as it is. After all, women, according to the Luo culture, can only 'live' meaningfully, under a man and must therefore submit to the cultural provision of male dominion whether evil or good.
The Africa Inland Church in Luoland, is, however, opposed to the current status of the Luo widow. 'We have carried our research and found that the practice of wife inheritance which is rampant in our region is essentially evil in nature. The research revealed the great pain that the cultural oppression causes the Luo widow, and the main spiritual, physical, psychological and social problems that the widows suffer. We have also noted with great concern that no evangelical church group is taking any drastic steps to holistically address the plight of the Luo widow in Luoland. We have therefore determined to initiate strategising, programming and effecting a course of action that will help bring about a liberation of the Luo widows in order to uphold their dignity and for the glory of God'.
The Africa Inland Church Southern Lake Region is submitting the protest against the injustice and the dehumanising of the Luo widows in our culture. The church has a determined to set up schemes to encourage the spiritual, physical, economic and social; welfare of the widows. These schemes involve setting up some small training centres where the widows can learn skills to support themselves financially in work such as tailoring or agriculture. They would also like to set up a support network with Christian churches and widows with evangelical convictions in other parts of the world who can enter into correspondence and help these sisters in the church. We give the story of one such widow below.
Pastor George Pile,
Southern Lake Region leader,
Africa Inland Church.
Help to the widows can be sent through Mr & Mrs M.C. Watkins, 36 St. John's Road, Guildford, Surrey.
Our only hope is in God
Peres Akinyi Osimba is a widow, just 38 years old. She lives in Nyakach in the Luo region of western Kenya. There are seven children in the family, the youngest being five years old. She told her story to pastor George Pile and Mrs Elizabeth Ojusang.
'I thank God who has brought you to my house today. Not many people visit me to pray with me as you have done. We used to have many visitors when my husband was still alive, but most of those who frequented our house disappeared after my husband passed away.
'My husband died on December 5 1994 and he left me with seven children. When my husband was still alive, we lived in very humble circumstances, but his presence and hard work made us feel secure as far as our physical needs were concerned. Since 1994 life has been extremely hard, and our only hope is in God, whom I know loves us and keeps us alive in all circumstances,
'I do not have much hope of educating my children. My firstborn son, now aged 23 years passed his Standard 8 exams quite well in 1992 and he was admitted to start his Form 1 at Naki Secondary School in 1993. Since I could not pay the school fees, he had to drop out of school. He is now roaming about unemployed and my heart is grieved because of his ruined young life.
'My second child, Rose Auma, a girl who is very intelligent indeed, also passed her Standard 8 exams very highly at Kabete Primary School and was admitted at Ahero Girls Secondary School (which is a provincial school). But again, due to lack of school fees, she could not even finish the First form. This was a big blow upon my ego, because I personally work hard and love children who work hard and are intelligent in school. So I was broken down when my daughter Rose (who resembles me in her determination to succeed) also dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. Rose is now unemployed. I am trying to get her trained as a dressmaker through apprenticeship, but even that has proved very difficult due to lack of money to pay her trainer.
'Right now I have four children in school. But I also know that their education will be forced to end because I cannot afford for them to go to secondary school.
'I thank God that no one has snatched my farm as has been the case for other widows like myself. I have about two acres of land which I use for growing a few food crops to feed my children. However, since I dig the shamba with my hands, using a hoe, I am sometimes not able to use the whole shamba. I would do better if I could hire oxen-driven ploughs to dig my garden. But this too is beyond my financial abilities. As a result, I cannot grow enough food for my whole family. I also make baskets from palm leaves, which I see to buy necessities such as salt, soap and milk for my youngest child.
'My school-going children help me, especially at night, when they have some spare time after doing school assignments. Those who do not go to school on weekends also help me work in the garden on Saturdays. Through these, therefore, God has been sustaining my family and we are very thankful to him. It is only during the time that I harvest my crops that I can buy some second-hand clothes from the open market. During this time I can sell some potatoes and beans to buy clothes for one or two of my children. I have not been able to buy any blankets since my husband died because I cannot afford to do so.
'The hut I live in at present is too small and leaking. It has not been re-thatched for the last three years. When it is raining, it is like we have no roof over our heads at all. Also, the hut cannot contain us all because some of my children are now adults. If I were a man, I would have done something about my house. Pray for me.
'I do admit I have not been very strong in my Christian faith. This is due to the many problems I have at home. I cannot attend many of our prayer meetings and Bible study sessions because I use those opportunities to work on other people's farms to earn money to meet the other living needs of my children. I know I am losing spiritually, but what else can I do?
'In conclusion I ask you to pray for me about the fact that much pressure is put on me to comply with some cultural demands that I know are opposed to the Word of God. I want strength to remain faithful to the biblical truth I believed when I became a Christian.'
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