THE LIVES AND LIFE-CHOICES OF DISPOSSESSED ...

THE LIVES AND LIFE-CHOICES OF

DISPOSSESSED WOMEN IN KENYA

UNIFEM AFRICAN WOMEN IN CRISIS PROGRAMME

PRISCA MBURA KAMUNGI

January 2002

The opinions expressed in this report are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect

those of UNIFEM/AFWIC

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Number

Table of Contents............................................................................... 1

Acknowledgements............................................................................ 2

Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................ 3

1. INTRODUCTION

Background ........................................................................................ 4

Objectives .......................................................................................... 6

Expected Outcomes ........................................................................... 6

Methodology...................................................................................... 7

Problems Encountered ....................................................................... 7

Gender and Displacement .................................................................. 8

Legal Status and Protection of Dispossessed Women ....................... 9

2. FINDINGS

Size of Displaced Households ........................................................... 11

Proportion of Women Headed Households ....................................... 11

Living Conditions of Displaced Women ........................................... 12

Gender-Based and Sexual violence .................................................. 19

HIV Among Internally Displaced Women ........................................ 23

Dispossession and Disenfranchisement of Displaced Women .......... 25

Types of Assistance to Women IDPs................................................. 27

CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS........................... 28

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................ 32

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was researched and authored by Prisca Kamungi for UNIFEM’s African Women in Crisis Programme, AFWIC. We wish to acknowledge, with gratitude, the logistical assistance provided by the staff of the National Council of Churches offices in Nakuru and Eldoret, the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru Justice and Peace Commission, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Egerton University Sociology Department and the Moi University Centre for Refugee Studies. We are particularly indebted to Mrs. Hilda Mukui (NCCK-Nakuru), Ernest Murimi (CDN) Prof. Apollos (CCR) Beatrice Onsongo (Egerton University) and Mr. King’ori (NCCK-Eldoret). The author expresses deep gratitude to Marguerite Garling, Programme Officer AFWIC, for her invaluable insights and comments that came in handy in the writing of this report. Special thanks also go to Peter Karuoya, Stephen Waweru, George Oloo, William and David Mutua, who were research assistants and translators in the many areas visited to gather information for this report. Similar gratitude must be expressed to Njoroge (NCCK Nakuru) and ‘Mukorino’ (NCCK Eldoret) who drove expertly and tirelessly through the rough roads. We also thank all the people who were interviewed or otherwise provided information or comments for this study. THANK YOU!

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AMREF African Medical Research Foundation

AFWIC African Women in Crisis programme

AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

CDN- J&P Catholic Diocese of Nakuru- Justice and Peace Commission

CJPC Catholic Justice and Peace Commission

DO District Officer

FIDA Federation of Women Lawyers

FGM Female Genital Mutilation

GOK Government of Kenya

GTZ German Technical Cooperation

HIV Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus

HRW Human Rights Watch

IDPs Internally Displaced Persons

JRS Jesuit Refugee Service

KHRC Kenya Human Rights Commission

NCCK National Council of Churches in Kenya

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

OCHA Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs

OCPD Officer Commanding Police Division

SARDEP Semi Arid Rural Development Programme

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

STI Sexually Transmitted Infections

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCHR United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women

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BACKGROUND Population displacement in Kenya in the last decade has resulted from natural disasters such as drought and floods, and man-made causes such as armed conflict, banditry, cattle rustling, and gradual movement to relief distribution centres.1 When and where displacement is sudden and unplanned, it leads to disruption of the lives and livelihoods of the displaced, often through destruction or loss of property. In conflict situations, fleeing masses abandon their homes and valuables, to begin another life in destitution, unfamiliar environments and circumstances. In some conflict situations, dispossession of populations considered as part of the enemy is a war strategy. Such dispossession takes the form of forced eviction from certain geographical areas, illegal allocation of their land and property to other people, tolerance of security circumstances that inhibit sustained engagement in productive economic activities, and denial or inaccess to judicial redress. The greatest case of population displacement and subsequent dispossession in Kenya happened in the run up to and shortly after the multi-party General Elections of 1992 and 1997. The circumstances leading to the unrest and displacement have been widely documented locally and internationally.2 In 1993, Human Rights Watch estimated that about 300,000 people were displaced. Over the years, a sizeable number of this original number has returned to their farms. Some have been relocated to alternative land by the government or church-based organisations, while others have bought plots of land and integrated into local communities. However, not all displaced families were able to benefit from these arrangements, and there have been new cases of displacement and dispossession due to cattle rustling, banditry and natural disasters. Recent research by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) put numbers of the displaced at between 228,000 and 600,000.3 These figures, however, are not reliable because the surveys did not cover the entire country and population displacement has been going on since 1991, sometimes in isolated places that do not receive media and researchers’ attention. Persons displaced by violent communal conflicts in parts of the Rift Valley and Western provinces were relocated to alternative land by the government. To benefit from this government resettlement, displaced persons had to show evidence of having owned land. 1 Neves Silva, M.C., Impact of Kakuma Refugee Camp on Turkana Women and Girls (UNIFEM/AFWIC,

Jan 2002). 2 Examples include Human Rights Watch, Divide and Rule: State-Sponsored Ethnic Violence in Kenya

(New York: HRW, 1993); Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kayas of Violence, Kayas of Blood (Nairobi: KHRC, 1998); National Council of Churches in Kenya, The Cursed Arrow: Organised Violence Against Democracy in Kenya (Nairobi: NCCK, 1992); J. Klopp, “Ethnic Clashes and Winning Elections: The Case of Kenya’s Electoral Despotism’ Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol.35, No. 2, 2001; Republic of Kenya, Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee to Investigate Ethnic Clashes in Western and Other Parts of Kenya (Nairobi: Government Publisher, 1992); G.K Kuria, Majimboism, Ethnic Cleansing and Constitutionalism in Kenya (Nairobi: KHRC, 1994); National Council of NGOs, Investigation Report on Violence in Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi Districts (Nairobi: 1997).

3 Prisca Kamungi, ‘The Current Situation of Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya: March 2001’ Jesuit Refugee Service, 2001. Available at www. jesref.org; KHRC, The Right to Return: Internally Displaced Persons and the Culture of Impunity in Kenya (Nairobi: KHRC, 2001).

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Consequently, squatters and those whose Title Deeds had been destroyed or lost had nothing to show, and therefore were not considered. After the reallocation, places such as Olenguruone, from where people had been displaced, were gazetted as forest land, hence not open for habitation. The displaced who were not resettled at Moi Ndabi, Elburgon or Keringet by the government could also not ‘return’ to their farms in these circumstances. Some of the displaced persons bought land elsewhere and integrated with the local community. In places like Baruti, the farms of the displaced lie fallow, but they cite insecurity, persistent tribal animosity and suspicion, trauma, and poverty as reasons for non-return. Others went to live with relatives in other parts of the country. The poorest of the poor, having no resources to relocate or buy land, drifted into towns and market centres. In these urban areas they became ‘street people’ and lived precariously as beggars, hand-cart operators, hawkers, domestic workers (housemaids and baby-sitters), or provided casual labour in shops, saw mills, factories and large agricultural farms. Others engaged in petty crime and commercial sex work. Over the years, displaced people have become increasingly less visible. This is because there are only a few camps where they can be found in large numbers, and most have accepted the reality of displacement and moved on with their lives. Shortly after the conflicts in 1991-2, large numbers of displaced and dispossessed persons could be seen in church and school compounds. With the end of the resettlement programmes by the government and church organisations, as well as shortage of relief assistance targeting this particular group, they have gradually scattered. The media has also paid perfunctory attention to their plight, thereby reinforcing the view that all displaced persons have returned to their farms or otherwise effectively integrated with the local communities. Kenya’s internally displaced and dispossessed persons therefore constitute a forgotten people. This situation also results from the political sensitivity of the subject. Few agencies, local or international, want to be at the forefront of addressing this issue, especially when their views contrast sharply with the official government position. Besides, the international community pays greater attention to the neighbouring failed state of Somalia and other international, refugee-producing conflicts in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region. Most Western countries are reluctant to harm their relationship with the current regime by criticizing its policies and practices. They use their friendly relationship to further their foreign policy objectives in the Eastern Africa region and the Middle East. The issues and causes of dispossession and displacement in Kenya are not glaring against this backdrop, and often fall in the background compared to the foreign policy considerations of western countries. Given this environment, it is particularly difficult to highlight the problem of internal population displacement in Kenya, and even more difficult to negotiate advocacy and policy space to raise the issue, or discuss strategies for response. Local and international governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) want to be discreet, or involved in a small-scale manner. This study was commissioned by UNIFEM’s African Women in Crisis Programme (AFWIC) to look into the lived reality of displaced women in the Rift Valley Province of

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Kenya. Displacement in this part of the country is as a result of cattle rustling, banditry, drought and conflict. Noting that women and children are especially disadvantaged in conflict situations, AFWIC sought to highlight the gender dimension of displacement and dispossession. While all displaced people, regardless of gender, face the consequences of sudden disruption of their lives, the situation of women illustrates the special challenges of seeking and adopting new survival alternatives. The study was aimed at highlighting the dynamics of what is happening on the ground after years of displacement, especially how displacement and dispossession has shaped relations between men and women. AFWIC observes that while people displaced in 1991/ 7 returned to their lands, relocated or integrated with local communities, a large number of them, particularly widowed and abandoned women and children, have not returned to their farms to date. Noting that since 1992, no concise or concerted long term assistance has been given to these displaced women to help them deal with the psychological, physical and economic effects of displacement, the study sought to establishing their access to means of livelihood, what steps they take to overcome the ordeal of dispossession, and what intervention steps have been taken by the government and the civil society. The study comes at an important time in Kenya’s electoral history. Massive population displacement and dispossession have been closely linked to General Elections and by-elections since 1991. General Elections are due in 2002. Warning signs of likely violence and population displacement are already evident in the November-December 2001 urban disturbances in the Kibera slums in Nairobi, commercialised and politicised cattle rustling in the Kerio Valleys, and the on-going conflicts in Tana River District. The study will help to focus attention to the forgotten people who have been displaced for nearly a decade, and stimulate discussion and policy action among stakeholders in preparation for eventualities during the coming elections. OBJECTIVES The study sought to:

��Collect data on the size of displaced families and the proportion of women-headed households

��Explore and examine the living conditions of internally displaced women in camps and peri-urban settlements, as well as those who have acquired plots and are locally settled.

��Highlight gender relations and examine the extent to which violence, socio-cultural and policy issues enhance or inhibit the empowerment of women IDPs

��Examine the extent to which access to resources and changes in gender relations enhances or inhibits displaced women’s livelihood

��Identify gaps in research and response to the crisis of internal population displacement in Kenya

EXPECTED OUTCOME

��Published report/ document to be widely disseminated to stakeholders for information

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��Practical and applicable recommendations for effective intervention strategies and policy action by the United Nations agencies, the government, and civil society in Kenya

��Provide an agenda and database on which further research will be based. METHODOLOGY Geographical coverage This report is the result of four weeks fieldwork in parts of the Rift Valley province including Moi Ndabi, Elementaita, Bahati, Dundori, Molo, Elburgon, Keringet, Deffo, Baruti, Mwariki, Mauche, Nakuru town, Mugumo (in Mau Narok), Eldoret, West Pokot, Marakwet, and TransNzoia. The researcher targeted displaced persons in camp-like settlements (Khalwenge, ‘Bosnia’,4 Kapkoi, Marich, Orwa), those relocated to alternative land by the government (Moi Ndabi, Keringet, Elburgon), beneficiaries of NCCK and the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru (CDN –J&P) Temporary Resettlement5 Projects (Liavo, South Molo, Elementaita), and those living in urban and peri-urban areas in Nakuru and other towns. Various methods were used to gather information: Literature review This included a literature search on the subject of IDPs in general and in Kenya in particular. It involved a review of reports by agencies that have worked with IDPs, research reports and analyses by individuals and institutions, and reference to various websites on the Internet. Interviews This was the main method of data collection, and included one-on-one interviews with IDPs, women (IDPs and from the host community), NGO staff, provincial administration officers, church leaders, politicians, researchers, academic staff at Moi and Egerton universities, UN staff and opinion leaders. A set of questions in a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information. Some dispossessed women also narrated their life stories since displacement. Focus Group Discussions This was mainly with the displaced youth (both boys and girls), who could be found idling in market centres or playing in open fields in the evenings. This group includes those who are reaching adulthood in displacement, and children roaming the streets. PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED Interview Fatigue Displaced persons are tired of being asked questions by journalists, researchers, human rights observers, activists and NGO staff. Talking about their plight is traumatizing in

4 Camps are usually referred to by such names as Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Soweto and other places in the world characterised with violence and poverty. The names are coined by the host community. 5 ‘Resettlement’ in the sense of NCCK and the CDN-J&P included provision of relief assistance - food, water, medicine - provision of small plots of land, funds or materials for the construction of houses, and the distribution of seeds and fertilizers. The CDN-J&P project is called the Temporal Resettlement Project.

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two ways. Firstly, the memory is painful as it makes them relive their experiences of loss and insecurity. Secondly, they feel used; they wonder where all the information goes, especially because interviewers raise their hopes that something will be done to help them. Nothing happens until ‘another person from another organisation comes to ask the same questions.’ Most of those interviewed said they are coming to a point where they feel they have to stop wasting their time answering interviewers’ questions. Some alleged that NGOs are using their plight to solicit for donor support, which is never used to help them. This sentiment is particularly strong in Nakuru and surrounding areas because, while the largest number of IDPs is in South Rift, most assistance has gone to North Rift, and lately a lot of attention is going to the cattle rustling and small arms crisis in the Kerio Valley. Scarcity of literature While there has been some media coverage and follow-up on the ‘clash victims’ especially by the Nation Media Group, a review of the literature revealed a serious lack of academic interest. With the interview fatigue cited above, one would expect many agency reports, discussion papers on the issue, fact sheets and abundant information on this subject. Yet there is no material even in the universities, and only the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) have recent research reports on the situation of IDPs. There are only a few reports on displaced women by the Kenya Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and KHRC, both recounting events of the early 1990s. If there is other literature on this subject, it has not been effectively disseminated within Kenya, perhaps due to the political sensitivity referred to above. Inaccessibility Some places could not be visited without security escort due to insecurity and suspicion by IDPs and the provincial administration officers. It was not always possible to get such escort. Narrowing the scope The problem of internal population displacement and related issues is enormous. Since 1991, there are new cases in various parts of the country, many of which do not receive media attention. Some are ten years old, others more recent occurrences. When in the field, there are very many cases which research assistants and collaborating agencies’ staff feel need to be seen to. That many ‘worthy’ cases could not be visited means that this and similar research reports can only provide a rough idea of the larger picture. Editing. As noted in the Background, this is a particularly sensitive issue in Kenya, yet there is need to negotiate an entry point into policy discussion with all relevant stakeholders. Consequently, sensitive aspects have been edited from this report. GENDER AND DISPLACEMENT Conflict and displacement affect men and women in different ways. The effects of conflict, including dispossession, loss of means of livelihood, and general disruption of life have a more lasting impact on women and children than on men. In all conflict

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situations, women and girls constitute the most vulnerable group. Men either go off to take part in the armed hostilities or are imprisoned, leaving women behind as household heads, or they are killed in the violence leaving them widowed or orphaned. Women are the ones usually left with the burden of escaping with the children, and meeting all their needs in absolute poverty and in new, unfamiliar environments and difficult circumstances. This role overload is particularly difficult for the women where conflict has resulted in the breakdown of former support structures and kinship ties through separation of family members. Women household heads now take up the responsibility of taking care of children and ageing relatives. Displaced women have few or no opportunities to continue their livelihoods, and often have no access to remunerative work. The lack of information about the whereabouts of some family members adds to their trauma and sense of uncertainty. Their situation is worse where cultural values or beliefs and practices reinforce marginalization or isolation of raped, widowed or handicapped women. During conflict, women fleeing violence face the danger of physical and sexual violence including torture, humiliating interrogation procedures, rape and the trauma of watching their loved ones killed or raped and their property looted or destroyed. In some situations, such as the recent clashes in the Kerio Valley, women and girls become targets for deliberate attacks by the opposing parties for purposes of revenge.6 Men react to displacement differently from women. Loss of property and lack of alternative employment reduces men’s capacity to provide for their families. This demoralises them, and many break down and start abusing drugs. That women take up the task of feeding the family and meeting other needs is not always taken kindly by men, who feel that they have lost their authority, status and respect. Changes in or reversal of gender roles and concomitant resentment triggers resource-related violence as the women, now household heads, access and control the management of resources. Some men abandon their wives and children to take other wives and start ‘afresh’, or go away to look for jobs and never come back. The reality of displacement places various challenges to women, especially the widowed or abandoned wives who have large families to feed. Loss of property, lack of social security from the extended family and lack of access to means of livelihood create conditions for sexual-based violence including rape, prostitution and forced or child marriages. LEGAL STATUS AND PROTECTION OF DISPOSSESSED WOMEN International refugee and humanitarian law state basic principles for the treatment of people fleeing conflict and gross human rights violations. However, these and other international legal instruments do not address protection and assistance needs specifically on gender. There is no International Convention specifically addressing the issue of Internally Displaced and dispossessed persons. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement developed by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General are not binding on governments or any competent authorities. The absence of international 6 For various articles on gender and displacement, see Forced Migration Review, Issue No. 9, March 2001.

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legal recognition and protection framework, and lack of cooperation of national governments predispose IDPs to a wide array of human rights violations. The difference between refugees and IDPs is that refugees have crossed an international border, while IDPs suffer similar hardships within their states, where their national governments bear the primary responsibility for their protection. Unfortunately, many governments lack the capacity or the will to protect them, and sometimes bear the responsibility of creating conditions of persecution that cause internal population displacement. International human rights instruments provide for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons, thus binding state parties which have signed them.7 Governments do not always adhere to the provisions of these instruments, especially where part of the dispossessed population is considered a threat or enemy of the regime. In circumstances where the causes of dispossession have political overtones, the victims remain unprotected in terms of law and policy, and without means of legal redress.8 This is worsened by their poverty, hostility from host communities, discriminatory customary laws, ignorance of their own legal rights and incapacity to take part in decision-making. Dispossessed women are further disadvantaged as a result of institutional discrimination against women, which make the consequences of displacement, dispossession and disenfranchisement more absolute and irreversible. For many of them, displacement adds to their multiple jeopardy of being culturally discriminated by the virtue of being women, the socio-economic and psychological effects of being widowed/ abandoned, and the heightened risk of gender and sexual-based violence. This plight is worse for women from already marginalized communities. On the international scene, debate over the international community’s response to IDPs revolves around which agency should assume responsibility for them. The UN’s Resident Humanitarian Coordinator is mandated with appointing a lead agency for the coordination of humanitarian assistance in most emergencies involving IDPs. In Kenya, UNDP was involved with assisting the displaced in 1992.9 The role of the UNDP Since the UNDP ‘Displaced Persons Program in Kenya’ was wound up in 1995, UNDP has not been involved in research or follow-up activities on the situation of the displaced. Nor have other UN agencies in Kenya been vocal about the subject. This omission is all the more glaring in the light of the UNDP’s priority of addressing poverty. IDPs remain the poorest of the poor, and UNDP in its Poverty Eradication Programmes needs to look at population displacement and dispossession as an on-going problem in Kenya. Given that IDPs far outnumber the number of recognized cross-border refugees in Kenya, 7 Susan Mogere, ‘ The Legal Status of Internally Displaced Women in Africa: The Kenyan Experience’ in UNIFEM/AFWIC, Legal Status of Refugee and Internally Displaced Women in Africa (Nairobi: UNIFEM/AFWIC, 1996) pp. 169-184. 8 Christine Mpaka, ‘Legal Status of Displaced Women in Kenya’ (Nairobi: FIDA, 1994). 9 The UNDP programme in Kenya was ineffective and did not help the intended beneficiaries. See a detailed evaluation by Human Rights Watch, Failing the Internally Displaced: The UNDP Displaced Persons Program in Kenya (New York: HRW, 1997).

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UNDP needs to recognize them as a subgroup of the most impoverished and marginalized and set up assistance programmes targeting them. Silence and inaction by the UN and a large section of civil society in Kenya may be attributable to political sensitivity of the issue (and for NGOs, this and lack of resources), but general opinion among many academics and practitioners interviewed in this instance is that the UN is embarrassed about the failure of the UNDP programme, a situation that has contributed to the silence and indifference. Yet UNDP, having previous experience with the displaced in the 1990s, and in its mandate to alleviate poverty, is very well placed to revive interest in this subgroup of the most poor by lobbying the government to recognize their existence and assistance needs. UNDP could also spearhead a process of inter-agency response. SIZE OF DISPLACED HOUSEHOLDS During the field study, one hundred and twenty displaced families were visited. It was observed that the size of households was very large, with as many as fourteen children per mother. Those living in urban and peri-urban areas are larger, due to illegitimate offspring born to teenage mothers. A number of widows and abandoned women also had young children born from sexual relations with men in the host community, and commercial sex in the urban areas. Teenage mothers have between one and five children, fathered by different men. None of these men assume their responsibilities to the woman or the children. The children are usually left in the care of the female grandparents. Teenage mothers living with their parents are also dependants, as they do not have skills or capital to start income-generating activities. In camp situations, as at Louis Farm in TransNzioa or ‘Bosnia’ in Kitale, family members live in crowded shelter together. There may be as many as four couples sharing one room with all their children and grandchildren. One household may therefore have twenty persons and as many mouths to feed. In ‘Resettlement Farms’ run by the NCCK, CJPC and the government, the number of people per household is much smaller. At Elementaita, for example, there is an average of five people per household, who are mainly old women and their grandchildren. Men and the youth have shifted to towns and other places to seek employment, because of the harsh natural environment and because poor prices fetched by the farm produce are not enough to feed the families. The youth are also bored and try their luck elsewhere. In peri-urban areas like Bahati and Dundori in Nakuru, households have about ten persons. They are mainly farmers living in rented accommodation and have hired plots of land from the host community or in the forests. They also burn charcoal or provide casual labour to large agricultural farms. Young people are conspicuously absent, as they have moved to towns to look for jobs in timber mills, hotels, shops, nightclubs or industries. PROPORTION OF WOMEN-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS A list of 1,800 families compiled by NCCK-Nakuru in 1993 has only 218 women household heads. This list was compiled for the purpose of distribution of relief food and does not indicate the size of household or type of family (e.g. polygamous, extended or nuclear). When women household heads do not receive relief food directly, they may

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face problems of receiving small portions or none at all if the men sell it off or take to other women. Another list of the 400 intended beneficiaries of the CDN-J&P Temporal Resettlement Project compiled in 1993 has only 39 women household heads. It was noted that in some cases, even where the household head was a widow or a single mother, the name of her eldest son or other male relative was registered, not hers. Asked why they did not want to be registered as the owners of the plots of land, several of them said they felt the land was more secure if registered in a man’s name. Some believe women do not have the right to own land.10 Not every woman-household head, however, holds this view. The younger women are proud to be the registered beneficiaries of the plots of land. They feel independent, have high self-esteem, and say that now they cannot be threatened or otherwise harassed by their husbands’ relatives. Being landowners means they make all decisions about what to plant, how much to sell, and generally how to manage the resources coming from the farms. They feel luckier than their fellow women whose husbands marry other wives and sell almost all the produce leaving them with barely enough to feed the children. Men who approach them for marriage or friendship always ask to have the names on the registration certificates (equivalent of Title Deed) changed to reflect men’s names. Most are very wary of such men because women who have done this have found themselves with co-wives and physically abused. They cite envy from fellow women and verbal abuse from the men, who accuse them of ‘strong-headedness’. Since the said lists were compiled, the number of women house-hold heads has increased due to deaths and departure of men to towns or to marry other wives. Of the 120 families interviewed, women head 51. They said the men had either been killed or separated from them during the clashes, abandoned them to marry other wives, gone to look for jobs in towns and failed to return after more than five years, or had died of ‘mysterious diseases’. The absence of men in households creates special challenges to the women, including risk of dispossession by the men’s relatives, robbery, sexual harassment, trickery and abuse by men in the neighbourhood, and rape. When they are raped or beaten by men, people do not sympathize with them, but accuse them of seducing the men.11 This makes them feel ashamed and alone, because in addition to the trauma of their experience, society also loses respect for them. In cases where the men were the bread-winners before displacement, abandoned and widowed women face extreme poverty, especially if they have no skills or capital to start income-generating activities. Some of the women interviewed also said they feel insecure because in case of attack, there is no one to protect them. They also experience hostility from married women, who view them with suspicion and warn them against stealing their husbands. Some people blame abandoned women as being responsible for the departure of their partners, and sometimes accuse them of being prostitutes. This is particularly painful for women who already suffer low

10 Author interviews at the CDN-J&P resettlement project at Kangawa in Molo on 6th December 2001. 11 Author interviews in Nakuru town and surrounding slum estates where displaced families have settled.

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self-esteem from being abandoned and may indeed be involved in prostitution to meet their material and sexual needs. LIVING CONDITIONS OF DISPOSSESSED WOMEN As noted above, displaced women in Kenya are among the poorest of the poor. It must be remembered that they remain displaced to date because of insecurity, poverty and trauma. The poorest of the displaced are those that had all their property and documents destroyed or lost during the violence, and many have not benefited from the ‘resettlement’ projects run by the government or the church agencies. Those who have been widowed or abandoned by their partners are in particularly difficult circumstances as they seek to meet the needs of their large families. The living conditions of IDPs living in camps are quite different from those living in Resettlement Farms like Elburgon, Molo, Liavo or Elementaita, while those living in urban and peri-urban areas face different challenges. In camps These are mainly those who have escaped recent hostilities and insecurity and have not found alternative settlement. They are found mainly in school or church compounds, abandoned buildings, and among the Marakwet, in caves on the steep escarpment.12 Such camps are characterised by overcrowding and lack of basic needs including water, food and sanitation. People in camps are often hungry, angry, anxious and in a constant state of fear and insecurity. They are traumatised, restless, despondent and confused by the sudden disruption of their lives and the pain of losing family and property. Basically, they live in a state of ‘wait and see’, to determine whether or not to return to their farms or relocate to other, more secure parts of the country. The women suffer most in the camps, because despite the insecurity and sudden deprivation, they still have to put food on the table. If the food is not enough for everybody, the women give what there is to their husbands and children, and go hungry. They also have to venture into insecure areas to look for firewood, draw water and get foodstuffs, which exposes them to physical and sexual violence. When the children fall sick, it is up to the women to seek medical care for them. Many pregnant women in camps suffer miscarriage, while others are forced to deliver their babies at home with the help of traditional birth attendants, or their husbands, often with children watching the process. Child mortality is very high, which leaves new mothers, especially those recently widowed, traumatised by a sense of emotional, material and social loss 13 Women in camps are also ashamed and embarrassed by lack of privacy. Couples share the same room with their children and sometimes with other married couples. They see or overhear sexual activity going on, and are ashamed that their own children see them having sex. They feel that such crowding and sexual exposure is responsible for their 12 Conflicts in the Kerio Valley and the proliferation of small arms has lately captured media, researchers and humanitarian agencies’ attention because of the brutality of the attacks. See NCCK, SNV and SARDEP, Pacifying the Valley: An Analysis of the Kerio Valley Conflict (Nairobi: 2001); Kenya Human Rights Commission, Raiding Democracy: The Slaughter of the Marakwet in Kerio Valley (Nairobi: KHRC, 2001). 13 Author interviews at Louis Farm in TransNzoia, ‘Bosnia’ in Kitale and Marich in West Pokot.

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children’s early sexual activity and general promiscuity in camps. They say they have to have sex every day with their husbands, whether they want to or not, because they are afraid if they don’t meet their sexual needs, the men will easily seek it elsewhere within the camp. Women whose husbands have multiple partners tend to blame themselves, citing their own inadequacy and unattractiveness. This is a sign of loss of self-esteem, which they sometimes try to address by meting out violence on fellow women and their children. Income-generating activities (IGAs) within camps are non-existent, and IDPs rely mainly on relief food, where it is available. At ‘Bosnia’, women and children walk long distances to large agriculture farms to provide casual labour. Sometimes children are picked up each morning in tractor-drawn trailers and returned to the camp in the evenings. At Louis Farm, men and women are casual labourers in nearby farms, while their children help with household chores in homes of the host community. Some are able to go to their own farms during the day to tend their crops. They return to the camp in the evenings. Sometimes the crops are stolen just before harvest time, or pastoralist communities graze their cattle on them. This creates hopelessness and apathy. They are frustrated, and inaction by local chiefs makes them feel victimized and ‘persecuted.’ The Marakwet on the escarpment are forced to go down into the valley during the day to gather food from their farms. Men tend bees and harvest honey, while women produce beads, baskets, ornaments and other souvenirs made from local materials. However, they do not have a ready market for these items because trade has been hampered by insecurity. Displaced Pokot in camps at Marich, Orwa, Silip and Sigor in West Pokot are particularly desperate because their case is not widely known. The Pokot are believed to be the aggressors in most on-going conflicts with other communities, thus the 2,000 Pokot families displaced from Amolem, Sarmach, Lous, Orwa and Karaya by revenge attacks by the Turkana are not known about and no-one has helped them. In 1999, the people and the local provincial administration (chief and sub-chief) were displaced and relocated to Marich and Sigor. Homes and schools were demolished, cattle stolen, and irrigation programmes abandoned. At Marich Pass camp alone, there are 200 orphans. There are no clinics. The main economic activity among the displaced Pokot has been charcoal burning, but the government has banned this due to serious environmental degradation in the area. Given the harsh natural environment of the region, life is particularly hard for this group of people due to limited survival alternatives. Displacement has particularly affected women, because even in normal circumstances, the Pokot culture is very discriminatory towards them. They do not take their daughters to school. Even in camps, they have to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). They are not allowed to talk to ‘strangers’ about their problems. During attacks, raiders usually rape women and girls. Victims of such ordeals are particularly traumatised because their men turn against them; they beat them up and never touch them again. Raped women and girls are considered a shame and embarrassment to their husbands and fathers. Other women also ostracise them. Single women can forget about marriage if they are raped. To

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avoid such trauma and isolation, rape cases are not reported. If any are indeed reported, no action is taken because elders and the police say they do not know the culprits. The women are blamed for ‘putting themselves in such situations.’ Besides, war is waged to recover cattle, not to punish rapists. Local church leaders do not address the issue of rape, thus victims suffer in silence. Yet women, who have to feed their men and children, risk rape daily as they go to the farms to look for food, to draw water, or to the market. Displaced Pokot women have not formed any self-help groups, because they do not have the time or resources. This means they do not discuss their problems collectively. In urban areas The greatest number of displaced persons in Kenya live in urban areas, where they eke out a living in slums, cheap rented accommodation or on the streets. Most of them, uprooted from different parts of the Rift Valley moved into Nakuru and smaller towns in South Rift including Naivasha, Molo, Elburgon, Gilgil, Njoro, Dundori and other market centres. They moved into towns because they did not have relatives living in other parts of the country and had no means to purchase land elsewhere. Victims of violence living in urban areas face different challenges from those living in camps. The size of urban households is much larger, and includes grandchildren, many of whom are illegitimate or orphaned. Women household heads, who constitute the majority of urban displaced families not registered with the NCCK or CJPC,14 say they were never married, or have been thrown out by their spouses’ relatives once widowed. Others say that after displacement, the pressures of having to suddenly adjust to poverty and dispossession created tensions in their marriages, leading to divorce. Still others say their husbands could not adjust to the loss and move on with their lives, but became withdrawn, idle, violent, drunken and promiscuous. This made the women feel they were better off without these ‘useless, violent’ husbands and moved out. Many husbands also abandoned their wives at the height of the clashes, because they could not deal with their incapacity to provide for their families. They took other wives or ‘disappeared’ into towns to look for jobs. Over 50 per cent of the urban household heads interviewed are single mothers, never married but with as many as eight children, fathered by different men. Many of them were children or teenagers whose schooling and future prospects were cut short by the dispossession and displacement of their parents in the early 1990s. Bored, illiterate and without goals or sense of direction, young displaced women have little self confidence and are easy prey for manipulating men who pretend to ‘understand’ their situation and lure them into sexual relationships with promises of love, money, or jobs. Others easily become commercial sex workers. The urban displaced face huge challenges, particularly housing problems. They have to pay rent, for electricity and water, which is very expensive considering they have no jobs.

14 Not all displaced persons registered with the church groups or the government in 1992, due to fear of reprisal for admitting being displaced and dispossessed. See The Norwegian Refugee Council IDP Database: Kenya Country Profile at www.Idpproject.org. Others were too young at the time, and lived with their parents. They have since grown up and started families of their own.

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Economic activities such as selling vegetables and second-hand clothes do not raise enough money to feed the large families. Poverty levels are very high, a precondition for prostitution, early marriages and a tendency to get into polygamous marriages. Most of the children of the displaced do not go to school because priority is placed on meeting food, accommodation, medical, clothing and other expenses. Low school enrollment has led to higher numbers of street children, who are sent during the day to look for their own food. The level of employment is very low even among the educated and trained, and for illiterate, displaced women and girls, opportunities are indeed very few. Income-generating activities for the urban displaced women including trade in second-hand clothes (mitumba), casual labour in factories, selling vegetables, brewing illicit liquors, tailoring and prostitution. Some are able to go to their own farms while operating from rented accommodation. Others have hired small plots of land on the outskirts of the towns, where they grow vegetables and cereals to meet their food requirements. They sell large portions of the produce to meet rent, medical and other bills. This group constitutes mainly those who had some capital to initiate such activities. Prostitutes easily cite displacement, death of or abandonment by spouses, dispossession, lack of skills for anything else, the poor economy and idleness for engaging in the trade. Some married women also practice commercial sex because they have bills to pay and the men ‘are like children’. Selling vegetables, mitumba and local brew does not always raise enough money for all the needs. Sometimes, they have to sleep with policemen or bribe them to prevent arrest when they are caught brewing illicit liquor.15 HIV-AIDS is a major challenge to urban displaced women. As discussed below, the spread of the infection is very high among the displaced due to breakdown of social ties and higher poverty levels. HIV has enormous economic implications for the affected families. Many AIDS orphans are being left with the older parents, some of whom are themselves infected. The number of orphans means more mouths to feed, which puts greater pressure on already large and impoverished households. Household heads also absorb the cost of caring for orphans and other affected relatives, paying school fees and medical bills. Family income reduces as ailing people become too weak to work, thus less productive. There is food shortage because money meant for food now goes into meeting medical bills of spouses or relatives suffering AIDS-related illnesses. A few displaced women living in urban areas have joined self-help groups with the local community, particularly in churches. Each group has a revolving fund or ‘merry-go-round’, to which they contribute small amounts every week. The members help each other to buy utensils, building materials, pay medical bills or meet other expenses. However, majority of the urban displaced women are not members of such groups, and they have not formed self-help associations among themselves. They claim they cannot afford the weekly contributions; they have no one to organize them to form such groups, as they are scattered and not familiar with each other; and they are too busy trying to earn a living to attend such regular meetings. They feel marginalized because when assistance comes from certain organisations, the churches, which usually channel such assistance, 15 Author interviews in Nakuru and Eldoret towns.

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give it to women’s groups, of which they are not members. NCCK-Nakuru has been urging displaced women to form women’s groups because it is easier to identify and target them for assistance or other programmes.16 The women living in urban areas thus have little or no access to loans or any credit schemes. The NCCK micro-finance and credit programme (SMEP) targets Christians in NCCK member churches, and the repayment terms are not tailored to suit the economic conditions of dispossessed, displaced persons. They therefore do not even apply for the loans because they are too expensive. Nor are they able to get credit from other institutions and organisations because they lack the required collateral. In most cases, collateral is given on the basis of property or land, which displaced persons have lost. There are also those who cannot use Title Deeds due to land disputes. Moreover, women have difficulty accessing credit from credit institutions, which often require a man’s signature. In peri-urban areas Displaced women living in small towns like Bahati or Dundori on the outer periphery of towns have rented farms from the local community, or acquired strips of land in the forest. They are farmers, growing vegetables, potatoes, cereals and rearing chickens. Their main problem is shelter for their large families. They spend a large portion of their income on rent, because they have to hire two or three rooms for their dependent sons and daughters, especially when these have their own families. All their expenses are met from whatever they make on the rented plots of land. Challenges include raising school fees and medical bills, transport to hospitals, and meeting the family needs and bills when crops fail due to bad weather or drought. They talk of their farms and lost property with nostalgia, and contrast their present ‘imposed poverty’ with ‘before’, when they had everything. The setting for these people is more or less rural, and survival strategies such as prostitution are not common. Women, however, are unhappy about increased polygamy and promiscuity among their men. Some say their co-wives are too young. These young girls get into early marriages to enjoy the protection of men, and also because, being illiterate and hence unskilled, they see no future prospects except marriage and motherhood. Some of the displaced men also force their young daughters into child marriage in order to benefit from the bride price. The young girls agree to such arrangements because they take pride in the social status and respect accorded them by society. In Resettlement Farms The greatest advantage these displaced have is that they have a piece of land, however small, that they can call their own. On this land they have a house, so they do not have to worry about rent, and on it they can initiate all sorts of income-generating activities,

16 The NCCK programme for Women in Distress has been conducting training workshops for displaced women on strategies of starting and sustaining income generating activities. The author attended one such workshop at Karai, Githioro. It targeted women victims of violence who had settled at Mwireri, Githioro, Kabatini, Bahati and Wanyororo, all in Nakuru District.

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including farming, rearing chickens and goats, small shops (kiosks), and selling surplus farm produce. The greatest challenge at the government Resettlement Project at Moi Ndabi is flooding. Their houses, school and hospital were submerged during the last heavy rains. Silting has ruined the productivity of the farms, hence the two and half-acre plots do not produce enough food for the families. The climate is also too hot for crops like maize to grow to maturity, and potato diseases destroy the entire crop. A foul-smelling gas coming from the nearby Ol-Karia Geothermal Station causes nausea, dizziness, general weakness, persistent colds, difficulty in breathing, and unknown sicknesses among children.17 (It was not possible to get a comment from the Geothermal Station officials). Malaria, typhoid and diarrhoea are common diseases at Moi Ndabi. The nearest hospital is in Naivasha, and fare to the town is too high as most of the income is used to buy food and other household items. They have to walk the distance, risking rape or attacks by wild animals from the nearby Kongoni Game Reserve. The women at Moi Ndabi have no access to a maternity clinic and deliver their children with the help of traditional birth attendants. A mobile clinic run by the Naivasha Parish stalled for lack of drugs. The divorce rate is very high because, given the harsh conditions, each partner expects the other to do something to provide for the family. Poverty and destitution have resulted in radical behavioural changes, with some people resorting to beer-drinking to ‘forget’ their problems, while others have become extremely religious. Either way, marital strains abound, and many couples are separated. Some women, fed up with the violence and poverty, have abandoned their marital homes and moved to towns with the children, where they become commercial sex workers. They also benefit from the wages of their children, whom they send to provide domestic labour in local homes. Several men have also abandoned their wives and families at the farms and got other partners in nearby towns. A few others have managed to be registered at the government Resettlement Project at Elburon, where they have moved with other wives.18 At the CDN-J&P Commission Temporal Resettlement Project at Elementaita, the harsh climate has made it very difficult for sustainable agricultural activities. The same is true of the NCCK Resettlement Project at Liavo in Kitale, where the soil is too poor for any crop to do well. They therefore remain very poor because they can barely meet their food requirements and their children have dropped out of school. They were given the land by NCCK and CDN-J&P Commission on a credit scheme, where they would use proceeds from the farms to pay back the total cost of the plots. This arrangement is failing because they get no income from the farms. Only the CDN-C&P Commission project in South Molo (Kangawa) is successful because the land there is fertile and productive. 17 Author interviews with Mary Wanjeri Ngaruiya, Agnes Mutuura, John Mbugua and Sarah Wambui at Moi Ndabi on 6th December 2001. 18 Author interview with Joseph Ngaruiya at Moi Ndabi on 6th Dec. 2001. The CJPC Nakuru is currently investigating the problem of multiple registrations among those it resettled at Elementaita. It is alleged some have been allocated five-acre plots by the government at Elburgon but hold on tothe CJPC plot. Author interview with Ernest Murimi, CDN- J&P Commission Executive Secretary in Nakuru on 7th December 2001.

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The women at Elementaita face the problem of abandonment by their husbands, who have gone off to look for jobs elsewhere or taken other wives and moved into towns. Their children have also gone to work in the Diatomite mines at Gilgil, or as housemaids. The women are therefore very lonely. Some of their children have got illegitimate children and brought them to the Resettlement Farm, where there are neither medical clinics nor adequate food. There is a feeding programme at the primary school run by the Catholic Church, but the children all return home when there is no food. There is also a water problem because to draw a 20-litre can, they have to pay a levy for the maintenance of the pump. The water also has a lot of fluoride, which affects their teeth, and they have to walk long distances to the Delamere Farm to get treated drinking water. To deal with these problems, the women at Liavo and Elementaita supplement their little farm produce with providing casual labour to large farms. They walk the long distances to the farms, or are picked up by the farmers in trailers. Some have hired small plots from the host community, especially in the more fertile areas. Brewing of illicit liquor is another profitable economic activity among the displaced and the host community. Women brew the liquor, but consumers are mainly men. The liquor- brewing women interviewed said they usually get the income that comes from this trade, but sometimes it is a source of domestic quarrels and violence especially when their partners demand to be given the money. Men also accuse the women of promiscuity with their clients. While the women complain that drunken men do not contribute to the family budget and are usually very violent, they also say they are in a situation where they cannot stop brewing beer and encouraging drunkenness because it is their only source of income. Drunkenness and idleness among men creates serious domestic problems, especially when men want to sell off the available foodstuffs to buy beer or to meet the needs of other wives. Children do not go to school, as parents are preoccupied with meeting food and medical needs, and education is considered a luxury. While the church and NGOs such as World Vision try to change this trend and attitude through school feeding programmes, the number of displaced persons’ children out of school is still very high because they are unable to buy school uniforms, books and pay school levies. Child labour in the form of domestic work for girls (cleaning, baby-sitting), and herding and farming for boys is rampant. Many children also roam the streets, begging and engaged in petty crime and substance abuse (glue-sniffing). Most of them are delinquents. Early or child marriages is on the rise, as is polygamy, due to the economic situation of the displaced.19 GENDER-BASED AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST DISPLACED WOMEN Displaced women living in all the above settings cited domestic violence as a major problem affecting their relations with men. While domestic violence is common in many Kenya societies, displaced women interviewed said that their situation of destitution and the difficulties of life in displacement exacerbate the conditions that lead to domestic violence. While no statistics exist on the incidence of domestic violence, interviewed 19 See an analysis of the problems faced by displaced in P. Kamungi, The Current Situation Of Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya: 2001, op. cit.

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women (displaced and from the host community) said displaced men are particularly bitter and tend to displace their frustrations on their wives and children in the most brutal ways. The women also said that displaced men are either violent or difficult to relate with, or quiet, non-controversial, fanatical Christians who believe their plight is God’s will for them. Some of these God-fearing types do not contribute to the family budget; which makes their wives very resentful. They sit around, telling tales of how God saved them from the attackers. Domestic Violence Married women said they are slapped, kicked, punched, clobbered with sticks, attacked (cut) with machetes or pangas, burnt with glowing firewood, or strangled/ smothered by their partners. This happens mainly at night, and usually when the men are drunk or angry with the wives for various reasons. They attributed the violence to:-

��Men’s refusal to provide for the family. Most men, they say, are idle and lazy, and do nothing to contribute to the family income. Yet they expect to find food at home. When the women complain or urge them to help, they start talking about their rich past and get very violent.

��Drunkenness. Some men sell off the meagre harvests, or steal their wives’ wages earned from casual labour to buy beer. Some even sell relief food.

��Promiscuity. Some men go with prostitutes, or women in the neighbourhood, especially in camp situations where idleness, crowding and lack of privacy encourage sexual relations. When their wives complain, they are beaten, and sometimes verbally abused by the men, blaming them and saying nasty, humiliating things like ‘You are old, you don’t bathe, you stink!!’ to explain away their waywardness. Others accuse their wives of having affairs, especially if they are late to come home in the evenings.

��Abstinence or refusal to have sex among women. Some women who know their spouses or lovers have multiple sex partners sometimes refuse to have sex for fear of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Their partners refuse to use condoms and beat them up, accusing them of having other lovers. They finally end up raping them. Other women refuse to have sex to prevent unwanted pregnancies, especially when they are not using any forms of contraception. Catholics are not supposed to use any forms of preventive measures, while others have no money to buy them or have them fitted in clinics.

“My husband beats me almost every day. I try very hard to make him happy, but he always finds reason to quarrel and beat me. Some times he comes home with other women and makes me cook for them and later I have to sleep on the floor, as there is only one bed. This hurts me very deeply. He does not give me any money, even to buy food for his ‘visitors’. I don’t like what has happened to my marriage. I am not happy any more. I cannot leave him, because he is all I have. Where would I go? Besides, who else would want me? I pretend not to see or think of his sexual behaviour. He has never told me to pack and go, so

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it means he still loves me and wants me. I don’t think I will get AIDS from my husband. I pray to God every day and since He (God) rescued me during the clashes, He will protect my husband and I from that terrible disease! I provide for my husband like he is one of my children, or a visitor, and just seeing him every day is all I ask.”20

Battered women have very low self-esteem. Some are still traumatized by what they witnessed or underwent during the clashes, and perhaps have no other relatives except their abusive partners. They are trapped in unhappy, abusive relationships because they are too poor to move out, or because they need the social security, respect and psychological satisfaction of having the ‘protection’ of one’s own husband. Some are afraid of the stigma of being divorced, while others are afraid of loneliness. They lack the courage to walk out, believing the man will ‘change’. Most battered women are very unhappy and confused about what course of action to take. They hate the violence and its causes, yet cannot bring themselves to let go. Even the spectre of HIV/AIDS is not deterrent enough. There are also women who believe it is all right to be battered, that wife-beating is an expression of love and appreciation, that the men notice them! Legal Redress? Battered women do not usually take the matter to the police. This is mainly because the police or the chiefs refer them to clan elders or church leaders; dismissing cases as ‘domestic affairs.’ They do not want to be involved. One chief in Dundori said he does not take such reports seriously because,

‘Today the woman wants protection from the man, and before you know what is happening, she is back in his house!’

This attitude means that even very serious cases are not given due attention by the administration, thus entrenching the practice. Women who have been assisted by organisations like the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) to take the matter to court have also faced problems such as high court fees and delays, which have caused some to withdraw or abandoned their suits. Others lack the courage to face their partners in court, or are too embarrassed to expose the real causes of domestic violence, especially if the men use vulgar language to cause laughter in court. A few report to the local parish priest or church elder, but usually no steps are taken because it is considered a ‘domestic matter’ that the spouses should sort out between themselves. Recourse to traditional justice systems and kinship support remedies is not an option for displaced women because displacement disrupted such structures and arrangements. The cost of filing a court case, or paying for elders’ audience in a ‘foreign’ land makes the effort not worthwhile. Relatives of battered women may also not be supportive when they seek help, or may not want to be involved. Ultimately, domestic violence must be understood as a socially-constructed experience, and the intensity of the pain and trauma that follows it is partly dependent on the response of the society itself, availability and seriousness of legal frameworks, and support of

20 Author interview with Lorna Njeri at Elementaita on 6th December 2001. Battered women interviewed in various parts of Nakuru and Eldoret expressed similar sentiments.

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those closely related with the victim. Where all these factors are absent, as in situations of displacement, battered women suffer in silence and isolation. Sexual violence The most common form of sexual violence against women during the clashes and in places where they sought refuge was rape. Recent violence, be it ethnic skirmishes or cattle raids, is invariably characterised by killings, destruction of property and rape. Most of the women interviewed said they knew of someone who had been raped during displacement or more recently. Rape is perpetrated by security forces, attackers, raiders, cattle rustlers, bandits, drunkards, or ‘unknown people’. Actual victims of rape could not talk to the researcher: they were too traumatised; they broke down and wept.21 They did not come forward freely; neighbours identified them. One woman revealed her ordeal to her neighbours only after she suffered a miscarriage. The husbands or relatives, who were often forced to watch the violation, talked about it with mixed reactions of sympathy, bitterness and rejection. Raped women are reluctant to seek medical assistance or file police reports; because they do not want it known that they were raped. Others feel that since nothing was done in 1992 when many women were raped, nothing will be done even now. “The men who attack our village and rape women are known by their

weapons, language and mode of dress. We know where they come from, but we do not know their names. Our husbands tell us to be careful and to stay in groups when going to the farms, market or to draw water. Sometimes women are raped even when they are with their husbands. When we report to the local police or the chief, they say they do not know the culprits, that rapist are unknown criminals living in the forests. They also say that going to another community to demand the arrest of rapists will only cause further conflict and precipitate fresh attacks. We do not know whether the police are just reluctant to help us, or whether they are powerless to act. Sometimes the police ask us to fuel their car to go the scene of the crime (not even to arrest the culprit), or to pay for the lunch of the officer who will accompany the victim. Reporting a rape case only serves to publicize the ordeal, and draws negative attention to the victim. So we just cry and decide not to talk about it. There is no point going to the police, or to the hospital. No-one wants to be involved, or to help raped women.”22

This apathy is due to the lack of effective policy on gender-related violence by the church, humanitarian agencies, the government and cultural indifference to the issue.23 In some communities, rapists were forced to marry their victims, banished from the community, or punished by paying hefty fines or other compensation to the family of the 21 Author interviews at Kolongolo in TransNzoia, Moi Ndabi, Elementaita, Molo, Marich and Bahati in December 2001. 22 Author interview with Sarah Wambui at Louis Farm in TransNzoia, on 10th December 2001. Other displaced women interviewed at Marich, Nakuru and ‘Bosnia’ expressed similar sentiments. 23 See report by Binaifer Nowrojee, ‘Sexual Violence Against Refugee and Displaced Women’ Paper presented at the Regional Conference on the Legal Status of Refugee and Internally Displaced Women in Africa, Addis Ababa, August 1-4, 1995.

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offended woman. The effectiveness of such strict traditional justice systems has been eroded by the adoption of ‘modernist’ perceptions of justice, or broken down as a result of population displacement and conflict. Rape therefore remains a prevalent crime against women among the displaced in Nakuru, Kolongolo, Mt. Elgon, Marakwet, and Marich Pass. Children are not spared either. While most rape cases are said to be by ‘unknown’ people, most raped children are abused by relatives, or people under whose care and protection they are placed. Four-year old Priscilla Wanjiku’s is a case in point. She has been repeatedly raped by the owner of the farm where her family sought refuge after displacement in 1997. He has threatened to throw her parents out should they pursue the matter with the police. They fear he is still abusing her, but cannot take any steps because they have nowhere to go.24 Such cases show that while most incidences of rape are not reported because of the shame, cultural stigma and fear of rejection by spouses and relatives, displaced women who may want to act about rape are disempowered by their absolute destitute and the desire to safeguard their new homes and relationships. HIV-AIDS AMONG DISPLACED AND DISPOSSESSED WOMEN The spread of HIV-AIDS among IDPs is very high, particularly among the urban displaced. This may be attributed to a number of factors, including:

��Rape As noted earlier, rape is widespread in conflict situations. It happened during the 1992/7 skirmishes and in subsequent attacks or conflicts that have taken place in many parts of the country. Rapists do not practice safe sex, leading to transmission of venereal diseases and/or HIV virus.

��Unsterilized medical equipment In camps where the displaced sought refuge, relief workers might not have managed to follow recommended precautions to sterilize instruments owing to the large numbers of casualties. Needles and syringes may therefore have been used without proper sterilisation, thereby transmitting the virus.

��Breakdown of social ties and relationships Many of the displaced women have been separated from their husbands through death, imprisonment, abandonment, disappearance and divorce. With the breakdown of social ties and relationships, sexual behaviours also change. Displaced people meet and form new friendships and relationships. Unprotected sex with new partners with untreated STIs multiplies the risk of infection with the HIV virus.

��Poverty and prostitution. Young women and mothers find themselves without basic needs and protection. They are broke and without skills to start income-generating activities, thereby increasing their susceptibility to commercial sex and promiscuity to secure food and other provisions and services. Displaced women working as prostitutes and their clients are both at high risk of contracting the virus because safe or protected sex is hardly practiced. Most dispossessed women cannot afford to buy condoms, which cost ten Kenya shillings for a pack of three. Some of their clients also refuse to use the condoms. Authou interview with Mr. Stephen Waweru of NCCK Nakuru on 6th December 2001.

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��Polygamy Displacement caused the separation of many families, and many single and unaccompanied women moved into towns and other settlements. Many of them were willing to marry as third or fourth wives for physical security and protection, and to meet their physiological and affective needs. Sex with multiple partners increases the risk of infection.

��Different levels of knowledge and awareness about HIV and its prevention. The effect of displacement is that people who fled from HIV-free areas suddenly found themselves living in crowded places with others from places with high HIV rates. Sexual contact between the two groups made, and still makes, those with little prior knowledge more vulnerable to infection. Displaced people eventually interact with the host population. Issues and problems among the host population, such as HIV-AIDS, affect the IDPs, and vice versa.25 In parts of TransNzoia, the scourge has wiped out whole villages, leaving hundreds of orphaned children as household heads. In towns like Nakuru, the number of street children has risen dramatically over the last few years, a situation attributed to break-up of the family unit due to displacement, deaths due to HIV/AIDS, prostitution and rising poverty levels.26 Child labour As noted above, children of displaced persons do not attend school, or soon drop out due to inability to buy uniform, books and pay school levies. Most of these children, particularly boys, roam the streets, where they are exposed to many forms of violence, crime and unhealthy living. While some return to their parents’ homes on the evenings, others join gangs of street children and forget about their homes, especially where such homes are characterised by domestic violence and severe poverty. From an early age, these boys learn to abuse substances (smoking bhang, glue-sniffing), and become ‘hardened.’ Most of them become delinquents, but some engage in profitable service provision as shoe-shiners, handcart operators, messagers, newspaper vendors, waiters, and (in peri-urban areas) herdsboys. Older boys work in agricultural farms. The girls are more susceptible to child labour than boys. Where their mothers are the household heads, young girls, some as young as five, are left to take care of the siblings during the day while the mother goes off to look for work. For orphaned, the girls take up the role of household heads much earlier than boys because they have to look for ways of feeding their siblings. School dropouts soon enter ‘employment’ as housemaids and baby-sitters at the tender age of between six and fourteen. Sometimes they have to accompany their parents to agriculture farms, or to the market. 25 Displacement and other effects of conflict affect refugees and IDPs in similar ways, particularly those that predispose them to HIV infection. See examples in Prisca Kamungi, ‘The Impact on HIV/AIDS on Refugees’ in JRS Eastern Africa Newsletter, June 2001, pp. 3-4 at www.jesref.org. 26 Author interview with Prof. F.M Apollos, Director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Nakuru on 3rd December 2001, and with Beatrice Onsongo, Head of Sociology Department at Egerton University on 5th December 2001.

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These are ‘acceptable’ forms of work. Some children have become involved in commercial sex work to get food or money to meet other needs. Given the harsh economic condition of the displaced, some parents encourage their children to practice prostitution, because their sexuality is the only ‘asset’ or ‘talent’ they have. Children whose parents are commercial sex workers perceive it as a ‘normal’ way of life. Commercial sex work, which is illegal, exposes these children to physical and psychological harm. Sometimes their clients refuse to pay for the services, to use condoms, or beat them up as part of the sexual act. They may also be abused by more than one man, thus seriously hurting their young, developing bodies. When this happens, there is nothing they can do, because it is illegal in the first place, and most are discreet about their trade. Others resign themselves to such violence as being part of the game. They are also exposed to a heightened risk of getting HIV-AIDS. Most of the young girls interviewed said they had many sexual encounters with different men, but that they did not know how pregnancy occurs! They also had little awareness of STDs or HIV, or preventive measures. DISPOSSESSION AND DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF DISPLACED WOMEN

“Fifteen years ago, I had a husband, a home, and a six-acre piece of land where I planted many types of food crops. I had cows and goats and chickens. My children were in school. I had friends. I visited my sister and parents frequently. Today I have nothing: my husband sold our farm then left me and married a young girl in Naivasha. This shack is my home. (Shakes head sadly, and weeps silently for a while). Two of my daughters are prostitutes in Nakuru, and this is the product (points at three young children, noses running and clad in worn-out T-shirts). I have not seen my three sons and parents for ten years; I do not know whether they are alive or dead. I do not have even an identity card; it was destroyed in the fire. I do not know anyone here.”27

Conflicts in the last ten years have led to great loss of life, destruction of property, break-down of social relationships and disruption of livelihoods. People’s houses were torched, belongings and livestock looted, and farms fraudulently transferred to other people.28 This means they became completely dispossessed, as they lost everything. Some women have witnessed the death of their sons and husbands. Their identification documents and title deeds were lost or confiscated. In 1994, some displaced people who had camped at Maela were forcibly returned to Central province, thereby disorienting their lives totally as they were separated from family members and had nothing to their name. Some men sold off the land and escaped the violence, while others took new wives without caring about the welfare of their first wives and children.

27 Author interview with Stella Wambui in Eldoret town on 12th December 2001. 28 Kenya Human Rights Commission, The Right to Return: The Internally Displaced and the Culture of Impunity in Kenya (Nairobi: KHRC, 2001).

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War is considered a male-dominated affair, and during clashes and other conflicts, women are not consulted. While women suffer most from the effects of conflict, they are required to support their men during war by cooking, spying and hiding attackers. They are forced to do this, and to distribute and sell weapons.29 However, in conflict situations, selling weapons may be the only way to earn a living.30 Women are not involved in decision-making about what needs to be done to support the war campaign/effort, and sometimes men sell animals or all the food in the house to buy weapons, leaving nothing for the wife and children. Many married displaced women interviewed do not have control over decisions about the management of resources at home, for example what proportion of the food produced can be sold to meet other expenses. Sometimes the men sell off everything to drink beer, or go off with prostitutes. The men decide what activities are to be done by the household, e.g., casual labour, or going to the market. Most men restrict their wives’ movement, and beat them up when they complain or come home late. The common view is that what a man says holds and cannot be challenged (especially by the wife), because he is the head of the family. The wife is expected to obey and support him in whatever he decides, whether she agrees with him or not. Women are not represented in traditional decision-making and justice systems. They are therefore not empowered to participate in making decisions on matters that affect their lives, or to defend themselves effectively on gender-insensitive cultural practices, particularly those pertaining to land ownership and inheritance. These cultural attitudes and practices, in addition to delays to compensate the displaced, have deepened their dispossession.31 Corruption in the land adjudication office, the judicial system and reluctance to address the question of loss of property and compensation compound the dispossession of the displaced. Many displaced women and youth are not registered voters, and they did not vote in the 1997 General Elections. This is due to three reasons. Firstly, loss or destruction of identification documents and inability to replace them prevented them from registering as voters. Secondly, they are traumatized by the memory of their experiences and associate elections with violence, loss and the disruption of their lives. They want to ‘have nothing to do with elections’, and believe that their vote would not make any difference because, in their view, elections are bound to be technically rigged anyway. Thirdly, the emergence of the Mungiki sect with its emphasis on cultural ‘renaissance’ and disassociation from the current government discourages many youth from taking identity cards, hence registering as voters. This is setting a dangerous precedent of disenfranchisement among the youth, particularly the thousands who have grown up in displacement, illiteracy, poverty, and with dim future prospects. 29 Author interview at Marich Pass in West Pokot on 10th December 2001. 30 While there is a lot of attention paid to the role of women in peacekeeping and confidence building in war-torn societies, enough attention and research has not been carried out on their role and influence on the course and outcome of conflicts. 31 Author interview with Mirugi Karuiki, a lawyer based in Nakuru. He has taken up a few cases on dispossession and fraudulent acquisition of land involving groups of displaced people. Most of the cases are closed because the displaced are unable to pay court fees.

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The Mungiki Sect appeals to the disaffected youth because; basically it is a movement for the youth, articulating their problems and challenges. The sect is keen on promoting the participation of the youth in decision-making, with the ultimate aim of taking over power and management of the economy. They are very unhappy about the problems facing Kenya today, including poor governance, population displacement and concomitant poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and disenfranchisement. The movement emphasizes the human rights and freedoms of Kenyan citizens, but fails to highlight to its followers and supporters the duties and obligations that must go hand in hand with such rights and freedoms. For example, Mungiki members believe that since they are Kenyans by birth, they do not have to prove their nationality by acquiring national identity cards. The sect is popular among the youth also because its leaders take an aggressive and rebellious stance on various issues.32 TYPE OF ASSISTANCE TO DISPOSSESSED WOMEN Many of the people displaced and dispossessed during the 1991/ 7 violence have since returned to their farms, or been resettled on alternative land. It is assumed that those who have not gone back to their former homes are not interested in doing so, because there is adequate security. The political sensitivity of this subject compels many individuals and organisations, including UN agencies, to operate in a discreet manner to ensure freedom of access and unrestricted activities.33 The psycho-social needs of displaced and dispossessed women and their access to justice systems have not been addressed for the last six or so years. In 1994, the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), with financial assistance from AFWIC researched the psycho-social needs of displaced women in Maella and Thessalia camps. The organisation then provided trauma counselling services to help them deal with the reality of displacement, gender and sexual-based violence (rape, wife-beating), facilitated gynaecological and referral services, provided legal aid to the dispossessed, and conducted legal rights education to enable them know their rights so as to pursue rape and other cases in court.34 The two camps were closed by the end of 1994, and similar services have since not been availed to the thousands of IDPs who are poor, abused and without access to any form of justice. The type of assistance given to the displaced is minimal, and includes:

��Relief assistance offered at the height of the emergency Food, clothing, water, medicines, blankets, plastic sheeting, all donated by well-wishers and agencies such as the Red Cross, World Vision, AMREF, WFP, and sometimes from the Relief Desk in the Office of the president which deals with disaster management. 32 Author interview with a youthful Mungiki supporter at Bahati in Nakuru on 6th December 2001. 33 On the role of NGOs and the international community in assisting IDPs in Kenya, see Prisca Kamungi, The Current situation of IDPs in Kenya, op. cit., and Stephen Brown, Recurring ‘Ethnic Clashes’ and the Failure of Conflict Management in Kenya (forthcoming). 34 Naomi Gathirwa, ‘Report of the Psycho-social Needs of the Displaced Women in Maella and Thessalia Camps’ FIDA Report, Nairobi, 1994.

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��Plots of land for ‘resettlement’ These are given on credit to squatters and the ‘poorest of the poor’ displaced by the church groups NCCK and CDN–J&P. The beneficiaries also received building materials, planting seeds, farm implements and fertilizers. Those relocated by the government from places like Olenguruone were given only land. The government resettled 600 families, the CDN-C&P 400, and NCCK another 800 families. These 1,800 families, which have benefited from ‘Resettlement’ projects, constitute less than 1 per cent of the original 300,000 displaced.

��Building materials Iron sheets, doors, windows, posts, and nails were provided by NCCK and CJPC for those whose houses were burnt down, but who could return to their farms in places where relative security has been restored. The beneficiaries of this programme are no longer considered displaced, because they have returned and reconstructed their homes.

��Boreholes and water pumps. Provided in some of the ‘Resettlement’ farms by the European Union, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), AMREF, Red Cross, Médicines sans Frontières and others. The NCCK and CDN-C&J mobilize funds for a wide range of displaced people’s needs, such as raising medical bills, school fees, water filters, latrines, etc, but neither organisation has an established, staffed programme specifically targeting the displaced. The NCCK has been encouraging displaced women to form women’s groups. Training workshops such as the one referred to in the text are part of an initiative to encourage them to take charge of their lives. Such initiatives, however, are hampered by lack of capacity (funds and personnel) to coordinate and document cases specifically targeting displaced persons. Consequently, the needs of displaced women remain unattended to at the NCCK offices for long periods of time. This makes them feel discriminated against.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS As among refugee populations, women and children constitute the majority of IDPs. Displacement and dispossession place particular challenges and disadvantages to the women, who have little chance of earning a living to restore their self-respect. They have few possibilities for gaining access to schools, medical services or judicial redress. As a result, many have drifted into towns and market centres, where they lead a marginal existence with heightened risk of exposure to violent crime, sexual abuse and HIV infection, while their children roam the streets. Besides bereavement and dispossession during displacement, IDPs are also disenfranchised and marginalized in places where they seek refuge. The situation of the women is particularly difficult, as they have to meet the needs of large families in overwhelmingly hostile environments While most dispossessed women have accepted their state of displacement and hold out no hope or intention of ever returning to their farms, they express concern over the culture of impunity, which has dashed any hopes of finding justice or being compensated for their dispossession. Being without an established national and international legal recognition, IDPs are vulnerable to a wide array of human rights violations, as there is virtually no-one to listen to and address their problems. They are therefore

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disenfranchised from the lowest to the highest level, particularly the displaced women who come from already marginalized communities. RECOMMENDATIONS

1) Establishment of a Drop-in Centre As noted in the report, the type of assistance available to displaced women is basically emergency relief. Agencies have not incorporated into their assistance programmes initiatives to help victims of drought, floods and violence deal with the trauma of displacement, dispossession, domestic and sexual violence, and lack of access to legal redress. Such services are available the dispossessed cannot access them because they are too expensive or too far. A drop-in centre, situated in IDP areas such as Nakuru or Eldoret, could be sponsored within an agency dealing with displaced persons, such as NCCK or CJPC to provide psycho-social support, legal advice, counselling, and other services to help women victims of gender and sexual-based violence and displacement come to terms with their plight.

2) Development of a database There are many conflict situations and population displacement in the Eastern Africa region. Developments in the political arena in Kenya in the election year point to possible displacement. As noted above, information gathered by various agencies through numerous interviews and surveys is not systematically documented or disseminated. This scarcity is compounded by lack of academic interest on the subject. An information/ documentation centre situated within the UN would provide an institutional framework to reflect the larger picture on the problem of population displacement in Kenya and the region. Such a database would go a long way in gathering and effectively disseminating research reports, situational analyses, discussion papers, working papers, annual and evaluation Reports of agencies working with the internally displaced, students’ theses, human rights documents and reports on related issues such as governance, as well as information from the internet. The database would serve as a reference point on the subject of Internally Displaced Persons, and help in the coordination research.

3) Strategies for economic empowerment As noted in the text, displaced and dispossessed women have had no access to loans or credit facilities. The existing loan programmes at NCCK and credit organisations are not suitable for dispossessed persons who have no collateral or steady income. Repayment arrangements are too expensive for them, as they cannot raise the required amounts each week while meeting the basic needs of very large families. There could be created at NCCK- Nakuru or CDN-C&P a special loan scheme for the dispossessed and the very poor within the host community with repayment arrangements tailored to suit their economic circumstances, or able to adjust to the challenges that they may face after getting the initial capital. These loans could provide initial capital or seed-money to start small-scale business ventures such as weaving, basketry, selling grains and vegetables, or to rent plots of land for agricultural activities. Skills training: The population of IDPs is largely illiterate, because of low school enrolment and high drop-out rates. Training workshops on farming methods, strategies

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for starting and sustaining viable income-generating activities, as well as enrolment into informal training institutions and polytechnics to learn skills such as tailoring, baking, hairdressing, etc, would go a long way in empowering the women economically. Once they are able to run successful business ventures, their improved circumstances are likely to boost their self-esteem and independence. CDN-C&P and NCCK have the facilities for this kind of activity, and having worked with and among the displaced for years, they are well placed to know which of them require what skills.

4) Capacity-building for organisations assisting victims of violence

The initiation by the NCCK and CJPC of programmes for the Displaced was not accompanied by the requisite capacity-building in these institutions. Consequently, there are no personnel to keep proper records of names, numbers or activities involving displaced and dispossessed persons. Cases reported to these agencies’ offices by displaced people take long to be attended to, and many times no follow-up is made. This makes them feel marginalized vis a vis the local population. The capacity of NCCK and CJPC could be improved to include staff, and to provide trauma counselling, training on stress management, gynaecological and medical referral services to enable displaced women to plan their families, cope with the emotional stress of unwanted pregnancies, deliver children in hygienic or safe conditions, teach responsible sexual behaviour, and treat injuries and STIs. Trauma Counselling: Displaced persons have not had the opportunity to express their stress and depression resulting from the effects of displacement and dispossession. The consequence has been low self-esteem, withdrawal, drug abuse, suicidal tendencies, anxiety and guilt. Professional counsellors - based at NCCK and CJPC for easy access to the IDPs - could help individuals and groups of displaced women deal with the effects of displacement and current living conditions, and enhance their ability to express their feelings on the trauma of rape, abandonment by spouses, dispossession and marital problems.

5) Further research and monitoring Over the years, the number of displaced persons has increased, due to population growth and new incidences of displacement. So far, lack of academic interest and the relative silence of civil society have led to lack of reliable information and data on the actual situation and numbers in Kenya. Existing reports highlight situations in specific parts of the country, and even then capture only a few issues of concern to the body that has commissioned the research. Many issues remain unresearched and undocumented, hence significant information gap on the actual situation and extent of the problem of population displacement and dispossession in Kenya. Such research questions as the number of the displaced, where they can be found, the extent of HIV-AIDS infection among them, the plight of displaced youth and children, orphans, among others could be pursued.

6) New concerted action among stakeholders As the 2002 General Elections approach, all stakeholders need to be prepared for eventualities, including population displacement. This calls for a concerted effort towards

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inter-agency information-sharing and networking, policy initiatives, resource mobilization and advocacy in favour of the most destitute and neglected of the poor. Focus on the plight of women, the most disadvantaged of this sector, can ensure equitable distribution of relief, while their economic empowerment can serve to overcome the effects of trauma, keep families and social networks together, and avoid the social ills resulting from the disintegration which has followed on the heels of displacement and dispossession.

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