Beautiful beads from Samburu. Beading in this community signifies that the girl is 'taken' and no one else can launch a bid to have an intimate relationship with her.
| File | Nation Media GroupSamburu
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Girl-beading culture in Samburu fuelling rise in HIV infections
What you need to know:
- Statistics from the Samburu County Health Department show that about 500 new HIV infections are reported every year in Samburu County.
Beading, FGM, early marriages and abortions are usually conducted when the girls fall pregnant for the morans that beaded them.
At the Lolkeresire watering point in Samburu East, a 13-year-old girl waits for her turn to drive her goats to the trough.
To a casual onlooker, the beads around her neck are normal ornaments common on girls in this community. But Mzee Apajiro Esindaun says that, among them, is a unique set that speaks volumes.
She is booked to have sex with the moran that beaded her and no one else. This sounds ordinary, until it is revealed that morans do not marry, according to tradition, which only allows them to reserve a young girl for an unrestricted sexual relationships.
Once a girl is beaded, a manyatta where she can sexually serve a moran is set aside, and he is allowed to have sex with her at any time, until she is ready to get circumcised and be married—usually to a polygamist.
Morans have the liberty to move from one girl to another and it is up to the girls to ensure that they do not fall pregnant as the moran and his beaded girl are usually from the same clan.
Fighting the tradition
Human rights defenders and crusaders have been fighting the tradition, as, apart from violating the girls’ right to choose, be educated and be a child, it exposes them to the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/Aids.
Crusaders warn that elements of traditional culture and subservient female roles in Samburu County are pushing HIV infection rates to unprecedented levels as parties involved do not test for the virus. Beading by morans and defilement are practised openly, but female genital mutilation (FGM) is being secretly carried out in the traditional way using the same knives or blades on multiple girls.
In most cases, the opinion of the girl does not matter when the beading relationship is negotiated. There is no informed consent but the negotiation is held between the warrior and the mother and brothers of the chosen girl.
Statistics from the Samburu County Health Department show that about 500 new HIV infections are reported every year in Samburu County.
In 2014, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta was “alarmed” by the high rates of such infections in that county and called for more concerted efforts among all stakeholders to contain the high prevalence rates.
She said Samburu’s unique geographical location and its socio-economic and cultural dynamics immensely contributed to residents’ vulnerability to HIV.
Although the socio-economic data for 2011 from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows Samburu as one of the counties with lower HIV rates, human rights defenders believe the numbers could be higher than recorded, as the county lacks a robust testing system.
Ms Nasieku Letipila, Samburu County’s director for gender, culture and social services, said the retrogressive cultural practice occurs in far-flung villages away from the glare of authorities.
“It exposes many people to HIV and Aids as some morans often bead multiple girls as sexual partners,” Ms Nasieku said, adding that even the circumcision of girls when they are ready to marry is done in a manner that escalates the risks of exposure to HIV and other infections.
Ms Nasiaku categorises beading as a form of defilement as underage girls are compromised by putting their health at risk.
“The beading practice is as harmful as FGM because both are against the fundamental freedoms and rights. We should stand firm to eliminate it as well as FGM,” she said.
Early marriages
Another crusader, Samburu Girls Foundation executive director Josephine Kulea, agreed that these cultures that girl are subjected to at puberty exposes them to HIV.
Beading, FGM, early marriages and abortions are usually conducted when the girls fall pregnant for the morans that beaded them.
“It is one of the vices that we are strongly campaigning against because it also exposes young girls to physical, mental and sexual violence,”Dr Kulea told the Nation.
The campaigner said many schoolgirls were beaded last year when Covid-19 kept them at home, limiting their chances of resuming studies.
Most girls, said Ms Cecia Leiriro, a female administrator in the Milimani area of Samburu County, are caged in bondage and threatened by community members for “trying to go against norms and beliefs”.
