In most African culture same gender marriage is a taboo which can bring curse to entire community,however, Kuria Community in Migori County have embrace the culture of barren women marry fellow women in a practice dubbed “Nyumba Mboke”.
Nyumba mboke, a practice which allows for woman-to-woman unions have been taking place in the area for decades, despite the fact that gay marriage is criminalised in Kenya.
However, it’s not a bed of roses as the young women who were interviewed shared tales of abuse and suffering on a heartbreaking scale.
But there is little love or romance in this marriage.
A teenager only identified as Boke, stated that she had been forced to abandon her education as she was married off to Pauline Gati (an elderly widow who had no children).
While balancing tears, she narrated how she accidentally got pregnant out of wedlock at a young age and soon after was forced to undergo the outlawed Female Genital Mutilation before being wedded off for 4 cows, to the elderly Gati.
“My father later sold the cows and went for a drinking spree and never gave my mother any money from that. He later died,” she divulged.
The report claimed that such stories of FGM and arranged same-sex marriages were the norm in the highly secluded Kenyan community that borders Tanzania.
On her part, Gati explained that her husband died and left her with no children after they had lived together for many years.
“I was facing a lot of stigma from the community and was advised to get a young woman to help me get children,” she disclosed.
Gati also claimed that the men responsible for the pregnancies under same-sex marriages were allowed to walk away free from any responsibilities.
A chief in the area, Sammy Chacha, confirmed that nyumba mboke marriages had wreaked havoc on the community.
The government official stated that they had initiated several workshops to educate the locals on the illegality of the practice as well as advocating for adoption in case of families.
The homeland of the Kuria is between River Migori to the east and the eastuary of River Mara to the west. The area stretches from Migori District, Kenya on the east to Musoma District, Tanzania on the west. To the south their land borders Transmara District in Kenya and the Nguruimi area in Tanzania. To the north is Lake Victoria, with a small corridor occupied by the Luo and some other Bantu peoples.
The Kuria are found both in Kenya and Tanzania. In Kenya they live in Kuria East (headquartered in Kegonga) and Kuria West districts (headquartered in Kehancha). In Tanzania they live in Serengeti, Tarime, Musoma town, Musoma rural, Bunda and some parts of Mwanza districts. Mara as a province in Northern Tanzania has mostly been occupied by the Kuria since recent times.
The Kuria are traditionally a farming community, mainly planting maize, beans and cassava as food crops. The cash crops grown include coffee and maize. Tobacco has over time been phased as a cash crop among the people. The Kuria also keep cattle and in times past, this used to lead to inter-clan and/or intertribal clashes over cattle rustling.