Widows suffering for saying No

One widow said the refusal by their relatives to repair their houses was but a strategy to entice them into succumbing to wife inheritance.

Most of them said they can not comprehend why their relatives who are aware of the circumstances under which most of their husbands died should insist on inheriting them.

“The cause of most of these deaths is Aids. Why should they insist on staying with us?” asked another widow.

Mama Perese Owino, 45, said if the relatives could adopt the olden traditional ways of inheritance that men only hanged their clothes as a sign of having taken over the house, it would have been understandable. “Unfortunately, most of these men are eager to inherit us to become their wives.”

A pastor with Trinity Fellowship James Kambona said he recently built a food store, dero, for a widow after the in-laws insisted she had to be inherited first.

Pastor Kambona said as a church, they went to the home and built the store since church leaders did subscribe to the cultural belief.

Giving the background of the widows in Kanyamwa, the coordinator of Kanyamwa Widows support Group Mzee Abiud Asowa and his secretary Paul Okendo said they were proud of the stand by the widows.

Mzee Asowa said they were heavily indebted to some organisations and individuals that have helped the widows.