Island women who cannot swim a stroke

Ms Saida Malik looks apprehensively at the huge Indian Ocean waves as the heavily crowded and rickety boat sails from the inland to the Lamu jetty.

She clutches the side railings as the waves toss the old vessel around. The thought of the recent boat tragedy where seven people perished haunts her, her fears worsened by the fact that despite being born and bred a stone’s throw from the Indian ocean waters, she cannot swim.

“Every time we cross here, it is a matter of life and death. We have to hold onto the rails tightly otherwise you will be tossed into the ocean and drown as women here cannot swim,” says Mrs Malik.

She says of the seven people who died after the two boats collided at Wiyoni area in the Indian Ocean a few kilometres from Lamu jetty, five were women.

“Many other women were saved by the men who were in the overcrowded boat,” she adds.

The accident occurred on of January 1 this year when a boat, the Mv Safina which was ferrying passengers from Lamu town to Mokowe jetty collided with another carrying fuel to a Kengen depot.

Welcome to Lamu, Manda and Pate Islands where women remain stuck in their burqa, an enveloping outer garment that exposes only the eyes and hands.

This garment is worn at all times when outdoors and women are forbidden from enjoying a dip in the cool waters that surround them.

The islands’ beautiful inviting beaches are mainly occupied by men who are either fishing or swimming to cool themselves on hot afternoons while the women can only watch enviously.

Culture does not allow them to swim. Old women say that they have never been in the ocean waters in their lifetime.

Mrs Malika Ahmed, an elderly resident of the island, says she has only been a spectator over the years as the men and boys cool their bodies in the sea water.

“Our culture does not allow women to swim in the ocean, perhaps because you will have to be dressed light to swim. I guess that could be the reason, but since I grew up here on the island, and even visited other islands of Pate, I have seen only men go out into the ocean to fish or swim,” says the grandmother of five.

Content with our lives

Mrs Malika, however, volunteers that women have their place in the island and are comfortable with it.

“We are content with our lives here, we are not complaining. It is the way a woman should be to obey and not question, it is our culture and our religion that we respect,” says Mrs Malika.
A group of young girls clad in burqas walks on the beach near a beachfront bungalow on Manda Island where Marie Dedieu, a disabled Frenchwoman, was kidnapped by Somali gunmen.

They watch enviously as their brothers frolic in the sea.

Ms Aisha Mohamed wishes she was a man and she could take a dive into the inviting waters.

“When I was growing up I would accompany my brothers to the beach and tried to learn to swim, but when my mother got wind of it, she gave me a tough talk and even warned that she will report me to my father if I ever did it again,” says Ms Mohamed.