Indigenous Young Married Samburu ‘Shanga’ Girls, face exclusion and are discriminated against since they are not considered youth either are they considered elderly women. The age crisis exposes these women to trauma; stigma and discrimination which further contribute to continuous exploitation. The Indigenous Young Married Samburu ‘Shanga’ Girls who are discriminated against by age undergo many challenges for first being women and secondly for their age crises/identity status on non- recognition as either youth or elderly women. Indigenous women also face triple marginalisation in their own communities. The Voices of Samburu Shanga Girls project empowers Indigenous Young Married Samburu ‘Shanga’ Girls to be able to freely interact, socialise, own properties, be self-reliant and participate in decision-making processes. This allows them to make informed decisions and their consent sought on who they want to get married to, through facilitating processes that build their self-confidence and esteem, increase their access to health services, economic empowerment of the vulnerable indigenous young married Samburu ‘Shanga’ girls and create a friendly environment for them to freely express themselves and contribute to social interaction as a tool to address exclusion and discrimination.  

Change of heart in support of women  

Indigenous young Samburu ‘Shanga’ girls face exclusion and are discriminated against since they are neither considered youth nor are they considered elderly women. The age crises expose these women to trauma; stigma and discrimination which further contribute to continuous exploitation. They undergo many challenges for first being women and secondly for their age identity crisis on non-recognition as either youth or elderly women, leading to triple marginalisation. Voices of Samburu Shanga Girls project therefore sought to address societal discrimination of these 14-20 year old Indigenous Young Married Samburu “Shanga” Girls, who are minors in the first place and married off at a tender age without their consent to  elderly men within the  community. 

This was to be achieved by empowering the girls to freely interact, socialise, own  properties,  be  self-reliant and  participate  in  decision  making  processes. It also aimed to train the girls on entrepreneurship and health issues, mentorship, exchange visits and empowering to change the attitude of the community at large 

The project was able  to  train  20  (twenty)  young married  shanga  girls  from  four different  wards which  are  Maralal,  Loosuk,  Lodokejek  and  Suguta  wards,  in Samburu County. The Shanga girls engaged in poultry farming  as  a source for  alternative  income. This gave the girls the  power  and  voice  to  be  able  to  build  small empowerment  projects  that  gave  them  income to  contribute  to  their household  without interference from  elders  or  their  husbands. They are also able to afford a balanced diet for their families as they have continued to grow their stock 

“I am glad to know that giving extra care and attention to the chicken like feeding them well, cleaning their  water  vessels  on  daily  basis  and  giving  them  clean  water  would  increase  the  rate  of  eggs production  hence  increasing  the  daily  income  I  get  from  selling  eggs  as  well  as  chicken.  I  have also  learnt  that  separating  the  young  chicks  immediately  after  the  hatch  would  increase  their  rate  of survival because the chicks won’t get attacks from the eagles or die from the cold grass as they fetch for food.” Nashaki Lepeere 

The  success  of  this  allowed  them  to  be  involved in  decision making  both  at  family  level  and  at  community  level, where they  are  now  fully involved   and   actively   involved   in   community   committees in different departments i.e. Community Forest Association and Water and sand harvesting committees. Additionally, as a result of the sensitisation exercise, there has been buy in from elders, husbands and administrative chiefs who are more supportive of the empowerment and engagement of the Shanga girls. 

Markers of success included frontline decision making by women, trainings, identifying mentors for and to guide the Shanga girls and exchange visits for cross learning and sharing of experiences. Working with the husbands of the Shanga girls provided ownership and support to their efforts and participation in the project. This was a key paradigm shift from the norm with the girls being allowed to take full control of the chicken projects and the income that comes from it and the savings group 

All these served to improve self-dependency of Shanga girls and also improve the respect they get from their husbands to involve them in decision making. Eleven of the twenty young Shanga girls were able to register for and secure a national identity card, something that would not have been supported by the husbands previously.