Deep in the heart of Siaya County in the shores of Lake Victoria, about 47 miles from Kenya’s third largest city of Kisumu lies a village of renewed hope and dignity.
Got Matar village known for its rocky landscape and thick shrub bushes, the interventions of a Community Based Organization is slowly giving a smile back to its most vulnerable groups. The widows.
Ravaged by Hiv/Aids and high levels of poverty, the largely fisher folk community of Got Matar village still struggles under the weight of harmful cultural practices like wife inheritance that has not only seen the number of widows in the village grow but also high poverty levels to match.
Thanks to Got Matar Community Development Group, a CBO, the once grim story of the stony village is changing one stone at a time as widows who once lived with their children in leaky mud walled houses benefit from newly constructed permanent houses, putting a lasting smile on their faces.
According to Got Matar CBO coordinator Grace Ochieng a permanent house with an installed water tank for a widow is more than just a house, It is dignity.
Ochieng says the CBO’s initiative of constructing permanent housing for the widows is aimed at curbing retrogressive practices of wife inheritance that expose widows and orphans to risks of violence by opportunistic wife inheritors.
“We construct these houses for widows who partners left them without houses or those in completely dilapidated shelters. The aim is to offer safeguard for the widows and their children so that they are not exposed to men who give falls promises of giving them a decent home then use them sexually and abandon them.
We also have cases where the said inheritors have turned violent to the women and even sexually abused their young daughters. This projects gives the widows the power to say no, allowing them to engage in gainful economic ventures to improve the lives of their families.” said the coordinator.
Beatrice Achieng Ouma, who has been a widow since 2014, had everything to smile about when she finally moved to her newly constructed permanent house.
“Today I will get a good sleep after so many years of living in a house where I had to worry all night if my five children and I would make it to the next morning. Any time it threatened to rain, I had to stay awake all night, but today all this has changed because of the Got Matar community development group.
“I have a house and I can now speak where other women with houses are speaking” said Beatrice
Beatrice is the second beneficiary of such a house this year, as construction of two other units for the widows is almost complete; that will take the total number of units completed in 2025 to four.
Coordinator Grace Ochieng reveals that Got Matar Community group targets to construct an additional thirty-three housing units by the end of next year with the first two units have been sponsored by the family of Andrew and Roberta McMillan, while the ongoing two are sponsored by the family of Daniel and Kitty Gustafson, who are citizens of the United States of America.
“We have an overwhelming demand for houses for widows in this community, with over 90 widows already profiled by the project. Our plan is to do 33 units each year for the next three years, but we are completely reliant on limited sponsorship from abroad.
We hope to get other people to sponsor the additional units so that we can put a smile on the faces of other widows as we also give dignity to the poor families.” Ochieng added.
The construction of the housing units is undertaken in partnership with the local Got Matar Institute of Technology, which offers opportunities for their building and construction course students to undertake apprenticeships under the guidance of qualified masons.
George Odhiambo Aketch a tutor at Got Matar Institute of Technology explains that the construction of houses for the widows under Got matar CBO is a win endeavor for both the widows and the institute.
“This unit you see has been done within three months with the involvement of our building and construction course students.
As the housing project is done our students do not have to look for attachment elsewhere; they simply join in to get practical skills to improve their competence and become hands-on,” said Odhiambo.
Christopher Omondi Ouma and Sharon Atieno Okinda are some of the building and construction course students who have expressed gratitude in having been engaged in the house construction project for the widows as attaches saying they saved a significant amount of money that they could have paid to gain the invaluable skills elsewhere.
The project by Got Matar Community groups is being implemented on the backdrop of the recently passed widows protection bill by the Siaya County Assembly, which seeks to protect the widows from harmful cultural practices and also to empower them both socially and economically.
In a region where the number of widows remains relatively high, just as its HIV prevalence rate (23% in the 2022 KDHS report) ,it remains to be seen if the newly passed bill will address the funding gaps in widows’ empowerment projects in the region currently supported through limited donor funding or overseas sponsorships.
By Brian Ondeng
