Introduction

In this page we document the experiences and reflections about early marriage and child labour, of members  from the rural community of Cham gi Wadu in Migori County, Kenya. The social impacts of early marriage and child labour in small remote rural communities in Kenya often get overlooked in studies of modern slavery but they are forms of modern slavery nonetheless. Unfortunately, such forms of micro level slavery are often seen as the unavoidable consequences of poverty and accepted uncritically in the social consciousness of rural Kenya. However, we discovered that early marriage and child labour often arise in rural communities as a result of consciousness decisions by people in postions of power – e.g. parents, community influence, finance or institutional and whilst victims of modern slavery become such through poverty there is nothing unavoidable about it at all.

Presented in 3 parts, this ‘Community Stories’ documentary was produced as an output of a community media-based participatory research project – Community Stories of Modern Slavery in Migori County, Kenya. This community-based investigation is a contribution to Phase 2 of the Antislavery Knowledge Network (AKN) research programme funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC). When filming of the 3 part community documentary, we employed the same community conversations approach used at the start of the project.

Community conversations – part 1

The first community conversation with the Village Elders took place during the Chief’s Barazza at Omware Secondary School. Unfortunately, the Chief was unable to take part in the conversation with the Village Elders, as he had hoped to do. However, an issue arose at the Barazza that required his immediate attention. However, he did take time to share his thoughts on modern slavery, especially early marriage and child labour in the community.

early marriage and child labour – Area chief & village elders

This video shows Village Elders discussing early marriage and child labour and provides some interesting insights into the way modern slavery permeates rural community life in marginalised regions.

Community conversations – part 2

The conversation with Community Health Workers (CHWs) was facilitated at the new ICT Centre next to the Chief’s Offices in Cham gi Wadu. Originally, CHWs from the across the sub-location had indicated their eagerness to participate in the research. However, a shipment of mosquitto nets arrived and it was imperative, at the start of the malaria season, that these were distributed throughout the communities.

early marriage and child labour – Community health workers

This video shows Community Health Workers discussing the causes of, and their experiences in dealing with the consequences of early marriage and child labour.

Community conversations – part 3

The convesations with young victims of early marriage were also held in the new ICT Centre next to the Chief’s Offices in Cham gi wadu. Several who had promised to share their stories with us, had second thoughts and stayed away. We later learned that this was largely due to fear of shame within the community.

early marriage – experiences and reflections of survivors

This video shows survivors in community conversation about early marriage. They share their experiences and reflect on their feelings about early marriage as a form of modern slavery.