Introduction

In this section we seek to summarise the main points raised through the voices of the diverse range of community representatives and citizens participating in this project. Much research into modern slavery is based at the meso and macro levels of society, i.e., they focus on national and international trafficking, servitude, and slavery in the form of street crime, prostitution, and drug rings but modern slavery runs deeper than the surface level criminal activities and has deep rooted consequences and very often goes unnoticed and not thought about.

Modern slavery is the severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain. Modern slavery is all around us, but often just out of sight. People can become entrapped making our clothes, serving our food, picking our crops, working in factories, or working in houses as cooks, cleaners or nannies. (Anti-Slavery International, 2021a)

As we state elsewhere, the research and campaigns that seek to: 1) counter and eradicate the criminal practices of modern slavery and ameliorate its social consequences; and 2) raise awareness of, and educate people about, modern slavery practices are essential and to be lauded. Indeed, in this project we fully support the view that a life free from slavery is a basic human right. Sadly, we live in a global society in which millions of children and adults are trapped in slavery in every country on the planet and yet, every member state of the United Nations (that is to say 193 of the planet’s 195 countries) is sworn to end modern slavery by taking immediate action.

Modern slavery & the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Target 8.7 of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programme claim every nation will,

Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms. (UNODC, 2020).

The SDGs have been signed and adopted by all 193 UN member states – only Palestine & Vatican City, who are non-member states, have not adopted this target. Despite the SDGs being approved 6 years ago, modern slavery is all around us, but often just out of sight. Anti-Slavery International argue that,

From the outside, it can look like a normal job. But people are being controlled – they can face violence or threats……..Many have fallen into this oppressive trap simply because they were trying to escape poverty or insecurity, improve their lives and support their families. Now, they can’t leave. (Anti-slavery International, 2021a).

Another point raised by Anti-Slavery International relates to human trafficking and provides the basis for our analysis and discussion of the community’s voices is this.

People don’t have to be transported across borders for trafficking to take place. In fact, transporting or moving the victim doesn’t define trafficking – it can take place within a single country, or even within a single community. People can be trafficked and exploited in many forms, including being forced into sexual exploitation, labour, begging, crime (such as growing cannabis or dealing drugs), domestic servitude, marriage, or organ removal. (Anti-Slavery International, 2021b).

It is not the act of transportation that defines trafficking, and therefore does not have to be across borders – whether these be international, national, county or even community. Trafficking, and indeed modern slavery, is the act of coercion in which someone is forced to do something against their will or their natural disposition.

Modern slavery – the abuse of power

Modern slavery involves the abuse of power. This power can take a multiplicity of forms. It might be financial, physical, or emotional. It may be exercised through fear or false promises (i.e., duplicity, manipulation, lies). It can be exercised by employers (actual or potential), parents, adults, administrators, professionals, teachers, family members, spouses, etc. In all instances, the use of what is known as ‘power over’ or the power that one person, or persons, can exert over others to make them compliant and accept their will, is involved.

Power over is built of force, coercion, domination and control and is motivated largely, through fear. (Stuart, 2019).

The fear that enables and facilitates the kind of ‘power over’ leading to modern slavery at the meso and macro levels of society, also exists at the micro level of community life, e.g., at work or where casual labour is sought; at home; in families; at school; in faith institutions and so on. This is where we now focus the findings of our project. Whilst applauding the work of colleagues who investigate modern slavery at the macro and meso levels of social structure, our focus is on the micro level (Jaspel, Carierre & Moghaddam, 2016). In this context, we use micro level to mean individual, familial and community as the data sources under analysis. Before providing a summary of the community voices who participated in this project, we turn to 2 areas, that we believe, provide some context of significance to these matters.

The law, luo history & enculturation of modern slavery – a time for change

Earlier we considered the law and modern slavery in Kenya. We established that the Kenyan Constitution legislates that people shall not be held in slavery or servitude, neither shall they be required to perform forced labour. Indeed, there are a number of articles in the constitution that build on Article 30(1). These deal with issues such as rights and freedoms; human dignity; labour relations; family; children; and security of the person and all can be related to modern slavery in Kenya. Similarly, the Penal Code of 2003, along with a number of other Acts, make it illegal and (punishable by heavy fines or terms of imprisonment) to engage in acts of modern slavery. These include kidnapping, abduction, and human-trafficking; and sexual exploitation, especially that of children. The reason we restate this here is because all of what our community participants discussed and considered as slavery are covered by existing Acts of Parliament, legislative statues, and the Constitution of Kenya. This raises the question – why are these laws, in light of SDG 8.7, not being enforced rigidly?

We also saw earlier, how, the origins of modern slavery in (the former province of) Nyanza, the traditions and customs of the Luo people embraced slavery as they conquered peoples during their migration. We saw that a ‘work for food’ culture was imposed on impoverished and displaced peoples by the better off.  Today we witness still how poverty is being exploited by the well off, leading many into modern slavery.

The region is rich in resources and the local economy relies heavily on farming, mining, and fishing, and yet sadly, our community participants believe both community and local resources are being exploited by wealthy owners (often outsiders known locally as ‘Slave Masters’). We encountered the use of this term at the beginning of the project. The fact that it is a term used amongst indigenous peoples in the 21st Century, speaks to the urgent need for change.

A community typology of exploitation

At the start of this project, during our conversations with the community, community representatives argued that modern slavery involves the exploitation of other people for the personal or commercial gain of the exploiters. They identified 4 types of exploitation, occurring in their communities, that they regard as modern slavery.

1. The exploitation of subsistence farmers, labourers and the landless
2. Exploitation by large landowners – foreigners, outsiders, or wealthy locals – Locally known as Slave Masters
3. Social and economic exploitation
4. The exploitation of women and children – the latter often occurs behind the closed doors of family life as well as through the other 3 forms.

The pandemic prevented us from investigating the elements of this typology in as much depth as we would have liked. It was not possible for us to investigate the exploitation by large land/resource owners as much as we would have liked, i.e., the goldmines, the large sugar and maize plantations, salt and sand mines and the fishing industry on Lake Victoria. That said, we will, during the following discussion of the 5 forms of modern slavery discussed by community participants, show how this community typology of exploitation provides a platform for awareness raising and social action through the appropriation of community media tools, spaces and processes/practices.

The five forms of modern slavery discussed by participants are:

• early marriage
• child labour
• female genital mutilation
• landlessness
• human trafficking.

It should be noted that, in each form of modern slavery, the most significant driving force identified was poverty. There is an inextricable link between poverty and modern slavery and the eradication of poverty worldwide – perhaps a fairer distribution of resources, opportunities, and freedoms – is necessary. Of course, this is a complex political challenge. Making a start at understanding the nature of slavery at the micro level of marginalised and impoverished communities provides the basis for ensuring laws against modern slavery are upheld, enforced, and implemented without fear or favour.

Early Marriage

As was seen earlier, marriage in Kenya, and certainly among the Luo of rural Nyanza, is not always a clear-cut social construct. UNICEF’s definition (2021) of early marriage, as “a formal or informal union between someone 17 or younger and is often the result of gender inequality, entrenched within the norms and behaviour of social structures”, certainly seems to fit with our findings. Indeed, for our purposes, most references to early marriage relate to informal unions of the abduction or ‘come we stay’ union referred to earlier. Most but not all cases of early marriage are a result of poverty or the consequences of poverty in families that are either landless or living in small homesteads not big enough to support and sustain the growing number of children they often have.

Throughout our engagement in the community investigations, we have been struck by the regularly appearance of vicious circles or spirals between poverty and forms of modern slavery. By this we mean that one problem, e.g., poverty, leads to another, e.g. modern slavery, which in turn aggravates the original problem. The important thing to understand is that whilst poverty is always related to modern slavery, it is not necessarily the starting point. Cases in point are our victims of landlessness – Josephine and Charles (see below). Both, through land and wife inheritance customs among the Luo, were forced to their homes by family members. In this case whilst both were relatively poor, it was the exploitation of traditional customs that led to landlessness and poverty.

We take time to explain this because there is a vicious circle/spiral around the lack of education, often caused by and certainly related to poverty. This lack of education results in illiteracy and, as our participants have stated, to ignorance. Ignorance of family planning; of sexual health protection; of more productive agricultural methods. This ignorance in turn leads to early pregnancies; early marriages; STDs/SDIs; domestic violence and poverty.

Sustaining a family that is too large for the homestead can become challenging, if there is not enough land to produce food. In such circumstances, young girls are often viewed as assets to be monetised through marriage, as soon as puberty is reached. Usually, it is family members, often Aunties, who broker such marriages. These customs and traditions, in which young girls are viewed as property, owned by parents and/or family relations, are forms of modern slavery! The children, without any acknowledgement of their basic human rights, are sold as part of a financial transaction in which the welfare of the child is subordinate to the temporary easing of economic strain on the family.

The representatives of the Women’s groups we worked with explained how bad early marriages can be for the girls. Early pregnancies – the giving birth to a child, or to children, by girls who are still children themselves can be traumatising. The girls are not equipped, physically, emotionally, or psychologically, to be mothers. Being removed, from what until recently had been the security of their family homestead, and now living in alien environments with different people and different expectations, can be destabilising. Living in a form of domestic servitude, with no free will, can lead to trauma and behavioural problems. In such instances, domestic violence is rarely far away. Young girls often run away, with or without their children. In cases where young girls leave their children behind the children are often raised by the family for domestic servitude, or they are sold to women unable to have children themselves. That is to say, they become victims to human trafficking.

Sometimes, the runaway girls return home but often they don’t. Dreading shame and stigma, or the fear of being sent back, they look for alternative options – leaving them vulnerable to further exploitation. Often, their only hope is casual labour. They work, earning whatever they can simply to survive, sliding into a situation in which the cycle of informal marriage and pregnancy repeats itself. Thus, exposing the vicious circle between early marriage and child labour that the Women’s groups representatives identified to us early on in the project.

Early marriage is not always imposed on the girl by the family. Another set of circumstances that we encountered take the form of girls (and sometimes boys) being duped into sexual or domestic exploitation, or both. In such cases the girl appears to go into ‘marriage’ of her own volition, that is to say, voluntarily. However, the situation is more complex than that and there are nuanced connections to modern slavery here. Firstly, by definition of their age, young children have malleable minds, especially when they have lived in poverty all their lives.

Early marriage is often seen as an escape from poverty. In the documentary we see a young girl explaining how she believed life would be more comfortable living, as a wife, with an older man.  This would seem to support the views of a Community Health Worker, who suggested that the media shows idealised representations of marriage that bear no resemblance to reality but that strike a chord in a young impressionable mind wanting to improve her lot in life. We would also wish to note here that ‘consent’ by a child to defilement (which is what early marriage is) is not a defence under Kenyan law.

Appearances can also deceive young minds. Peers, who have embraced early marriage and show off the trappings of their ‘apparent’ comfort (clothes, sanitary pads, phones), often advise other young girls to take a husband. Many girls cited peer pressure as a causal factor in their decision to engage in early marriage. It should also be remembered though that it is not simply the pressure from peers (usually driven by a desire for basic essentials and/or material things) that causes a young girl to agree to such an informal marriage. The girls are often vulnerable to older men who prey on them by making false promises of a brighter future. As the Assistant Area Chief explained, these apparent acts of kindness usually come at a price. This price usually includes sex/defilement (leading to early pregnancy) and some form of domestic servitude (leading to punishment for non-compliance).

The women’s groups reason that early marriage causes young girls to lose their freewill and any chance they might have had to achieve their full potential. Of course, it is not always older men who prey on young girls. Sometimes, the exploiters are children themselves, other times they have just become adults in the eyes of the law. They may be working as Boda Boda riders (motorbike taxi drivers), or be University students, giving her 50/- here and there, perhaps so she can buy food or sanitary pads. Usually, the idea is to turn the girls head and enable him to ‘get comfortable’ with the young girl. The consequences are usually the same, early pregnancy and irresponsible behaviour by the young male who usually moves on to the next girl when he no longer desires to stay. It needs to be stated clearly, that in cases where the young boy is over 18, by engaging in early marriage, he is in breach of the law. By exploiting an underage girl for purposes of defilement he is guilty of modern slavery.

The historical lack of family planning; adequate health information/resources; and proper education during the 1980s saw a huge increase in the numbers of HIV+ people in Africa, including Kenya. We encountered significant numbers of orphans, whose parents had died from AIDS, was both heartbreaking and surprising. The lack of parental advice and support exposed many orphans to unscrupulous family members. It was often cited that families were often willing to take advantage of the opportunity to sell vulnerable orphans to ‘suitors’ for early marriage and/or domestic servitude.

Perhaps one of the most surprising findings for us was that the practices outlined above, and those that follow, breach: international human rights law; the Kenyan Constitution; and Kenyan Acts of Parliament and legal statutes. Yet they are permitted to go unchecked. We have seen from the Chief; the Village Elders; the Community Health Workers; and the Community Police that action is sometimes taken and attempts to enforce the law are being made in some instances. Despite encountering breach after breach of the law – we have heard that even when suspects are arrested, they are often set free shortly afterwards. The suggestion is, but we have no proof of this, that bribes are paid to the police and Administration Officials to look the other way.  They in turn advise the perpetrator to make recompense, often in the form of cows, to the parents of victims.

The lack of meaningful action by police, administrators and even government to put an end to these practices is horrifying and needs addressing. We will turn to another aspect of government policy that contributes to both poverty and child labour in the next section. Whilst it is clear that the legislation exists, in words at least, to abolition modern slavery, what is less clear is whether the desire to do so exists. It is even less clear whether an adequate understanding of modern slavery exists in policy circles and society as a whole, or whether modern slavery has become so normalised in Kenyan society that many of its consequences are no longer seen and that herein lies the explanation for it being hidden in plain sight.

These are questions we would like to pose to policy makers and police chiefs if we are able to conduct a policy analysis in the future. We would also like to ask local police chiefs and officers why, so many perpetrators not only go unprosecuted but are also released with advice on how to ‘make the case go away’. We have ideas about this, as do the community, but we have no firm evidence. Perhaps, if a community radio station were to run programmes that put politicians, bureaucrats, and the police before the microphone and open to public scrutiny, perhaps then, a deeper understanding of how to address modern slavery might be within sight.

Child Labour

Child labour has its roots in poverty but, as with early marriage, poverty is not always the only issue of concern, but we start this section by focussing on causes of child labour that are either directly or indirectly related to poverty. Due to the iterative nature of the vicious cycle characteristics of poverty and modern slavery we see similarities here with early marriage.

Families where parents have missed out on a formal education or lack the knowledge and understanding of how important education is to a child’s future, sometimes have tendency to focus on family members bringing money into the homestead rather than understanding the importance of education to a child’s future. As we have already noted they often lack access to or understanding of family planning information and so consequently have larger families than they can sustain on a small homestead with limited on no land to produce food. In such circumstances, parents often either force, or need, their children to earn money in order to buy basic food stuffs such as maize to make ugali – a starch staple often eaten with indigenous vegetables – in order to feed the family.

Placing such a responsibility on young shoulders can have a detrimental effect on children. In many cases, where parents or grandparents are sick or frail, it is the children that bear the full responsibility for feeding the family. We spoke to children who shared their need to ‘step up’ and feed their families. In families where both parents have died, and there are no family members to provide support, it is often the 1st born of the orphaned children who ‘steps up’ and takes responsibility for earning money to feed their younger siblings. As the Women’s groups told us, in these cases, children who are forced to engage in casual labour are missing out on their right to be children.

They are missing out on their childhood!

Let us make it clear here, this is not like a young teenager having a paper-round or babysitting for a neighbour. This is full on hard labour. There are no health and safety regulations enforced here; no limit to the hours a child might work; and no guarantee that the employer will keep their promise and pay what was agreed once the work is complete. We can see in the stories from our victims of child labour that ’employers’ often renege on their agreements. They also punish children with beatings by stick or panga (machete) until the child bleeds (see the video of Michael’s story). There are many mean and unscrupulous people eager to exploit the vulnerability and powerlessness of young children.

Child labour is cheap, and many are willing to take advantage of their hopelessness. Much of it is undertaken in poor working conditions, with danger to health, frequent accidents and no insurance or money for medical bills. Yet with so many living in poverty, and so many children trying to contribute to their family’s sustenance, would-be employers have the upper hand. Safe in the knowledge that very few will enforce the law and if some try to, then a simple bribe usually addresses their ‘problem’, but not the problems of the young children and their families living in poverty.

There are laws relating to forced labour, servitude, exploitation, and counter-trafficking. An argument can be made that the cases we illustrate here, whilst taking the form of voluntary verbal agreements, are actually forms of exploitation of forced labour, i.e., labour forced by the need to survive and sustain their families by avoiding starvation. Again, just as in early marriages, the lack of action by the police and/or public administrations, was cited frequently as a reason for the continuance of modern slavery.

One of the most telling findings from our stories was that when children are engaged in casual labour they are often forced to miss out on their schooling. The International Labour Organisation describes child labour as,

…work that interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work. (International Labour Organisation, 2021).

We found, over and over again, that poverty was forcing many children to engage in child labour. Depriving them of a proper and adequate education and consequently denying them a future. However, we also discovered that the Kenyan Government’s Education Policy exacerbates child labour in schools in rural Nyanza. We have no doubt that this is an unintended consequence, but it is a reality despite that. The Kenyan government introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003 and Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) in 2008. Both, policies that led both the World Economic Forum and the World Bank to rank Kenya as #1 in terms of education on the African continent. On the surface then, these are policies that appear to embrace the UN’s 1948 Declaration of Human Rights goal, that everyone shall have access to free education. However, on deeper inspection the goal of ‘universal education’, i.e., compulsory free access for all, has yet to be fully obtained. In fact, as with the government’s legislative wording on slavery in general, its actions on Education do not stand up to scrutiny. The implementation of Kenya’s Education Policy actually contributes to child labour and other forms of modern slavery.

The government is responsible for the funding of education, including the salary of teachers. However, in rural Nyanza, schools are underfunded and under resourced. Schools do not have adequate numbers of teachers to meet the educational needs of local children. As a result, Boards of Governors (BoGs) in local schools are forced to levy fees on every child. All parents, regardless of their ability, are expected to pay, in order to employ enough teachers. On top of this fees for internal and external exams are charged, in addition to the cost of uniforms that all children must wear. The imposition of these fees, to make up for government shortfalls in funding, in what is meant to be a free education system, is alarming. Especially, in an area where many families barely earn enough to feed themselves, and large numbers simply can’t without resorting to child labour. Note the rueful and ironic laughter in Part 1 of the Community Documentary, when the Elders were asked about the free education system!

For many children, the reality of Kenya’s free education system is that if they don’t pay school fees, they are sent home – depriving them of an education. If they can’t pay these fees, they are forced to seek exploitative casual labour – depriving them of an education. For many, this means working several days a week to attend one or two days of school, missing lessons and again – depriving them of an education. The sad irony here is that pupils become trapped in child labour, not only for food for themselves and their families but also in order to pay school fees. They are missing out on their education in order to pay school fees for the education they are being deprived of.

Eventually, frustrated and without hope, many children simply drop out of school and try to earn money – deprived of an education by an education system that is meant to be free and universal. This then, is the living reality for many children, failed by an education system that nourishes exploitation of children through casual labour. This is institutionalised modern slavery.

Trafficking

When we started our preliminary discussions for this project, it was our collective view that human-trafficking was something that occurred on an international scale and involved criminal gangs, sex and drugs rings, domestic servitude, etc. It has become clear to us that we shared an opinion built on limited knowledge and restricted understanding of modern slavery and human trafficking. As we began to read around the subject and engaged in dialogue with community participants, using our CMBPR techniques, our eyes and minds opened.

We heard Community Health Workers (CHWs) sharing stories of children who had been abducted and sold. These stories were not about trafficking across international borders or even across county, to the Capital (Nairobi), borders. In these stories, children were being trafficked between villages in neighbouring constituencies.

As we highlighted earlier, trafficking is the act of coercion in which someone is forced to do something against their will or their natural disposition. Trafficking exists when someone moves, through coercion, misrepresentation, or trickery, from their indigenous state of existence to another more damaging to themselves. Trafficking therefore, can occur when a person is coerced, or deceived, into crossing behavioural, as well as geographical, borders. Among the worst things connected to trafficking and modern slavery are the existential crises they create not only for those who are trafficked but also for those who are left behind.

We had intended to investigate the trafficking of children in some depth but unfortunately, the pandemic occurred at a time that prevented us from travelling between villages in different parts of the region. There were a number of heart-breaking stories from CHWs that we hoped to follow up on. The story of Rose Atieno in the ‘Village Survivors share their stories’ section of the blog provides some insight into the problems of trafficking at the micro level.

Rose’s story is complex and the need for translation of a tribal language adds to this complexity. However, it raises a number of issues relating to modern slavery and, as in many cases of stories we have elicited, highlights the vicious circle between poverty, modern slavery, and the role that bribery plays in cases of child exploitation. It also reveals insights into the contribution tribal customs, traditions, and beliefs, that is to say tribal culture, e.g., polygamy and early marriage plays in facilitating modern slavery and enabling would be exploiters.

Female genital mutilation (FGM)

Another area of concern that we encountered early in our engagement with the community but had not considered, was outdated tribal customs and traditions – such as circumcision or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Not many Luo practice FGM but where they do it is usually in communities where tribal borders meet and inter-tribal marriages occur, e.g., at the borders of the Luo, Kisii and Kuria lands. These practices were explained to us in the context of tribal customs and traditions aimed at diminishing female sexuality and increasing a girl’s value as a bride.

Whilst the general disposition of the academic researchers is to oppose practices such as FGM, we have been conscious of the dangers of cultural imperialism shaping our thinking and influencing our actions during this project. This is why we put so much emphasis on community participation throughout. However, when community members explained the customs and traditions behind the practice, we could see clear relationships to modern slavery – grounded as they are in gender exploitation.  We resolved at this point to include this in our investigations.

Unfortunately, the pandemic stopped us from visiting the communities who practice FGM. We found 2 women locally, who had been through the 2-stage circumcision ritual of the Kisii tribe (at a very young age) and were willing to discuss the matter with us. Although one survivor wasn’t as forthcoming as we had hoped for, she did explain the process and the changes to Kisii cultural practices that had occurred as a result of the government provision of education for all children. This resulted in the Kisii making changes to their customs and traditions. Starting the process of ‘cutting’ at a much earlier age, (e.g., Caroline was cut at the age of 10 and Evelyne at 12) rather than closer to 18, as had previously been the practice. Older women from the village would identify girls of an ‘appropriate’ age and the 2-stage process was carried out every December en masse. Some girls like Caroline continued with their education but for others, the old tradition of circumcision is a rite of passage to womanhood and means they are destined for early marriage and usually early pregnancies, as discussed above. Evelyne explains how the ‘secret rituals’ result in early marriage and early pregnancies.

Refusal to be circumcised would result in shame, stigma, and humiliation for the girl within the community. FGM is coerced through public pressure. The girls, around the age of 10, know no different, they have complete trust in the adults. The physical act of cutting the clitoris of a young girl who knows little or nothing of her sexuality, or her worth as a woman (as opposed to her value as a bride), seems to us to be inexcusably driven by patriarchal gender exploitation. It is disguised in a ‘rites of passage’ justification but in reality, it is grounded in outdated culture, customs and traditions that reflect patriarchal power over women, where women are seen as possessions. As such FGM constitutes an act of modern slavery.

Other women from the community who had been circumcised agreed to discuss their experiences and thoughts with us but backed out at the last moment. This happened on a number of occasions when planning to discuss other forms of modern slavery. We totally understand how exposed and vulnerable some people might have felt sharing their stories with us, but this is an area of modern slavery that we wish to investigate further.

We would like to gain a better understanding of the practices and discuss: the dangers involved in such traditional forms cutting; the rationale for the changes they have been made to cultural practice as a result of educational requirements; as well as whether a change of approach might be extended to embrace alternative rites of passage ceremonies from girlhood into womanhood, whilst recognising the significance of culture.

Landlessness

We saw in the last section how outdated cultural practices can lead to poverty and exploitation in which women and children are usually, but not always, those who suffer most. Similar effects have been identified with the Luo custom of wife inheritance. Intended historically as a way to safeguard a woman, whose husband dies, within a clan. Usually, a male family member, e.g., the dead husband’s brother, will inherit the widow. He will come for her, and her children, return to his homestead and build a home for them there. If there are no appropriate male family members, then the inheritor would usually be someone from within the clan.

There is a certain understandable logic to such arrangements. In times when clans and tribes were the defining influences of community life, polygamous marriages were viewed as a form of social responsibility, i.e., a way of protecting those clan members left vulnerable through the loss of the male protector/provider. That is not to say that such arrangements would have been unproblematic. It was just the nature of indigenous culture historically.

However, times move on and attitudes and circumstances change – especially when influenced by external factors such as colonialism, globalisation, network technologies and neo-liberal attitudes. An in-depth discussion of these influences is beyond the scope of this project but undoubtedly is a significant area for future research. The point here is that as times change so to do cultural imperatives. In marginalised communities, especially in rural areas, external influences create tensions on traditional customs and attitudes. What was once used as a way of protecting the vulnerable has become corrupted and actions leading to exploitation and modern slavery become normalised.

There can be little doubt that in Kenya, colonisation by the British brought about many changes to customs and culture and the tribal way of life – enforced by the same ‘power over’ discussed earlier in. In this case, the British enforced their power over through land grabbing, military might, Christianity and a capitalist economy.

Since declaring its independence from Britain in 1963, Kenya has been struggling to find its own path in a rapidly changing world in which nation states are no longer the major political influence in the world. This is the age of neo-liberal globalisation, in which transnational corporations and financial institutions define the political economies of nation states. In this globalised digital world people are more consumers than they are citizens.

In communities that are already marginalised and trying to recover from the exploitation suffered through colonial rule, together with a scarcity of resources, education and honourable politicians, administrators, and law enforcers, the impact on and changes to culture and peoples trying to make sense of it all is saddening. Where once a widow and her children were to be protected and safeguarded, now often they find themselves abused. viewed as property, exploited in all manner of ways, or a threat to existing families.

As the world continues to change, so to customs become outmoded. Under traditional Luo custom, a woman is not entitled to own the title deeds of the homestead she lives in. If she becomes widowed and is not inherited, a woman and her family, will often find themselves being chased away by family members wanting to inherit the land for themselves. In these circumstances the widow and her children not only lose the security of their homesteads but through enforced landlessness they are compelled to engage in casual labour simply to survive. Illustrating again how vicious circles exist between poverty, outdated customs and culture, and modern slavery.

Other findings

In this section we make brief reference to issues that came up during discussions that would make interesting topics for future research into modern slavery at the micro level. Most of these can be related to the community typology but add nuanced understanding of poverty and the causes of modern slavery.

Participants from the subsistence farmers self-help groups spoke about climate change and its encroaching impacts – making areas of Kenya dry or semi-arid. As a consequence, daughters are sent away for marriage at a young age. Daughters are seen as a source of wealth that will save a family from starvation.

An area of concern expressed by some participants in the PLWs was a perceived neglect of youth. It is felt young people in marginalised remote rural areas have nothing to do during their early teenage years during which they mature rapidly both physically and psychologically. The hormonal changes occurring at this age can be confusing and with nothing of interest to do and no resources to engage them, teenagers embrace mis-informed excitement and slip into activities related to sex, drugs, alcohol and/or crime and become vulnerable to those who would exploit them. The engagement of youth in our project illustrates what all community development workers know – in communities where young people are given the opportunity to contribute to society and their voices are listened to there are far fewer social problems. Investment in or support for community technology initiatives; sports and music activities, and youth groups, could play a significant role in supporting youth through these difficult years

Traditional domestic hierarchies, based on patriarchal control and domination, often socialises young girls into subordinate roles. As they get older, they sometimes run away and become vulnerable to the exploiters of modern slavery. However, this is not just an issue related to patriarchy. Parents of both genders can be authoritarian in domestic life. This authoritarianism is often mistakenly informed by the sermons from fire and brimstone preachers, remnants from the missionaries of colonialism who threatened the wrath of God. Such attitudes are often witnessed in domestic settings. We heard from one of the community health workers how a boy, with learning difficulties, was castigated for his exam failure resulting in him dropping out of school and finding casual labour. Teachers and parents need to be more understanding in their parenting. We do not say that poor parenting causes modern slavery directly, but there is a correlational relationship sometimes.