CHIEFDOM DIALOGS

Moyamba District

The topic causing the most discussion in this district was the distribution of assets upon death.  This is what the law says:

A Precious Child

If the man dies without a will, 35% goes to the wife, 35% goes to the child/children, 15% goes to the man’s parents, if alive, if not, then to siblings, 15% to the community/mosque/church.  Cleverly the example given used 100 cows divided 35/35/15/15 since percentages are not widely understood.

If the man dies with a written, signed and witnessed will, the will stands unless contested in court then the court decides.

Tied into the rights of when a man dies or there is a divorce is the importance of registering the marriage.  Without registration, the woman has no rights.  There are many reasons why it is important to register and they are discussed at length.  Before the law was established in 2007 the man could refuse to register the marriage and the woman had no recourse.

Fambul Tok presenters encourage the use of cajoling, pampering and negotiation to get the man to register, but if that fails, a woman can take a witness attesting to the marriage and register without the man.  Much laughter erupts as Micheala acts out how to cajole and negotiate in a coy and flirty way.

At one of the dialogs the community leader told how he had already caused the registration of 5 marriages and in another the plan was to register as many as could be managed within the next few weeks. It is wonderful to hear of such successes in such a short time between training the trainers and the dialogs. 

Incorporated with sexual violence against women that includes rape is female gender mutilation.  This is a subject that is very controversial because of long standing tribal rights of passage ceremonies and practices.  

The ceremony includes 2 weeks in the bush where a girl is taught all she needs to know about being a wife, mother and keeper of the home.  The women conducting this ceremony make a generous income from this and do not want the tradition to go away.  There is a movement to encourage continuing the 2 weeks in the bush with the instructions and lessons, but to stop at the point of mutilation.

The subject of sexual harassment caused more discussion in this district than the last.  According to the law if a man

1. Inappropriately touches a woman, 2. Looks at her in a lewd way, 3. Whistles and or make lewd comments, he will be fined 5,000,000 Leones! ($1,134.00) Not much by our standards, but HUGE here where salaries are as low as $60 per month.  

Micheala 

In one discussion a man brought up women touching men inappropriately saying the men will be too embarrassed to do anything about it.  Another man countered back saying the men will probably like it anyway!!!

The use of small skits illustrating some of the points were very effective in getting across the message through laughter and entertainment.  As one of the skits was ending a snake fell out of the tree above causing quite a stir.  People scattered in all directions pulling children with them.

Green Snake with Turquoise Head

It was a harmless little guy and quite beautiful.  I include a picture here of one from last year that was the same kind of snake.  Look closely as his green body blends with the leaves. Note the beautiful turquoise head.  Last year I was able to stop the people from killing it.  This year they were too fast and this one met his end.

One of the dialogs took place in a village far out into the district.  All of a sudden as the meeting was taking place we could hear drumming and tambourines.  There was a secret society ceremony taking place!  This is Mende territory and I recognized a Mende Mask that is made for each girl as they go through the right of passage.  It is attached to long thin straw covering the entire girl.  Prior to this I had only seen the costume and examples of the mask in the museum in Freetown.

One of the women, who is a leader in her community, asked if I wanted my picture taken with her and the troupe.  Heck YES!!!  

Mende Mask and Costume

At the beginning of the meeting I danced with the women and now I danced with the Mende girl.  It’s all on video too long to post here.

The subject of children’s rights were more of an interest here and caused much discussion.  I was happy to see the lively talks as I felt the children were getting a short shrift in the other district due to the seeming lack of interest.

Much Love To You All,

Mom/Grandma/Sara