The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
Eloping dates back in old days when arranged marriages trended in many African villages. Those were the days when being seen with someone’s daughter hovering in village were a taboo and could land you in trouble. The days when young girls at puberty guarded their virginity at all costs as it was the only thing that mattered in marriage.
Surprisingly, eloping was at some point prohibited although circumstances forced it to be allowed. According to Dennis, 78 from Bumula in Bungoma County, for a man, if he had reached prime time to get married and was not showing any signs to marry, a decision could have been reached for and the man was forced to marry any girl. “In case a man had hit 35 years of age and does not show any sign to marry, the family could force him to marry any girl”, he says.
He further adds that this could have occasioned a case where the woman he was to marry died or got married to someone else.
Women however, could land themselves in big trouble in case one eloped stopping the arranged marriage. Nekesa 68, from Kiminini narrates how she was a victim of such. “My parents had arranged a marriage between me with a certain man, but I never loved him” she says.
To end the arranged marriage she got pregnant with a different man but unknown to her the worst waiting. “It was a taboo for a girl to get pregnant while at her parents’ home” she says. She would later be forced to marry the man who was almost the age of her grandfather.
According to Nekesa, a woman having a child at her parents’ home attracted harsh penalty because her being married while pure meant that dowry could be hefty and her family could get a lot of respect and honor. For instance her aunt could have received a goat as a present.
Nekesa regrets that the current society has changed for the worst where women no longer treasure anything leave aside virginity. “The society has eroded where young girls see no importance of treasuring their purity” she says.
This may explain why young women nowadays before reaching their marriage time have kids or have lost virginity earlier on in life.
