Daring The Lake

Ochaly Edwine

Gone are the days when roles were divided among members of the community, this comes at the right time when the new say in town goes “What men can do, women can do it even better.”

In the ancient days when you could walk along the lake region, it was awkward to find a woman doing fishing or any other chore related to fishing since this practice was known to be a man industry. Women too were very afraid of even travelling or boarding a boat to cross the lake or even a river. But what do you find today when you take a walk along the lake region? One might think that men were swept away by the water leaving their women/wives to care for their families. But the reality is that men have become just very lazy and neglected the role allocated to them by these women. The only place where you are likely to get your man/husband is the ‘brewing den’ or you may call it in the language they understand best “breweries.”

Women has just dominated the shores of lake victoria not by going to fetch water or clean clothes and utensils as was before but as “fishermen”. They nowadays do exactly what men use to do in the lake by daring the lake and going to cast the nets many kilometers away from the shore. Not only casting the net but also able to locate the breeding areas of fish and are also able to tell the different winds of the lake. They also know when the lake is friendly and when it is not. These fisherwomen after casting the nets would come back to the shore not to sit back and watch but to pull the casted net back to the shore, a task that goes for at least six hours per trip. This simply mean that from the time the net is casted and pulled back to the shore or ground takes about six hours. This simply tells you how far the nets are casted.

In Muhuru bay, Nyatike Sub-County, Migori County women are doing what if our ancestors wake up today from their graves today and see, then all men will be cast and would even be given charms to turn them to women and women to men.You walk from Ratieny beach, Tagache beach, Kingariso, Nyabomo and Tito beaches you will find women ,some with breastfeeding children laid to sleep under the figs and reeds or even under trees, take up the fishing responsibility until one would wonder if they are founder of this practice. In all these beaches few responsible men are available but not in large numbers, I suppose they are there just to offer security to these women and to make them feel secure and safe when doing this job. Some are net owners who just watch over how they handle the nets and to ensure all the catch of the day is accounted for.

 “I don’t see anything strange with me doing fishing or pulling the net provided that at the end of it all I am able to get something to feed my family especially my children who I value most.” Said Prisca, one of these women at Tagache beach Muhuru bay. She continued by adding that if you decide to sit back and wait for your husband to bring food home, you might even wait for one year. A statement that she expanded by saying that men have just become very lazy or just less caring since they have many places to eat.

Some of them also said that men of nowadays like ‘pango wa kando’ so much that they even forget that they have their immediate families to feed, so when you wait for him to bring food then he will give you fifty shillings not bothering what you are going to buy or even if there is flour or not but when he comes back he demands meat, fish but not vegetables. So to supplement this, we opt to do other odd jobs do keep our marriages and to feed our children.

“Let my fellow women not to be choosy and say that they can’t do fishing because it was meant for men. A job is a job provided that it brings food to your table.” Said Pauline, a fisherwoman at Tagache beach.

Most of these women have their husbands who can fend for them but it’s unfortunate that men have just decided to be lazy and roam about, go to centres to play “Ajua” or Bao as others may call it. Some have also inherited widowed women and since they find it easy the other side, they just neglect their families and camp at the other woman’s house because the demand/burden is light.

Women with no husbands, widows and single parent, now don’t feel desperate since when they find themselves mixed together with these other women with husbands they feel that all of them are on the same level and this makes them even love this job so much because in doing so, their families are safe. In fact, one of the widows just said jokingly that the only thing that the married women can boast of is that at night they sleep two people in one bed but when its day time, they are equal and sail in one boat. A statement that was positively received by Mama Eunice Awino a married woman with husband but now finds herself doing fishing at the shores of Ratieny beach Muhuru bay.

Of all the six beaches I toured and did interview, I found that there are many women now in the fishing industry than men something that I myself find strange being someone who was also born during the period when fishing industry was purely a male dominated. This is therefore, a wakeup call for men to be men and take up their responsibilities seriously. On the other hand, women too should know that they are able and capable of doing any task to make ends meet and know that, ‘What men can do, Women can do it even better!’