Tanga's paralegal centre gives hope to oppressed women

BY PETER MOHAMED

2nd May 2013

When husbands die, most women and their children are made to suffer by relatives. (File photo)

Gladness (35) is a mother of three and a resident of Tongwe village in Muheza District. She and her brood were forced to live a pastoralist-kind of life for four years because they were rendered homeless by her husband’s family following his death.

Gladness and her children, Andrea (8), Paulo (6) and Tatu (5), were forced to move from one home to another because they did not have a place to call home. 

The family could not settle in one place for a long time because wherever the family went for shelter, they would normally be asked to contribute food something that the single mother could not afford. 

Gladness and her family therefore never stayed in one place for more than two days. They were always on the move. And it was not their choice.

Problems started four years ago after the death of Gladness’ husband. But like the Swahili saying goes, Mungu hamtupi mja wake (God does not abandon his servant) for he soon heard the family’s prayers and sent them a guardian angel.

Tanga Paralegal Aid Scheme for Women and Children, came to the rescue of the family. The paralegal’s assistance has helped Gladness get her family’s house back.

The Tanga-based centre is an non-governmental organisation handling cases of human rights violation, including maltreatment of widows, property grabbing , sexual harassment and domestic violence. 

“My husband passed away in 2008 shortly after my third child was born. My in laws ordered me out of our matrimonial home saying I should return to my parents. 

They gave me fare and I left, leaving behind the house we had built during our marriage,” Gladness says, adding that she had no particular destination to go then since her parents had died over a decade ago.

Tanga Paralegal Centre Director, Deborah Daffa, says her institution, established in 1994, took off with 12 men and three women.

The centre provides legal education to women and children through seminars, workshops and theatre arts to targeted groups and the general public.

“Our primary aim is to enable poor women and underprivileged people to get legal awareness and consequently their rights through legal advice,” says Daffa.

The centre also advises women and encourages them to engage in income-generating activities.

Paralegal’s vision, according to Daffa, is to create an atmosphere whereby women and children enjoy equal rights without discrimination.

Daffa says leading cases handled at her centre include those involving inheritance.

“It is common in many parts of Tanzania for widows to be kicked out of their matrimonial homes and forced to leave behind their children, houses and other property earned during their marriages,” she explains.

“In many cases, particularly in the rural areas, when a husband dies, the widow is told to pack up and go back to her parents while her in-laws take over management of particular households, including any property involved.” 

The assertion is supported by Dr Gasper Mpehongwa, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Studies at Stefano Moshi University College.

“It’s unfortunate that the painful situation still prevails in some cultures motivated by greed for wealth,” he says.

He says “ordinarily bad behaviours are noticed where the deceased was relatively rich. But where they happen to be poor, nobody dares do such things.”

“Rights of women and girls should be protected. Perpetrators should be made accountable”, says sociologist Antonio Nyoni.

Noting that men and women deserve equal shares with regard to inheritance, with some communities disallowing females to inherit from their husbands, the centre decided to avail legal education to people living in the peripherals of the city.

“In 2005, we availed legal awareness to women living in five villages in Korogwe District. Then we moved onwards to Maramba, Majengo and Mlingano in Muheza District,” Daffa says. 

In Tanga, the centre disseminated legal awareness to women living in Tanga city, Majengo, Amboni, Kiomoni, Pongwe, Handeni, Chanika and Kabuku.

Under financing by the Foundation for Civil Society, the centre has widened its network involving more areas in the villages in the process.

“During the second phase of financing by FCS, in 2009, we provided education on good governance in eight wards of Korogwe District. We enrolled 40 men and 30 women from each ward which included Mtonga, Old Korogwe, Kilole, Ngombezi, Kwamsisi, Mnyusi, Kwamndolwa and Kwagunda,” Daffa says.

In 2011, Paralegal moved to Pangani District where several open shows were held in Pangani East, Kimanga, Madanga, Mwera, Bweni, Mikinguni and Tungamaa.

‘Paralegal’ has so far handled over 3,973 cases involving inheritance rights, gender violence and court procedures.

The centre has so far opened two branches – one in Pangani and another in Korogwe.
Among those who testified with regard to maltreatment they underwent after they were widowed, was Mwanahawa Hamisi, a resident of Kimanga in Pangani District.

“I got married in 2003. When my husband died in 2009 following a car accident, my in-laws told me to go for “eda” at my parents’. They divided among themselves all the property we had earned together,” she says.

Mwanahawa says that her agony only lessened after she came across a Samaritan whoa directed her to the centre.

“Our house was returned back top us thanks to Tanga Paralegal Centre,” says the mother of three.

“The plight of widows being kicked out of their matrimonial homes shortly after they lose their partners shall continue, more in the villages where legal services are not accessible,” says Andrew Mramba, a retired government official.

In some areas visited by the Constitutional Review Commission in Tanga, several women who turned up at meetings to air their views on the constitutional changes said they wanted review of the law on inheritance, divorce and the protection of widows.

They said the law should protect women from losing property earned during marriage. Other oppressive areas that women need reviewed are to do with polygamy, which according to them belittle women and those to do with the upkeep of children after divorce.