Umoja: Kenya’s Women-Only Village Resisting FGM and Abuse

The hosts of Hysterical Hysteria (with trigger warnings for sexual assault, violence, death/suicide, and abuse) discuss Umoja, a women-only village founded in 1990 in Kenya’s Samburu County, where girls may be forced into marriage as young as 12 and subjected to female genital mutilation. They describe severe local misogyny and add allegations tied to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), which has operated for decades in exchange for $45 million annually, leaving environmental damage and reportedly enabling assaults and other crimes without accountability; evidence gathered in 2012 was allegedly denied and then “misplaced.” The episode centers on Rebecca Lolosoli, who, after being beaten for speaking against FGM, formed Umoja with other women cast out or fleeing. Umoja sustains itself via tourism, jewelry sales, security measures, and education, has rules barring men from living there, and has inspired similar villages.

00:00 Content Warning

00:15 Morning Catch Up

00:38 AC Sticker Shock

02:10 Errand Miracle

02:45 Introducing Umoja

03:33 Trigger Warnings

04:22 Life for Women Samburu

06:53 Tradition and Perspective

08:36 British Army in Kenya

11:03 Abuse and Aftermath

13:50 Rebecca Founds Umoja

15:11 Building a Safe Village

17:02 Men Try to Undermine

19:00 Women Defend Umoja

20:02 Building a Women Run Economy

21:41 Rules of the Village

23:26 Fighting FGM Through Education

25:29 British Military Abuse Cover Up

28:45 Support Umoja Jewelry

31:02 Why Umoja Matters

32:18 FGM Reality Check

34:06 Sources and Last Thoughts

36:19 Episode Wrap and Contact Info