1. Change and Continuity in Kin-Based Support Systems for Widows and Orphans among the Luo in Western Kenya.
- Author
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Nyambedha, Erick Otieno
- Subjects
LUO (Kenyan & Tanzanian people) ,WIDOWS ,ORPHANS ,SUPPORT (Domestic relations) ,MARITAL status - Abstract
The article discusses the change and continuity in the kin-based support for widows and orphans and describes their everyday life practices as they construct various relations to meet the daily needs of their livelihood in a changing kin-based support system. It examines how they seek support in the local community groups, the extended family system and the church and the ways in which these affect authority structures in the local kinship system. It discusses the challenges faced by the local community, the extended family system and the donor community in assisting the widows and orphans in the community studied and describe how change as well as continuity are manifested in the attempts to support both the widows and orphans through the transformation of various kin-based structures. The study was conducted among the Lou community in the Nyang'oma division of western Kenya. Among the Luo, a patrilineal ethnic group, in addition to the husbands, the women and their children belonged to the entire kin group. They derived security and support from the extended family set up.
- Published
- 2004
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