SLAVE WIVES BUY THEIR FREEDOM

King Country Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 2050, 2 December 1924, Page 3

SLAVE WIVES BUY THEIR FREEDOM

DIVORCE COSTS. 2s 6d. Queer native marriage problems which face women missioners in tho remote Congo regions are reported to the Baptist Missionary Society by Miss De Hailes. This missioner has been working amongst the Congo women of the Bolobo area, for nearly thirty years, and she often has 'to settle disputes over slave-wives who want to he free. “All Congo women and girls, with the exception of some who have Christian parents, are really slaves,” she says. “They are sold, often as tiny children, to men for their wives.” Even if her hfcsband dies a woman is not free, and all the money he has given for her must be repaid, with any .money he may have spent for her, on clothes and medicine. THIS FREEDOM 2s 6d. “One case I had to settle,” reports Miss De Hailes in the “Missionary Herald,” “was that of a Christian widow. The elder brother ctf her late busband, a heathen with four wives, said she must become his wife or pay 150 francs. “I asked what lie had paid tor her, as Stale law only allows to be repaid what is given. For a long time lie would only say that he wanted 150 francs; then he owned that lie had not paid the money but had. paid for two burials in tlie family, the woman’s father and mother. “The burials came to fifteen francs, but be was at least quite pleased to take -ten, so that the poor woman was set free for 2s 6d. WANTED A CHANGE. “Another woman, who was one of many wives, wanted a change, and the woman’s sdn was willing to free his mother at the price paid for her, 50 francs, but the man asked; 2000, together with a. wild buffalo from the forest. “I told him he could have the buffalo he brought when lie married her, for he would find it where he left it. He detailed all lie had given her, and it came to 150 francs, but that he refused to take, su tho case was left unsettled. But tlie woman ran away, and he found he had neither woman nor money, and a few days later he was very glad to receive what ho gave for her, while she was delighted to be free.”