WOMEN IN THE PAGAN SUDAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 31 October 1912, Page 6

WOMEN IN THE PAGAN SUDAN

. ese>» BY DR. KARL W. KUMM

It is perhaps well that something should bo said about tho treatment vi women in Central Africa-. In our lands or liberty and civilisation, where the noblo features of our Saxon forefathers' thought havo nob disappeared, and woman'is still more or less the priestess of tha family, tho honoured one, the mother and mistress of the home, it is well to compare tho treatment sho receives with that of the weaker sex in the dark regions of the earth. Men may forget the evangelisation of others, and think that even heat-hen pobplo are happy enough in darkness and ignorance; but women in Christian lands, if once their eyes aro opened to tho actual state of womanhood in heathendom, must rise to the realisation of tho high privilege and duty of carrying or sending the Light to their benighted sisters, and sending tho Light by the hands of their sons to tho men who degrade womanhood in tho heathen world.

As long as the men are heathen in Central Africa, woman, though degraded enough, stands more or less on the samo level as her husband. In fact, in some cases, the woman is the stronger, .and the man the servant. If the woman is the weaker, of course, the man is lord. At our Pioneer Camp in Northern Nigeria, at the foot of the Murehison range, it was an unwritten law that no woman should be beaten. A number of our station people wero married, and ono or two of them wero sometimes treated pretty badly by their wives. This was especially tho case with my horse-boy. The men were busy making straw mnts for the walls of the huts when I first made tho apouaintanco of tho vnfo of my "doki-bov" (or groom). She csvmo to Dan, tho head-man, and. he brought her to mo, crying in Great, distress. Her husband had beaten her. Would I b^at her husband? or hare h'm beaten ? Tho husband was called up, looking very down-in-the-mouth. "Why did you beat this woman? You know that no woman is to be beaten in this camp." "Please, white man, this woman i« my wife, but she will not cook for me. She will not do anything for me. T had no food yesterday. She tokos nil mv money. and I do not know what to do " "Have you done this?" T inquired nf the woman, whoso tears were now quite dry. No answer.

" Havo you cooked for your hue-band ?" Sho Looked at me very oh.ctinat.oly, ami re-plied. "Will you beat him?"

Under the circumstances T frit- no inclination to do %o. There were evidentIv faults on both *khs. Contenting myself with injunctions to them to live in poaco, I toM tbf> man not to bent. fh& woman again. If sh-a behaved badly he war, to come to me. T then pent'him nwaV and jrnvo thn womnn -a l(Wn™ on the duties of a wife. If her husband treated her kindly. it vas not, hf r Kn-n----np.ss to make it hard for him to live. Ho was working hnrd, trying to earn the money so that she could have <roor? cloth ins and fjood food ; for her to treat him bn.dly when ho came home, tired out, was disgraceful. She should be ashamed of herself.

"Go bank and bohavo -better," said I; and sho went.

A few days afterwards I was sitting in mv hut. writing. Just in front of mutable was a little air-hole, through which one could look down the village street. There, not many rods aivav from me. sat my doki-boy, cleaning the saddlo of my horse, in front of his hut. Preppntlv his wife came out, and ■began scolding him. Ho sat still, and pairl no attention. Thon sho went up behind him, and rmsherl him. He looked round very quietly, then turned back to his work. I saw hor take a calabash, and l)pat Turn with it.

"Why can you not. leave me alone?" I heard him say. "You see lam busy earning our living. Do not beat me. Why should you beat me? I have not beaten you."

The virago's answer was to get more furious still. She broke the calabash in her hand and behaved like a devilpossessed creature, smashing all the cooking utensils. I thought sho had gone about far enough, so I came out of ray hut, and, paying no attention to them, walked across to the stable. As soon as sho saw me she disappeared, and thcro was sudden, perfect silence. I said nothing at tho time, reserving my judgment for a future date.

A few days later tho King of Was© camo up to call, and as we were talking tho doki-boy's wifo rushed in/screaming and yelling. Turning to my head boy, I told him to ask tho woman to bo quiet. But she would not bo silenced. She camo right up to where we were, using her lists, gesticulating in front of our ■faces. As tho wliite man's prestige, according to government ideas, is some- . thing which at all costs has to be maintained ; and as I myself thought tho woman had gone far enough; and as the King of Wase, sitting by my side, looked most astonished, I told tho headmen to tako her back, to make her fetch her things, and go to tho next town, whero her mother lived, and from whence sho had come. She should not stay in our compound any longer. Half-an-hour later, I walked over to tho doki-boy's house, and found him whistling and smiling, as happy ns .•) schoolboy out of school. Ho looked as if lifo wnn worth living. "Would you liko mo to send in a week's timo to ask your wife- to return?" "Xo! Please, white man, T will do anything for yon, but don't ask my ivify to coma back!" Sho had evidently gone a, littlo too far. Ono day ono of my boys camo to mo. Ho was going to get married. Would T marry him? Ho hnd n girl livimr in town, and was going to pay her mother ft certnir. sum of money", as is the custom of tho country. " TTavo you monoy enough ?" ?aid ■'. "A. o; T have borrowed it from mv friends." T advised him not to borrow money to erf imrncd w-th. but bo refused to liv.fpn. Ho would got married. So T a^lvcd him to briny; tbo lady con^omod. nnd T polemnlv joined tk*ir bands. *?■■> Tl:i'l n.-vd about sixiwn .shillings to her mother in cloth and silver, and j.bov w-iit rt.wny to t'i" ne-v]v-bnilt. bo;r-^ in our village, very hannv. T had to ?farh nn a jonrnov thv.t yiin-M. Tbn fi^alo of th.<! Avcdding wn<; '"!it"d to me a. fey woo'cs aff-orw.at-ds by ono of our missionaries. The dnv ..r;,,,. f T IA v,-edfl:n? tbo young ffllo-v n-^r'rv] with tbo bibonrers in tho comnovnd. and wK"n bo r^fcurnod to Jiis b^-u-jo^vris n<=tr;ni'--bed r?nd clrA-rrinod find }/•,=; 7-!A'.ylv-'nr:r>-:rd companion trone. -'bo !uid dit-fipnonred and "mn bank tr> )""•_ T7if)tber in tnwn. Off }io marched to ; Tirp;iro vliv sbo bad run away, why -1". h:v\ v»t. rookrn] his food. '" I do not liko to stay alone in the ho'!"f\" was t:m an-^ve-r. "Tf you have t't rr<) .t.v.iv tv> wort, T aiu not going to •iv.'« with yon any loniror." Ih'vc: v.-:i'-i flirt* pr ~r-. }fo liad borrowed a. ;;orvl d^nl of mor.ev to get. a wifr>; *I;'i1 ;'i nin^v vis snent and tho wife gono, y, fucjiv,; f, O ]j v<) (,-i^i, }i] m- A groat pala.vor ensued, and tho lriicsionary judgp'l. tbafc tbn mother of the girl should crix-n bafk half tin mnnov. as the wife would not w;th her husbnnd. Ono nvrrat mnlfinlv stories like this, showing that as long as the pooplo remain henthen, women enjoy comparative freedom. In fnet, sometimes they usurp all tho authority.