MANDERA, Kenya — Helpless and poor Mrs. Qamar Issa, 37, holds her baby girl on her chest outside her mundane home in the town of Mandera near Kenya’s porous border with war-torn Somalia.
The hardworking middle-aged mother has been the sole provider for her family since she got a divorce in 2008 following a protracted domestic controversy in her homestead.
She has managed her family chores single-handedly, including provision of meals and medical care for her six children.
“I am fending my family like a mother and a father. It has been my own responsibility since our divorce.”
In an open air market alongside a dusty street in the remote town, Mrs. Issa endures the scorching temperatures to eke out a living by selling vegetables.
“With the help of Allah I can care for my children alone,” says the bubbly mother of two boys and four girls.
Experts say the story is quite common in the drought-devastated province the number of single mothers has been on the rise.
“Divorce rate has been following an upward trend,” Rukia Abdille, an official at the local municipal council of Wajir town, said.
According to local right groups and religious leaders, roughly 40 percent of marriages in the predominantly Muslim province end in divorce.
In Mandera alone, an average of 400 family dispute cases are reported a month.
A spot-check revealed that more than 50 percent of women in Mandera are divorcees who eke out a living in the most deplorable conditions.
Muslims make up nearly 98 percent of the communities of the North Eastern Province.
There are nearly ten million Muslims in Kenya, which has a population of 36 million.
Kat
“The father to my children is a Khat addict. He often turned late and has never shown any kind of responsibility,” Issa told IOL.
Mrs Issa says that divorcing her kids’ careless, drug-addict father is a decision she does not regret.
“The father to my children is a Khat addict,” she said, referring to a mild stimulant tree drug common in east Africa.
“He often turned late for home, he has never shown any kind of responsibility.”
Khat is the most commonly-used drug in the region and many men have a strong addiction to it causing both financial and family stress.
In many parts of the barren towns, men turn to chewing for more than 12 hours of their day.
“They abandon us completely once they start chewing,” says Mrs. Hareda Idle, a new divorcee from Garissa, the province’s capital.
“We better part ways with them.”
Religious leaders affirm that addiction to drugs, widespread among the population, leads to family disputes that usually end with divorce.
“Most couples have in this case failed to get along and this is attributed mostly to irresponsible husbands who are found chewing Khat the whole day,” Sheikh Mohamed Abdi, a member of Mandera Council of Imams and Preachers, told IOL.
“These men are always late comers, and mostly they don’t contribute to the family bills.”
But grinding poverty is another major factor in the marriage crisis in the Muslim-majority region.
“The basic causes [for divorce] in this region can be traced to the increasing economic crises and financial problems,” insists Abdille, the Wajir council official.
He says the divorce rate has been affected by recurring droughts that devastated an already fragile traditional economy where people survive on pastoral farming.
“Because of subsequent droughts, the cost of living increased dramatically. The struggle to make living resulted in damaged marriages.”
Many warn that children are the silent victims.
“While divorce is often necessary, there is no denying rising divorce rates signal societal issues,” says Sheikh Mohamed Abdalla, the judge of Wajir.
Issa, the Mandera divorcee, laments that no body has taken the responsibility of tackling the issue.
“The community must stand up to make urgent interventions.”
