Bagata, a growing township thanks to community leaders

Every Friday, Shigo Lusanga and Victoire Ngayaka, community leaders, roam on motorbike the different neighborhoods of Bagata, a small town located about 130km East of Bandundu, in the province of Kwilu.

« Friday is the day people don’t work on their farms », they say. « But sometimes, for the rest of the week, couples travel to see us at home and ask us questions on civil marriage. They equally ask for advice on how to better organize the life of their home ».

Changes in household behavior

Bagata is mainly a rural town, where the status of women is far from being enviable: generally, they do farm work and house chores alone, without mentioning that they take care of children alone. « The woman was a slave in the household », commented Victoire and Shigo.

But slowly, with the help of the sensitization led by the community leaders assembled by the NGO NDWY (New Dynamics of Women’s Youth), with financial support from the European Union, things are changing. « We see more and more men doing house chores », they claim.

Indeed, one can see men fetching water, day and night. More rarely, we see them accompanying their wives to the fields. « My neighbor, a civil servant, got home in the evening from the office, sat back, and drank a beer while waiting for the food », narrates Shigo. « Not long ago, I caught him taking care of his children! That was the first time ».

Sensitized inhabitants on girl child education

In Bagata, where it is still accepted to give young girls into marriage to their great-uncles– a tradition known as Kitwil — the inhabitants have started to realize that there is a « profit to reap » by allowing girls to study.

« Sending girls to school was a pastime », explains Victoire, « they were destined for marriage ». « The cases of girl-child mothers are still almost as numerous », she specifies, « but at least they don’t hang around the house; they go to school ».

Sharing of property and the registration of marriages

« People are more curious about civil marriages, specifically about the issue of sharing property », note the leaders. It is a very sensitive issue here. As a matter of fact, when in a marriage the husband dies, the woman finds herself deprived of everything: all the household assets, including the house, are confiscated by the husband’s family.

At the beginning of the year, with the support of UNICEF, the NDWY organized the first civil marriage ceremonies, to encourage couples to register their union at the civil registry. Even though the registration costs remain high — officially 50$ but negotiable — the township of Bagata has registered 250 civil marriages between January and September 2016, whereas none was registered for many years.

Photo: UNICEF DRC 2016 Gwenn Dubouthoumieu