Summary
When Michelle, 57, was widowed in 2012, she lost more than her husband. Shortly after his
death, her in-laws took over the fields she had tilled for decades. They also stole the fruit
from the trees in her kitchen garden and sold the harvest, leaving her without any livelihood.
They further harassed, intimidated, and insulted her by surrounding and physically
restraining her and telling her to leave her home, in an attempt to chase her away.
Michelle’s neighbors advised her to contact Legal Resources Foundation, a legal aid
organization that could help her protect her inheritance. It was only after this organization
took the matter to court and Michelle obtained restraining orders against her in-laws that
she was able to go back to tilling her fields. But her in-laws continue to threaten to take her
only cow, so she still worries about the future: “I am fearful and my heart is unsettled.”
Glynnis, 50, was not as fortunate as Michelle. When her husband of 20 years passed away,
her in-laws made it clear that they no longer wanted her around:
After his death, things became difficult. There was no support for food, and
I couldn’t send my children to school. They [my in-laws] kept saying I
should leave the house.… They kept saying to go away, which pained me,
so I left. I just left my marital home.
They also took five cattle and household items. I tried to get [my husband’s
army pension] but [his relatives] wouldn’t sign the paperwork. I have gotten
nothing. I believe that this is unfair to my children … [but] I have given up. I
can do nothing [to stop it].
Glynnis left the home she had owned with her husband, seeing no way to keep her
property in the face of constant harassment from her in-laws. She went to the house where
she grew up, which is now owned by her brother. Her brother agreed to let her and her
three children farm some of his land, and she now farms and pays government taxes—a
levy for all farmers—on the land. Glynnis no longer owns a property.
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | JANUARY 2017