Upper Nile Parents Decry High Dowry
The Parents especially mothers in Upper Nile State are decrying the exorbitant dowry charges being demanded among the Shillluk tribe mates, calling it very expensive compared to previous years. 22 March 2013 A few Women in Upper Nile explain the challenges of expensive marriages. [Jok Peter Mayom] By Jok P Mayom Malakal, 22 March 2013 [Gurtong] - “Those days, we Shollok (Shilluk) didn’t have such kind of dressing where the whole family of the bride up to more than 50 is dressed. Those years, only the mother in-law and father in-law would be dressed with Shiela but now it has extended to the whole clan,” said Margret Udhong Udhal, a concerned mother. “In the past it used to be only the mother and father of the daughter to be dressed. This makes some young men go on to impregnate girls, so that they get rid of high dowry price,” Boronica Ubur Ajang, another mother lamented. “The clothes normally used for the dressing bride (Shiella in Arabic) are always bought at about SSP 150 to SSP 200, which are just normal clothes. The cloth for the bridegroom is more expensive and this is another threat for simple men to afford marriage,” she said. Another problem highlighted is the problem of food, in the past it used to be some kilograms of cereals, liters of oil and grams of salt one sack of bread but now everything has doubled. “How can those poor families make their children get married? She asked saying some of young men have resorted to drinking and cattle rustling to raise the required bride price. “In the past also people don’t use to kill cows like today, it use to just be a goat for people together for one day but now marriage has taken different route of about more than two days which all needs feeding,” she lamented. Udhong appeals to every community that practices high dowry and expensive marriages to reduce so that the upcoming young men will be able to marry. She said: “We want to make everybody get married and have responsibilities so that everybody focuses on development. We want to reduce everything including food, drinks for few guests.” “How can those one that are now graduating get such money for marriage, yet they start from low grades and then goes up. Also some of them might be having family issues which need to be solved as they graduate,” she stressed. Posted in: Home Comments 22/03/2013, 4:50 PM - Posted by Jogo Easter Thanks women of upper Nile ...its only us who can stop the issue of paying too many cows after us and in-turn we become slaves not partners of our husbands.Its good that bride price is paid as a token of appreciation to the parents of the girl ,the girl leaves her family to join the man"s family ..and become a permanent member of the husband"s family and clan unlike the man. Thus though payment of dowry is good it should not become source conflict ....btn the two families,source in security in communities coz os cattle raiding for dowry and lastly away of women"s rights in their marital home. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
