Labour

Communal labour contribution comes from Clan labour assistance groups and Neighbourhood associations. Participation is according to age, gender and physical capacity in every type of work –farming, construction, domestic, carrying (backs for women, shoulder for men), animal rearing etc.

Specific female activities include grinding grain, fetching water, food preparation (90%). Female participation in labour activities is higher because they also fetch firewood and water (+ 3 hours/ day) + childcare + brewing and distilling

Donkeys are not traditionally used, people carry everything (fodder, thatch, firewood, construction materials, manure). Now donkeys are used in certain areas.


Divison Of Labour

MALE                    JOINT                       FEMALE
Terracing             Digging                    Collecting water
Building                Sowing                    Carrying/spreading manure
Maintenance        Weeding                  Children
Fencing                Harvesting              Cooking
Dispute settling    Scaring birds          Grinding
                            Animal husbandry   Collecting firewood
                            Clothes washing     Brewing beer

Men and women work in the fields together, but the main labour burden falls on the women. A woman’s labour is highly prized. Sometimes a young eldest son is pressurised into marriage early because they will bring the labour of an additional woman into the family.


Labour And Work Groups

FADETA = pulling together. The caller is expected to provide CHAGGA before and after work and to send chagga to the fields (sometimes beans as well). The quality and quantity of the work depends on the quality and quantity of the chagga. No-one is forced but it is seen as a social event.

KODA KANTA = access to large amounts of labour and if the Kanta agrees and people fail to attend they are fined. Sometimes the work is not done well and labourers are allowed to request and receive resources from the field (stones, grass, fodder, firewood etc.)

Paid work groups have a fixed membership and they work cyclically on each other’s fields and for non-members for money (see vocab)