Imagine having to pay to divorce your
abuser. One woman's 15-year battle
means you now won't have to
abuser. One woman's 15-year battle
means you now won't have to
Women of Kirewa, Uganda, celebrating.
Story highlights
- Uganda has banned the practice of making divorced women refund their bride price
- Campaigners say bride prices devalues women and is at the root of much of the violence they experience
(CNN)Florence Musidika was a primary school teacher in an unhappy and violent marriage. In 2002 she asked her husband for a divorce. In response, as she bent over one morning to light a fire to make breakfast for her three children, a grenade planted by her husband in the charcoal exploded in her face.
Miraculously, the then 27-year-old from Mbale in eastern Uganda survived the blast, but was soon confronted by a new injustice: under customary law her marriage to her abusive husband could not be dissolved until her family had refunded the bride price he had paid by in exchange for her hand.
Musidika is just one of many women whose families knew of her suffering but, unable to return the payment -- often made in livestock -- they sent her back to her abuser, imploring her to "try and be a good wife," explains Atuki Turner, the founder of women's rights organization Mifumi.
