Forestil dig et liv hvor alt gøres op i køer. Sådan er livet i Jiech, og mange andre steder i Syd Sudan. Efter at have arbejdet blandt Nuer-folket i flere omgange, er jeg ved at forstå systemet. En ko er det mest værdifulde man kan eje. Har man mange køer er man en heldig og vigtig mand. Man slagter sjældent en ko, det er den for værdifuld til. Men man kan drikke mælken. Langt de fleste slagsmål mellem klaner og stammer drejer sig også om køer. Om at stjæle køer, eller tilbage stjæle de køer der blev stjålet fra en ved tidligere lejlighed.
Det koster 25 køer for en mand at få sig en kone. Køerne deles ofte mellem alle pigens slægtninge, da man må bestikke onkler og tanter til at godkende ægteskabet. Hele familien spæder nemlig også til hvis man er en ung mand der skal giftes. Man er således heldig hvis man føder et pigebarn. Det er nemlig lig indkomst. Piger er ofte omkring 14 år når de bliver gift, mændene ældre. Gifter man sig med en kvinde som ikke bliver gravid, kan man levere hende tilbage, og få sine køer igen. Dør kvinden uden at have fået børn, får man også sine køer igen. Hvis man bliver træt af sin konen, og vil skilles, får man sine køer igen, minus 4 køer for hvert barn hun har født en (og manden beholder børnene)
Hvis man kommer til at dele leje med en anden mands hustru, og bliver grebet heri, skal man betale kvindens mand en ko, og ægtefællen beholder konen. Og hvis man skal tro historierne der fortælles, så er der par der spekulerer heri, for det er jo en hel god forretning. Historierne går alle om mænd der sender deres unge smukke konen ud for at forføre de rige og betydningsfulde mænd i byen. Kvinden fortæller så sin ægtefæle hvor hun skal mødes med elskeren, og vupti han dukker op, tager dem på fersk gerning og har skaffet sig endnu en ko. -Hvis han laver det nummer 25 gange har han råd til at skaffe sig endnu en hustru til samlingen.
-Så hvordan fungerer det i Danmark?
-Når en mand ser en kvinde han gerne vil giftes med køber han en ring til hende
-En ring? her er ringe lavet af ko-horn og ikke af en særlig værdi.
-Altså det er en meget speciel og dyr ring!
-Og hvad med familien, får de ingen ting?
-Nej de er ikke en del af handlen
-Og hvis kvinden forlader manden, får han så sin ring igen?
-Måske... Nogle gange beholder hun ringen og får den smeltet om til et andet smykke.
-Hvad hvis hun dør uden at have givet dig afkom?
-Så græder du
-Og hvis du sover med en anden mands kone?
-Så kan du få hende gratis, ægtefællen vil ikke have hende tilbage.
Jeg ved snart ikke hvilket system der er bedst....
English: Imagine a life where everything is counted in cows. That is how life is in Jiech, and many other places in South Sudan. After having spend considerable time working among the Nuer-tripe this last year, I am getting an understanding of the system. A cow is the most valuable you can own. If you have many cows, you are a lucky man. You seldom slaughter a cow, it is to valuable to be eaten on normal occasions. But drinking the milk is okay. Most of the fights between clans and tribes is also about cows. About stealing cows or stealing back your cows that was taken on an earlier account.
It costs 25 cows for a man to get a wife. The cows is often shared among the family. you need to pay of the aunts and uncles for them to accept the proposal, as marriage is a family affair. All of the family will also help gathering the necessary amount of cows if a young man from the family wants to marry. In this way, you are lucky if you give birth to a girl, because that equals income. Normal age of marriage for girls is 14 years, the men are older. If you marry a woman who does not conceive, you can take her back, and you get all your cows back. If the woman dies without giving you offspring, you will also get your cows back. If you are tired of your wife, and want a divorce, you will get back your cows minus 4 cows for each live child she has given you (and the man keeps the children)
If you by accident ends up sharing a bed with a woman who belongs to another man, and are caught doing so, you pay a cow to the spouse, and the husband keeps the wife. And if we are to believe the stories told, there is couples who takes advantage of this system. The stories are about men who send their young and beautiful wives out to seduce rich and influential men in town. She tells her husband where she is going to be meeting the lover, and “bam” he shows up out of the blue, catching them in the act, and has earned a cow. If they do that 25 times, he can afford taking another wife.
It costs 25 cows for a man to get a wife. The cows is often shared among the family. you need to pay of the aunts and uncles for them to accept the proposal, as marriage is a family affair. All of the family will also help gathering the necessary amount of cows if a young man from the family wants to marry. In this way, you are lucky if you give birth to a girl, because that equals income. Normal age of marriage for girls is 14 years, the men are older. If you marry a woman who does not conceive, you can take her back, and you get all your cows back. If the woman dies without giving you offspring, you will also get your cows back. If you are tired of your wife, and want a divorce, you will get back your cows minus 4 cows for each live child she has given you (and the man keeps the children)
If you by accident ends up sharing a bed with a woman who belongs to another man, and are caught doing so, you pay a cow to the spouse, and the husband keeps the wife. And if we are to believe the stories told, there is couples who takes advantage of this system. The stories are about men who send their young and beautiful wives out to seduce rich and influential men in town. She tells her husband where she is going to be meeting the lover, and “bam” he shows up out of the blue, catching them in the act, and has earned a cow. If they do that 25 times, he can afford taking another wife.
-So how is the system in Denmark?
-Well when a man has laid eyes on a woman he wants to marry, he buys her a ring.
-Just a ring? (here rings are made of cow horn and not that expensive)
-Well a very special and expensive ring.
-And the family, do they not get anything?
-No they are not part of the trade
-what if the woman leaves the man? does he then get his ring back?
-Sometimes, other times she keeps it and has it melted into some other jewellery
-And if she dies without giving birth?
-Then you cry
-And if you sleep with someone else's wife?
-Well most likely you can have her for free, as the husband would not like to have her back.
I am just questioning which system is the best?
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