Upper Nile Parents Decry High Dowry

This article was last updated on May 25, 2022

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“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.