When Silvia Chemtai was a girl in Kibumet Village, she watched her world narrow in ways no child should. Her mother died in 2006, leaving her family without its anchor. The insecurity that swept through Mt. Elgon under the shadow of the Sabaot Land Defence Force forced her family to flee their home. By the time things settled, her father, now managing chronic diabetes, had placed a letter confirming ownership of five acres of land, and a purchase agreement for nearly four more.
“Something in him knew the land needed a custodian he could trust,” Silvia later reflected. “He chose me.” Before he died in 2015, her father asked her to use that land to keep the family together to educate her siblings, hold the home, and not let it go. Silvia did exactly that. She educated two sisters all the way to tertiary institutions, managed the farm, raised her children, and held on.
Then, in January 2025, a dispute broke. Extended family members claimed that a portion of the land had been sold without proper consultation, and they wanted it back. Silvia, now a 31-year-old mother of four navigating separation from her husband, went to the area chief. He was unhelpful. She escalated to the Assistant County Commissioner in Kopsiro. This time, she was heard.
ADS Western’s Western Kenya Peace Initiative had spent years building the very infrastructure that made this hearing possible, strengthening civic awareness, supporting women’s land rights education, and equipping community peace champions to uphold justice rather than overlook it. The mediation process was rigorous. Both sides were asked to present evidence. The complainants could not. A survey was commissioned. The land records confirmed what Silvia had known all along: her father had acquired that land legally, and she was his rightful heir.
Today, administrative steps are underway to formally include Silvia’s name in the land allotment records. The land her father trusted her to protect is still hers. Two of her sisters are in school. The dairy cow she invested in is producing milk she can sell. The path ahead is not easy, she speaks honestly about the stigma of separation, the cost of her siblings’ education, and the nights when her house feels less secure than she would like. But Silvia is still standing. And the land is still hers.
“My father chose me to protect this land because he trusted me. I was not going to let him down.”
— Silvia Chemtai, Kopsiro, Mt. Elgon
