By Patrick Ng’ambi and Rhoda Ng’ambi:
As one way of empowering girl child education and eradicating child marriages in Malawi, the government through the Ministry of Gender is making strides towards the initiative under the Wukani Stop Violence Against Girls program in Nkhata-bay district championed by Purple Innovation for Women and Girls (PIWG).
The development has transpired in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kabunduli where two girls were successfully withdrawn from child marriages and got admitted back to their primary education and have now been selected to go to Bandawe girls and Bandawe secondary schools respectively, after sitting for the recent Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examinations.
Wezzie Kamtambo aged 15 and Esnart Chiumia aged 17 were both impregnated and withdrew from school as they were forced into early marriages at a tender age but both girls were admitted back to school to resume with their studies in primary education in 2022, where they sat for PSLCE.
Expressing her excitement, Wezzie Kamtambo said she was very happy to have passed her exams and been selected to a secondary school whilst being expectant and advised her fellow teen girls who have dropped out from school to go back to school and continue with their education for a better future.
She said, “I am very happy that I have finally made it and I would like to advise my fellow young girls to do the same as there is still a chance of reviving our future despite falling pregnant at a tender age.”
Wezzie Kamtambo’s mother, Pauline Ng’ambi expressed her joy by saying now she can eat and sleep hoping that her child’s future has now started making strides.
The secretary for Gender Technical Working group, Amina Hassan applauded Purple Innovation for the great initiative they are doing in T/A Kabunduli by empowering girl child education and fighting against Gender Based Violence (GBV).
“It is interesting that two girls have been selected to boarding schools, and these will pose as role models to the next generations as they will be sharing their stories on how they made it while inspiring others.” Explained Hassan.
In her words, Purple Innovation project manager, Tchakazulu Mvula said they are impressed with the progress on how the girls are performing after being brought back to school.
“This is encouraging, because we never expected such results from them. They have been able to catch up so fast which is very impressive and that is why we have dedicated our assistance to them by procuring some books, school bags and other basic needs.” Mvula said.
Under Wukani Stop Violence Against Girls project, the organisation has managed to withdraw 52 girls from marriages and most of them have gone back to school.
Purple innovation is implementing a two year project aimed at curbing GBV in Mzimba in T/A Chindi and in Nkhata-bay under T/A Kabunduli with a motive to alleviate the plight of a girl child, with support from Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund and Spotlight initiative through UN Women in Malawi.
