Development

Mothers hit the ground saving girls

 

Child marriages mark Machinga’s way of life.

“Girls sometimes marry as young as 11,” says Loveness Kaseda, 30.

The mother of three birthed her firstborn at 17, when she was in Standard Seven. One in two Malawian women marries before their 18th birthday, the United Nations (UN) reports.

In her village near Ntaja Trading Centre, keeping girls in school is an everyday challenge.

Girls in the south-eastern district frequently drop out of school due to rushed pregnancies and marriages, now Kaseda leads a counterforce called mother group which has saved scores of girls from the marital bed.

Halima (R) and her colleagues pose for a selfie with Michelle Obama
Halima (R) and her colleagues pose for a selfie with Michelle Obama

The concerned mothers are pivotal to Aspire, an $18.2 million health and education initiative by USAid to raise educational attainment of girls, literacy and life skills.

They urge schoolgirls to remain in school and dropouts to re-enrol.

“We really want the girls not to fall where we stumbled,” she says.

Two years ago, she suffered humiliating attacks after rescuing Halima Robert, 17. At 15, the girl was forced to marry a man twice her age.

The girl is attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York where she shared her story during a “Let Girls Learn” event hosted by US First Lady Michelle Obama and other women of influence.

“I still don’t eat three meals a day, but I go to school,” she said.

Her tale exemplifies how estremes of culture, poverty and indifference frustrate a global push for girl’s right to education.

“I lost my mother when I was seven and I was left in the care of my grandmother,” Halima said. “In 2014, when I was in Standard Seven, I learned that a 30-year-old man was interested in me. He said he would provide for me.  My grandmother arranged for our marriage because she was unable to support my siblings and me.”

The girl and her three siblings often went to school hungry with no notebooks and pens, she said.

For three months, the teen bride had to cook and fetch water and firewood for her husband and his mother as well as babysitting his sister’s children.

Thanks to the mother group, she walked free from marriage and returned to school.

“I wanted to continue my education. So I told my husband about the group of women that supports girls in school,” she said.

Afraid of being arrested, the man approached the mothers. Kaseda says the pep talk included the importance of education and disadvantages of marrying young girls.

Marrying girls under 18 is illegal, but the country has the eighth highest rates of child marriages globally.

The US-funded initiative is working with parents, teachers, learners and traditional leaders in Machinga, Balaka and Zomba to eliminate the disparities by integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment into their daily dealings.

Villagers aptly threatened to report Halima’s husband to authorities because she was too young to marry, a striking departure from traditional indifference to marriages and pregnancies involving adolescents.

By contrast, Halima’s aunts saw nothing odd.

Kaseda narrated: “I was in my salon at Ntaja when three of her aunts arrived, calling me unpalatable names, slapping me and wondering why we, useless school dropouts, wanted to withdraw her from marriage and force her back to school. But girls are safer in school.”

This indifference is taking its toll at Michongwe Primary School where Halima is one of 3576 pupils.  The enrolment comprises 17 teen mothers and 36 other dropouts.

Girls total 1822, but the figure falls steadily from 251 in Standard One to almost 159 in Standard Eight.

Head teacher Charles Taminu attributes “the horrifying brain drain” to pervasive poverty and perception of girls as brides.

“In these times of HIV and Aids, orphans are the worst hit,” he says.

Education is essential for empowering girls and eliminating inequalities.

“I’m convinced that a world in which women and girls are treated as equal to men and boys is safer, more stable and more prosperous,” said the US First Lady on World Women’s Day last year.

But Malawi is not her ideal State yet.

The Malawi Demographic Health Survey (MDHS) shows that out of 100 girls who begin Standard One, only three enter secondary school and only one of these make it to university.

Throughout, arranged marriages loom large. At home, parents marry the girls off to willing elders, especially the well-off.  In rural schools, many plunge into free-for-all self-boarding environment where elderly men lure them with cash.

Halima counts herself lucky to be back in school.

Like Obama, she urges thought leaders to use their influence to end the setbacks that impinge on girls’ rights.

The aspirant educationist says: “The Aspire programme has boosted my confidence and is helping me continue my education. I want to succeed more than ever.” n

 

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