When culture, education marry

When culture and education marry, the results can be phenomenal. BRIGHT KUMWENDA, our special projects editor, writes about how the two institutions considered to be at odds in the past are co-habiting and complementing each other at Msanduliza Primary School in Ntchisi.

Culture is a powerful agent of change. Culture, usually acquired in an informal setting through socialisation, defines people’s beliefs, values and attitudes towards life.

Culture is so intertwined with human nature that it is not easy to divorce the two.

Some faith groups, after decades of futile battles against culture, have come to a stark realisation that culture is so embedded in human nature that you cannot have one without the other, hence the enculturation of the liturgy which has seen beni and malipenga songs and dancing antics making their way into religious ceremonies.

People of group village head Msauka, Traditional Authority Chilowoko in Ntchisi had the same awakening not so long ago and they had no choice but to ‘enculturate’ their education system.

Every other school day, gulewamkulu goes around the villages, waking up children to prepare for classes.

Gulewamkulu, the revered traditional dance and secret cult among the Chewa, does not only stop at waking up children. It goes an extra mile by escorting the learners to school and ensuring that they are in class.

“The results have been phenomenal! Absenteeism has significantly gone down, early marriages have also dropped, coming to school late is now history and learners’ performance during examinations has improved,” says Msanduliza Primary School head teacher Absalom Chunga.

He says before gulewamkulu was roped in, the school used to register high absenteeism and dropout rates.

“Today, the only case of absenteeism we experience is either due to death or sickness. Otherwise, gulewamkulu is doing a good job,” says Chunga.

Paradigm shift

In the past, gulewamkulu used to terrorise learners when going to school and even disturb lessons in schools.

At times, they could even recruit boys into their cult by force, holding them hostage in their camps, locally know as dambwe, to undergo initiation for several days, thereby causing them to miss classes.

But the dramatic shift in mindset came in 2011 when the Creative Centre for Community Mobilisation (Creccom), through the Child Labour Elimination Actions for Real Change (Clear), organised a meeting in Dowa to mobilise ‘special groups’ such as initiation counsellors, especially gulewamkulu leaders, into the fight against child labour.

Special group leader, village head Kamdzani, describes the meeting as an eye-opener as “we learnt how gulewamkulu could play a part in the promotion of education and the fight against child labour.”

Roping gulewamkulu in the fight against the vice was not an easy job.

“Some village heads resisted the move, saying asking gulewamkulu to escort children to school was demeaning and an insult to the Chewa cultural heritage.

“We insisted that gulewamkulu should be involved and rolled out the initiative. They fought the initiative, but they later gave in after seeing enrolment figures increasing and school dropout rates decreasing spectacularly in villages that embraced the mobilisation strategy,” said the village head, born Jamuson Daniel.

Group village head Msauka warns village heads in his area against opposing the initiative, saying they will “face the music” as they are the enemies of development.

He did not specify the penalties.

“The involvement of gulewamkulu in education has brought life to Clear Project as areas which were trailing behind in the implementation of project activities have jacked up as they see the special group leaders, playing their roles in the development of education at their schools,” he said.

Pupils and parents’ take

Benamu Fabiano, a Standard Four pupil at the school, thanks Creccom for the initiative.

“When it started, we didn’t like it. But we later realised that it works for our good,” says the 15-year-old boy.

Benamu agrees with Chunga that performance of most pupils at the school has improved.

Girls, too, like the initiative.

Bridget Mwale, a Standard Six pupil at the school, says she was happy because gulewamkulu no longer harasses them.

“In the past, we used to run away from gulewamkulu because it used to terrorise us if we do not give them money.

“At times, we could fall down and injure ourselves and miss classes for days. That is no longer the case as gulewamkulu now supports our efforts to get education,” says Bridget, 13.

Parents, too, are excited with the initiative.

Says Petulo Daniel: “My boy has jacked up since gulewamkulu started escorting him to school and he is doing well in class.”

Why target gulewamkulu?

George Jobe, Creccom executive director, in a paper titled Community Mobilisation in Combating Child Labour in Malawi, argues   that initiation counsellors, especially gulewamkulu, form a critical group which, if not targeted, efforts to fight child labour would not achieve desired results.

“Gulewamkulu performances and initiation ceremonies are greatly valued [by Chewa people] and shape gender and labour disparities embedded in their attitudes and practices.

“Gulewamkulu is changed to advocate for elimination of child labour through messages in their songs that address child labour, gender and HIV and Aids. Some cultures value initiation rites so much that boys and girls at the ages of between nine and 11 undergo initiation rites such as msondo, chiputu or jando,” he says.

Jobe adds that boys who go for jando and gulewamkulu discuss marital life and funeral rites for them to be considered grown-ups.

“There are also child abuses during initiation ceremonies such as sexual preparation for under-aged girls and boys. They sing sexual-oriented songs and are encouraged to go for a sexual [debut] to cleanse themselves.

“In the past, gulewamkulu had the audacity to beat up children and defile girls. The psychological disorientation made on children contribute to child labour in one way or another, as children dropout of school and end up with other options,” argues Jobe.

He contends that considering that initiation councellors are custodians of valued cultural customs, the need to train them so that they contribute to the elimination of child labour arose.

“The purpose was to ensure that they learn and appreciate the causes, effects and impact of child labour and discuss ways to eliminate the practices and mitigate the impact of what might contribute to them.  And discuss ways, initiation rites influence or perpetrate child labour, and roles and responsibilities of initiation counselors in achieving child rights,” says Jobe.

Clear Project

Clear Project, which is funded by Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco (ECLT) Growing Foundation, is a consortium of the Malawi Government, Creccom, Total Land Care (TLC), Youth Net and Counselling (Yoneco) and Save the Children.

In the project, Creccom is mandated to mobilise communities to change attitudes towards child labour and rise up against the vice.

The consortium has put up a gallant fight against child labour through food security, environment, education, health and sanitation, community and youth empowerment projects in the tobacco growing districts of Mchinji, Ntchisi and Rumphi.