Female Chief Terminates 850 Child Marriages in Malawi and Sends Girls Back to School

Authored by femalista.com and submitted by Autodidact2

A Malawian female chief has established a new law to prevent child marriage in Malawi and has terminated approximately 850 child marriages across the country to date.

Theresa Kachindamoto, a senior chief in the Dedza district of Malawi, claimed that her decision to take a stand came from her frustration over seeing 12-year-old girls walking around with babies on their hips.

According to a 2012 United Nations survey, more than half of Malawi’s girls are married before the age of 18. In addition, the country is ranked 8th out of 20 countries believed to have the highest child marriage rates in the world. Chief Kachindamoto is changing this one step at a time and has begun by annulling more than 850 child marriages, sending hundreds of young women back to school to continue their education, and by making astonishing strides to abolish cleansing rituals that require young girls to go to sexual initiation camps.

Kachindamoto said she took action by making at least 50 of her sub-chiefs sign an agreement to end child marriage in her area of authority.

“I told them: ‘Whether you like it or not, I want these marriages to be terminated’,” Kachindamoto told Al Jazeera.

In addition to the agreement, Kachindamoto instructed the leaders to annul any existing underage unions, and to send all the girls involved back to school.

“I don’t want youthful marriages,” Kachindamoto told the United Nations. “They must go to school. No child should be found at home or doing household chores during school time.”

Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with statistics indicating that one in two girls will be married before reaching the age of 18.

TheInnsanity on September 21st, 2018 at 22:23 UTC »

As someone who knows many people in and from Malawi, allow me to share some sources of information, as well as organizations you can donate to, if you feel inclined to help. Live Love Malawi is an organization that works with tribal leaders to bring overall change in the country, both through education, and through public works projects. (wells, schools, clinics) Girls Shine Academy is one of the schools that these young girls are being sent to. It is an all-girls academy that is dedicated to raising young women and girls up, and giving them a voice, so that they don't end up in these child marriages, and build a life for themselves. African Bible College Malawi (ABC) is a college in Malawi (with other campuses in Uganda and Liberia) that is focused on teaching young adults how to become leaders and politicians in their community, so they may enact long term change in these countries. Without strong and educated leaders, African governments will continue to be corrupt, which is the root of the current problems. Raising up a new generation of leaders who are focused on helping their communities, instead of making a quick buck, is what will lead these communities into the 21st century.

If you guys have any questions, I'll try and stick around to answer them. I personally have not been to Malawi, but both of my parents and my sister have been (in fact, my sister has a wall hanging that was given to her by Chief Malika, the woman in the preview image) so I know a lot of things, just from exposure, and what I don't know, I'm sure my sister will. Malawi definitely has a place in my heart, and I would love this post to be a cause of action for the cause of the people of Malawi. *Edit: Malika, not Malikha *Edit 2: oh shoot, first edit killed the formatting

cgwp on September 21st, 2018 at 21:10 UTC »

Theresa Kachindamoto, a senior chief in the Dedza district of Malawi, claimed that her decision to take a stand came from her frustration over seeing 12-year-old girls walking around with babies on their hips.

Jesus. So many times I've seen this in videos and pics.

Always thought, "poor girl has to tend to her younger sibling".

Xiaxs on September 21st, 2018 at 18:29 UTC »

Wow. That title was a roller coaster for a brief second.

I didn't know what sub this was, so when I saw "Terminates 850 child..." You know. . .

But good on her, doing the right thing! I can only hope those girls get a good education and recover from all the bullshit their "husbands" put them through during their time of "marriage".