It is estimated that one in five girls worldwide is married before the age of 18. Even countries that have laws against child marriage sometimes do not enforce them. But in Malawi some are seeing the first signs of change.
The third time we visited Tamara we were told that she had gone early to the nearby fields to till the land.
Nine months pregnant, the 13-year-old girl had no rest.
Tamara (not her real name) had been sleeping on the floor of her aunt’s small shack for several months after her husband, a man in his 20s, fled.
The young man had heard that social services would come to rescue Tamara from her illegal marriage and left before they arrived, leaving her to walk to her aunt’s village.
In recent years Many things have changed in Tamara’s life.
Born in a rural farming community in the Neno district of southern Malawi, her family lived below the poverty line, as did 65% of the population in this region.
The war in Ukraine, a direct trading partner of Malawi, added pressure to the situation: supplies of wheat and fertilizers stopped and prices rose.
When Tamara’s parents fell ill and died, in quick succession, she was taken in by her grandmother.
But after a month, when Tamara returned from school one day, her grandmother had news.
“He told me I had to get married,” says Tamara. “She had already received money from a man.”
A man whom Tamara had never met He had paid 15,000 Malawi kwachas, about US$9, for it.
Tamara’s grandmother had already spent the money on corn for the family and the man was now impatient. He wanted the girl he had paid for to leave school and live with him.
Child marriage has been illegal in Malawi since 2017, but remains culturally acceptable in parts of the country and still takes place in rural communities such as Tamara, where around 85% of the population lives.
More than 40% of girls marry before the age of 18, according to the NGO Girls Not Brides.
“Life was difficult because I was an older man,” says Tamara. “He used to physically abuse me by biting me every time he did something wrong.”
She lived with him for three months, until someone alerted social services.
Then, as arrangements were being made for Tamara to return to school, she noticed something. She had not had her period for about two months.
Tamara was 12 years old and I was expecting a baby.
Almost 100 kilometers from Tamara’s aunt’s hut, a short distance from the Mozambique border, a small bright green building blasts Malawian pop music. It is the office of Radio Mzati, a local station.
A group of glamorous young women in their 20s are gathered in a radio studio, adjusting their microphones and laughing as they prepare to go on air.
“Hello! Hello! Welcome to another edition of Ticheze Atsikana,” shouts host Chikondi Kuphata, “a show that serves as a platform for us beautiful girls to discuss issues that affect us.”
Kuphata and co-host Lucy Morris switch between English and Chichewa; The name of the program means “let’s chat” in Chichewa.
It is a weekly programme, sponsored by AGE Africa, an NGO that supports vulnerable girls in rural areas to stay in school, and reaches more than four million listeners throughout Malawi.
The majority of the audience are women from rural communities like Tamara’s.
The topic of this day is child marriage.
“One of the main causes here is poverty,” Morris says. “Because most of the families we come from are poor, our parents cannot take care of their children, so the best solution is to marry a girl.”
“Girls marry men “Much older than them who can maintain them.”
The women encourage their listeners to send comments via WhatsApp, before listening to a song called “Come Back.” His lyrics contain a clear message:
“Now you need school for everything!”
“You better go back to school!”
“Early marriage is not good!”
“When girls are educated and know their rights, they know they can get help to avoid child marriage. That’s part of our mission, to get girls talking, Share your stories and know that there is a way out,” says Morris.
Her village, Gulumba, near Mount Mulanje, has a women-only club to listen to Ticheze Atsikan.
Another follower of the program, although not invited to the listening group, is local chief Benson Kwelani. He says that he encourages girls to stay in school and that he will not give his blessing to a marriage in which the girl is under 18 years old.
Married as children
- About 650 million women alive today were married before they turned 18, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
- South Asia is home to the largest number of child brides, with more than 40% of the world’s total, followed by sub-Saharan Africa, with 18%.
- Worldwide, about 21% of girls are married in childhood, according to aid organization World Vision.
- Child marriage rates have decreased in Asia and Africa over the last decade, but in Latin America and the Caribbean there has been no progress for 25 years, according to the NGO Girls Not Brides.
Two weeks ago, after Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney and Melinda French Gates visited Malawi, President Lazarus Chakwera announced more funding for the national strategy to end child marriage.
The three influential philanthropists work in the country supporting local organizations that fight against child marriage.
Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, for example, supports AGE Africa, while Clooney’s Waging Justice for Women initiative supports the Malawi Women Lawyers Association to inform girls about their legal rights.
French Gates funds projects that improve health care for women, including girls who give birth as teenagers.
Still it is unusual for social services to get involved in child marriage casesNGOs say, but attitudes appear to be changing among some local leaders.
Following a campaign by the United Nations Population Fund in 2020, more than 100 traditional chiefs in Malawi (about a quarter of the total) vowed to fight traditional marriage in their communities.
However, they may be powerless if families give their daughters to much older men.
Two chiefs in Neno district, where Tamara lives, tell us that they cannot be sure that child marriages are not secretly taking place in their communities.
“Some parents approach us, but we discourage and reject such marriages,” says John Juwa, head of a community of more than 2,000 people.
“Sometimes parents They insist that their daughters are ready to get married, but we ask for their health passports to confirm their ages.”
George Mphonda, head of more than 1,000 people, says: “We are not saying that child marriage does not occur, but we are saying that when it does occur it is kept secret.”
But whose responsibility is it to stop secret child marriages?
After a long pause, Juwa says, “It is our responsibility as bosses, with the support of the family.”
Tamara gave birth to a healthy baby. A small Malawian NGO based in the city of Blantyre, called People Serving Girls At Risk, paid for a man to take her by bicycle to the local health clinic when she went into labor.
They also communicate regularly with her and her aunt.
Fortunately, Tamara’s delivery was easy. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women and adolescents, according to the WHO, so people worried about her.
“Tamara returned home and is doing well with her young son; her family is very happy with her arrival,” says Caleb Ng’ombo, executive director of People Serving Girls At Risk.
“She has the support of the community and her aunt, but the real work begins now. It would be better for her to go back to school, but she also needs to support her son.”
Tamara tells the BBC that his great hope is that his son Prince can finish school.
Tamara’s aunt runs a fruit and vegetable stand that generates less than US$50 a month. She is a few steps from her hut. Tamara helps when she can and sometimes sees her friends.
At the stall, several young girls come to pick up supplies for their families.
The last time we visited, at least two pregnant teenagers from the village, arms full of vegetables, greeted Tamara before returning to their homes.
