Coalition against early marriages formed in Machinga

By Lino Limbithu and Elias Banda

Cases of early marriages have not spared Kawinga village communities in Machinga District where younger girls at ages between 13 and 15 enter into marriages after dropping from school. A training in advocacy organized by ADRA Malawi through the Action for Social Change Program involving community groups triggered discussions into the matter and community members sought a lasting solution. And subsequently, a task force was formed to take the matter further and the Mgwilizano coalition against early marriages was formed after consultations with chiefs and the Traditional Authority Kawinga.
During a meeting that was attended by interested groups including teachers,  police victim support units and community members, a consensus was reached giving the Mgwilizano coalition the mandate to enforce by-laws against early marriages. The laws were as follows:
1.    Marriage involving a young girl or boy should be dissolved immediately and matter to be referred to traditional counselors.
2.    Parents permitting their children to enter into marriages at unacceptable age would pay a penalty of K5000.00 (about $14) each.
3.    Any marriage arrangement to be approved by the village head.
4.    Any person found marrying a younger girl would pay K10, 000 (about $28) and the marriages would be dissolved immediately.
5.    A teacher found impregnating or marrying a school girl would pay K50, 000 (about $140)
The Mgwilizano coalition was also given responsibility to facilitate community sensitization on the child care, protection and justice Act passed by Parliament in 2010. The Act, which outlines responsibilities and roles of parents on how to raise their children in their respective homes, addresses issues of child abduction, trafficking, harmful cultural practices, and it recognizes principles that are in the best interest of children.

Nevertheless section 22 subsection 7 of the Malawi constitution allows persons between the age of fifteen and eighteen years to get married as long as they obtain consent from their parents and guardian and human rights activists have argued that this section of the constitution is a loophole for rampart early marriages in Malawi and are advocating  for the amendment of the section.

Meanwhile, through the Mgwilizano Coalition, three girls aged between 13 and 15 who have been reclaimed from marriages are now reintegrated at Nanyumbu Primary School.
The Action for Social Change Program is being supported by Denmark to bring about individual and society change in Machinag, Mulanje, Mzuzu and Lilongwe.

World Population Day;Malawi challenges and ADRA response

By Elias Banda
11 July was World Population Day with the year's theme focusing on adolescent pregnancy. In Malawi the population officially stands at 13 million according to the 2008 Population and Housing Census. The 2008 census puts the growth rate at 2.8 percent per year and that 19 percent of the total population were youths aged between 15 and 24, a population highly considered  to be sexually active.
Today, there are fears that youths have not been adequately reached with messages on a national scale or they have little or no access to contraceptives.  Reproductive health commentators in the local media have described the fast growing population in Malawi as a time bomb, which when it explodes will cast catastrophic effects. Population growth has been attributed to early pregnancies among the adolescents and currently it is estimated that 152 children are born per every 1000 live births.
Emily Kamwendo, a Reproductive Health Expert was quoted in the media as saying that Malawi has one of the highest early marriage or child marriages prevalence rates in the world. On average, one out of two girls will be married by their 18th birthday. In 2010, half of the women aged between 20 and 24 years were married before age 18.  If this trend is anything to go by, it means that 631 000 of the young girls born between 2005 -2010 will be married before age 18 by 2030.

Youths pose for photograph after family planning meeting.

Poverty and lack of education among the adolescents are among the leading causes of early pregnancies and early marriages. According to the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 2010, young women with no education were eleven times more likely to have started child bearing by the age of 19 than those with secondary school or higher education.
The population boom in Malawi is creating a huge strain on natural resources and the national budget is overstretched to provide and sustain social services. There is now increasing pressure on the government to act on the issue immediately.
Recently, the Malawi government unveiled the four National Population Policy priority areas such as; advocacy, information, education and communication and behavior change; coordination of population programs and capacity building; research, data   collection , analysis and dissemination  and mainstreaming of population and related issues in development planning.
ADRA Malawi through the Family Planning Community Advocacy project is complementing government’s efforts by raising awareness on family planning methods and is linking communities to service providers in Mulanje, Machinga, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
ADRA Malawi is currently mobilizing and is supporting over 280 community family planning volunteers targeting over 240 village communities to increase accessibility and usage of modern family planning methods. The project is also engaging family planning service providers at district and community level to advocate for youth friendly services in health centers.

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Makwasa community gets transport boost

By Stanley Mpasa and Elias Banda
ADRA Malawi has donated three ambulance bicycles to village communities in Makwasa in Thyolo district,   to ease transport challenges especially when taking patients to Malamulo Hospital. Community members earlier informed ADRA Malawi about the prevailing transport predicaments which mainly affected pregnant women in labor who found it difficult to travel through difficult terrain to get to Malamulo Hospital.
The three ambulance bicycles, with funds from ADRA International were donated through the TOT Project to Nkusa, Mangwalala and Thomasi village communities at a hand over ceremony held at Malamulo Secondary School.

S. Mpasa, (3rd  from left), shakes hands with GVH Nkusa  during the handover ceremony.

Speaking on behalf of the community, Group Village Head Nkusa thanked ADRA Malawi for the timely donation and  that the facilities would go a long way helping to transport chronically ill patients to the hospital on time.  
According to Stanley Mpasa, TOT Project Manager, the donation was part of ADRA Malawi effort to increase community access to health facilities in order to improve peoples’ lives.

Farmers association formed in Mulanje

By Elias Banda and Kapalepale Phiri.
An association embracing farmer interest groups in Traditional Authority Juma in Mulanje district has been formed with a mandate to represent farmer’s interests at district and national levels.
The association has an official name; Tagwirizina Small Holder Farmers Association (TASHFA) after its constitution was reviewed and adopted on June 14, 2013 at Namphungo.

The elected executuive committee

During the meeting, a fifteen member executive committee was elected and the elections were witnessed by Mulanje District Agribusiness Officer, Grant Tweya and agriculture extension officers from Kamwendo Extension Planning Area. Speaking during the function Mr Tweya said he was convinced that the association had followed necessary procedures and that he would help to facilitate further registration processes. He thanked ADRA Malawi through the Action for Social Change Program for facilitating the process.
According to the constitution, the main objective of the association is to find markets for seeds,  negotiate better prices and lobby for loans for farmers among other tasks that would lead to improved quality of life for farmers.

The constitution also indicates that it would mainly promote pigeon pea, sunflower, sorghum, soy beans, tomatoes and cotton.

Farmers dispalying their produce at Khwalala

A member of Mwawihe interest group who declined to be named said apart from finding lucrative markets for agriculture produce, the association would also defuse efforts of middle men who exploit farmers by imposing lower prices.
The association has embraced 8 interests groups with jurisdiction of 60 villages in Traditional Authority Juma with a total membership of 1, 129 members.  Meanwhile, female membership is 764.
The Action for Social Change Program is being support by Denmark to bring about individual and society change in Mulanje, Machinga, Mzuzu and Lilongwe districts. 

Water shortage causes high divorce rates- GVH Ngongondo

By Elias Banda
Group Village Head Ngogondo of Machinga has bemoaned   the increase of divorce cases in her area due to water shortage. The GVH said there was a strong link between water scarcity and fragile marriages because when  women spend more time fetching water, there was growing suspicion among men that their wives were cheating on them and based on the balance of probabilities, men always found grounds for divorce.
GVH Ngongondo said her indaba (village court) was flooded with divorce cases that were usually blended with hostility and suspicion among couples. The GVH said the number of divorced women was on the increase, hampering development efforts as single women were struggling to cope with prevailing economic challenges.

In extreme situations, people drink from rivers

A woman stressing a point during radio recording

Lukia John from Kamtetela Village said she was beaten twice by her husband on suspicion that she cheated on her husband when she spent 8 hours looking for safe water.  The matter was resolved after it was referred to the GVH indaba.
GVH Ngongondo said her area has 35 villages but with only two boreholes, forcing women to travel long distances looking for water. The few functional boreholes were characterized by long queues with women fighting for spaces.  In extreme situations women were forced to draw from open and unprotected wells where water was shared with animals and sometimes they found dead animals in the water.

Women learning how to be self reliant

Pishen Nampesya said it was a shame that nearly 50 years after Malawi got independence, people  in his area where still drinking in rivers and open wells.
But recently, ADRA Malawi facilitated recording of radio program where people used the platform to advocate for the provision of water by the government. During the community dialogue session that was recorded, community members engaged the duty bearer from the Department of Water Development to respond to the water challenge.
The Water Development Officer in the area, Bhahati Ngwiri pledged to report the mater to higher authorities for the provision of water facilities. However, chiefs asked for his contact number and his house for constant communication in case he failed to honor the pledge.
The recorded materials would be aired for the ADRA Malawi sponsored Zatonse Radio Program on the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).  Zatonse Radio Program is supported by Denmark through the Action for Social Change Program to amplify community advocacy voices to influence positive opinion from duty bearers and service providers at national level.

ADRA Malawi staff donate for Peke

By Stanley Mpasa
On Friday, October 19, 2012 a story was posted about Peke Mafuli of Phalombe District, a mother of three children, a girl and twin brothers who was abandoned by her husband due to her HIV status. Her relatives were helpless and she did not have enough energy to provide food for her children. Things started changing when a counselor trained by ADRA Malawi visited her and referred her to the clinic for medication. Since then, she has been on ARV treatment.
The story of Peke was shared by (Trainer of Trainers) TOT Manager, Stanley Mpasa during morning worship and he appealed for support. Since then, ADRA Malawi staff started mobilizing items including food, clothes and kitchen utensils.

Peke, center posing for a photograph with some of the donated items. Right to her is Friday Mwanakhu, the TOT counselor. 

On May 22, 2013, ADRA Malawi staff sent a representative to present items to Peke. Speaking after receiving the items, Peke thanked ADRA Malawi for the donation and for the psychosocial support that she said had changed her life.
The TOT counselors visit Peke on weekly rotational basis offering psychosocial support.
The TOT project is being supported by Sweden to bring about individual and society positive change in the wake of HIV/AIDS.

Salima DC, chiefs impressed with Tsogolo Labwino Project

Salima District Commissioner Charles Kalemba  was impressed with ADRA Malawi Tsogolo Labwino project activities during  a tour of projects in the district. The visit inspired chiefs and project beneficiaries in Traditional Kambwiri in the district.

The DC visited water facilities and village banking groups among other project activities supported by ADRA Australia. In his speech, Mr kalemba called on other organizations to emulate ADRA Malawi for its commitment to help the

One of the facilities visited.

needy.

Speaking earlier, Traditional Authority Kambwiri commended ADRA Malawi for transforming lives in his area. He however bemoaned the increased number of non -governmental organizations that existed only on paper. He said that out of 21 registered organizations, only 10 were helping people in his area including ADRA Malawi.

Commenting on the matter, the DC said his office would soon embark on the screening exercise to assess the impact of organizations in the district.

Speaking during the function, Tsogolo Labwino Project Manager Francis Zande thanked the DC for his visit. He also  thanked the community members for supporting project activities and called on chiefs to continue advocating for development activities in their villages.

Recently, ADRA Malawi handed over 4 boreholes to the community which would provide safe and portable water to over 1, 500 people. In April this year, 65 adult learners graduated from adult classes and currently, the project has over 250 adult learners attending classes.  Tsogolo Labwino Project is being supported by Australia to bring about individual and society change in Salima District.