Local movie exposes girls’ education problems
In a rural village in Lilongwe, a teenage boy has a dream; to get his younger sister and himself out of poverty.
But when a twist of fate shatters his hopes, everything seems lost and he is faced with the ultimate choice; dropping out of school for the sake of the sister.
That is the story line of a short movie Mercy’s Blessing, which is depicting the struggles that a girl child faces in villages, in an attempt to complete her education.
With the help of Unicef, UNFPA and UN Women, the movie was premiered in Lilongwe last week.
“This movie made me cry as I could not cope with the challenges that Mercy was facing. How does a girl child fail to go to school due to lack of fees? This is something that Malawi as a country can address,” said one audience member who identified herself as Sarah.
In the film, Mercy is at the verge of not fulfilling her dream as her helpless parents, cannot raise money for her daughter’s school fees.
The brother then drops out of school to be doing piece works and use the money to send Mercy to school.
According to the movie director May Taherzadeh, the idea behind the movie is to inspire Malawian girls to remain in school regardless of the challenges they are facing. n
