Communities team up to protect children

Communities in Lupembe-Mlare, Traditional Authority Kyungu in Karonga District have teamed up to protect children from early marriages.

In an interview on Friday, Lupembe Citizen Voice and Action (CVA) group chairperson Danwell Mwalughali said their group, which among others comprises community policing forums and child protection committees, conducts awareness campaigns against child marriages.

“When we learn about a child marriage, we follow it up and withdraw the child,” he said.

Mwalughali attributed child marriages in the area to peer pressure, poverty and some cultural practices that force children to get married.

Lupembe Area Development Committee vice-chairperson Beauty Ndovi said in 2023 they terminated a marriage involving a child.

“We recommended that the child should return to school,” she said.

Ndovi said they also work with traditional leaders who encourage their people to protect children from marriages and child labour.

One of the children who returned to school following advice from Lupembe Citizen Voice and Action is Yankho Mnyenyembe who quit school in 2021 to get married.

“I am an orphan and poverty forced me to leave school. I was 17 then. I stayed in marriage until 2022. After my marriage broke off, I was staying with my grandmother, but Lupembe Citizen Voice and Action convinced me to return to Imbudya Primary School,” she said.

Imundya Primary School deputy head teacher Wakisa Sichali said Yankho and other girls who returned to school were working hard in class.

“She is a role model to other girls. We encourage her to work hard to achieve her goals,” she said