Kachindamoto celebrated for fighting child marriages
Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Sociel Welfare yesterday led Malawians in celebrating the efforts of Senior Chief Kachindamoto of Dedza in ending child marriages.
The chief ’s efforts have earned her international recognition with two Belgian universities, namely Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University in Belgium) and Université Catholique (UC) de Louvain awarding her honorary doctorate degrees for championing women’s and children’s rights in her area.
Kachindamoto embarked on the mission to fight early marriages and promote education in 2004 after noting that many children were dropping out of school due to teen pregnancies and early marriages.
To date, her efforts have seen 2 449 children, including 2 323 girls, returning to school.
In her remarks during the celebration at her headquarters, Kachindamoto called on government and other stakeholders to support chi ldr en wi thdrawn from marriages, saying a number of girls are forced into marriage
because of poverty.
“When we withdraw the children from marriages, parents complain about fees,” she said, adding that her goal is to see an educated population.
Kachindamoto said she wants to see girls becoming productive citizens and taking up decision-making positions.
During the event, Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Jean Sendeza took a swipe at non-government organisations (NGO) for allegedly failing the country in the fight against early marriages due to lack of accountability.
She called on Malawians to start holdin g t h e NGOs accountable for the funds they solicit from donors to implement projects that promote education and fight against early marriages, claiming there is not much impact so far.
Said Sendeza: “I am calling on all those NGOs when they are in their areas of interest they must show that they are doing something.
“Not just having a briefcase, coming into an area and just taking pictures and getting funds from their donors. We don’t want such kind of NGOs. We want NGOs that are very serious, that are making sure that the funds they are getting are trickling down to communities.”
Ironically, several NGOs working in the area of ending child marriages have also previously worked with Kachindamoto and hailed her contribution.
A 2022 Malawi Gender-Based Assessment conducted by the World Bank showed that 42 percent of girls in the country get married before the age of 18 while nine percent get married before the age of 15. Teenage pregnancies are also on the rise, with 31 percent of girls in rural areas getting pregnant against 21 percent of urban girls.
During the same event, Malawi School of Government Kanengo Campus director Jessie Kabwila and Dedza East member of Parliament Patrick Bandawe spoke as role models to motivate the youth to pursue education.
In her remark s , Kabwila also commended Kachindamoto for putting in place by-laws aimed at ending children marriages and ensuring that they are enforced even against traditional leaders that support child marriages.
“As a country, we need to celebrate people who have achieved something great. It should not start with other countries recognising works of Malawians,” she said.
Vi c toria Montfort , one of the girls rescued from marriage and is now a qualified teacher, said Kachindamoto helped her to become a productive citizen.
She said: “I dropped out of school in Form Two after getting pregnant. I thought I would part ways with poverty by getting married. However, I suffered in marriage, my husband was abusive.
“Fortunately, the mother group came to my rescue and I went back to school and was selected to go to college. I am now a qualified teacher. I am called madam because of our senior chief.”
Montfort urged girls to stay in school so that they should become productive citizens.
