By Leo Mkhuwala
Emerging winner from the last May 21 Parliamentary Election and eventually becoming the first ever female Member of Parliament (MP) for Chikwawa Nkombezi Constituency has become the magnet for the developmental Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Oxfam, who on Friday came in to brighten feasibility of the lawmaker with its Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) project.
In the words of the organisation’s Gender Program Officer, Sara Chisanje, Oxfam finds it extremely exciting to realize that legislator Abida Mia is among the only 45 female MP’s who made it to current Parliament, through the deemed highly contested polls.
Said Chisanje: “We find her winning reflecting the love and trust of the majority of the people in the constituency, and through the project, Oxfam is there to sharpen her feasibility, so as, to positively impact in the campaign of ending violence among women and girls.”
In the project known as ‘Girls access to education’, Oxfam supports teen mothers who returned to school after giving birth and in Chikwawa Nkombezi, at the identification of the female parliamentarian (Abida Mia) Oxfam motivated three girls by donating a bicycle to each one of them for ridding to and from school.
Among the recipients is the 25 year old Catherine Chibade who was impregnated some four years ago while in standard 8, but later managed to return to school and is now in form 2 at the area’s Ngabu Open Secondary School.
During the colourful ceremony that took place in Ngabu, Traditional leaders from the area which falls under Traditional Authority (T.A) Ngabu witnessed the presentation of the bicycles to the girls.
According to Chisanje, chiefs were engaged as are gatekeepers and custodians of culture and tradition hence key players in ending violence against women and girls.
In an interview, Mia expounded her message during the function that it was a her priority to encourage girls to work in school and also for them to realize importance of acquiring various vocational skills like tailoring and cookery, which the MP offers free to the youth in her area.
In the project, currently, Oxfam is visiting female legislators in their specific areas regardless of their political belonging.
