Brian Longwe
Lilongwe-(MaraviPost)- Malawi is expected to experience an increase in number of teenage girls getting unplanned pregnancies, it has been learnt.
Not only that but also engagement into early marriages in the coming years.
This will materalise if the country fails to impart girls with more knowledge on the evils of premarital sex, and delays to eliminate harmful social practices that expose girls to coital habits.
The assumptions have arisen through “Yes I Do” alliance, a five-year-long project that Plan Malawi International organisation in collaboration with its global partners has embarked on, since early last year.
A research report from Centre for Social research, one of the project’s partners from Chancellor College reveals that adolescents in both rural and urban settings are being largely exposed to impure lifestyles such as pornographic materials which corrupt their minds and drive them to sexual practices.
“Teenagers are eager to try what they have experienced from nude videos, animations and pictures obtained from various media platforms and because there is inadquate parental guidance, they get trapped and fall into the pit.” reads the report.
It has been learnt however that some districts especially in southern region including Machinga, Mangochi, Chikwawa and and Nsanje are still initiating harmful cultural practices like Fisi (Hyena), Chinamwali, and Kusasa fumbi, which have been widely regarded as key contributors to the spread of unplanned pregnancies, early marriages and STIs.
National Co-ordinator for the project Joseph Maere highlighted that girls are forced to drop out of school and attend initiation ceremonies, the factor he described to burden them from being active in academic studies.
“It could be very significant if the perpetrators who violate human rights of innocent girls are brought to book and be slapped with bitter penalties,” lamented Maere.
Investigations that this reporter conducted discloses that some young-parent-girls are willing to go back to school.
But they fear of discrimination from their friends, while others lack learning resources like text books.
This motives them on education, hence they return back to their unconstitutional bonds.
However, Yes I Do alliance 2017 annual report indicates that in two years of its progress, the project currently operating in Lilongwe Traditional Authority (T A) Njewa and Machinga T/A Liwonde as focal areas, has managed to withdraw 340 girls from marriages and re-admit them in various schools.
Concurring with the report, Maere said that the project has a target of 2500 girls in both rural and urban areas.
“Lilongwe and Machinga are just the base areas of our project, but we want to reach out to the whole Malawi. Our goal is to create communities free of child marriages.” he said.
Among other activities, the project is providing training to out-of-school girls in village savings and loans, Sexual and Reproductive Health services, and give full financial support to girls who return to school.
The organisations partnered in the project include; Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM), Amref Health Africa, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education (CYECE).
