Lilongwe- UNFPA Malawi country office, in March 2017, embarked on an ambitious project to document a sample of 50 girls that have been rescued from child marriages and put back in school. The girls are from Dedza District from Traditional Authority of Chief Kachindamoto who has been instrumental in the campaign to end child marriages. 

The objective was to document their day-to-day struggles as they embark on the journey back to school.

The project has produced a 15-minute video and a booklet that provide a detailed account of ten selected stories of these girls on how they manage their lives after marriage, and now back in school.

The life of the girl child who has returned to school after being withdrawn from marriage is often not glamorous. The struggle does not end after the withdraw from the marriage, says Dan Odallo, UNFPA Representative

Many of these girls have one or two children at home and the underlying factors remain addressed.

Every day, they struggle to fend for their children and themselves let alone the demands of school.

At school, their integration with continuing students remains a challenge.

At home, the community is ambivalent and sceptical of their desire to remain in school and redefine their future due to the prevailing perception that marriage is a better option for a girl child.
The launch of the Untold stories will be done alongside the 2017 State of the World Population Report on Friday, 3rd November 2017 in Lilongwe.