Chikwawa, MALAWI – Fanny Galeta didn’t know how to react when she was told by her mother that she would be joining her first initiation ceremony. Growing up, Fanny had heard many stories about the initiation ceremony but she wasn’t sure whether she really needed to participate in the practice.

The choice wasn’t hers. Fanny’s parents and the community at large, had deep rooted respect for this age-old practice, and like every girl her age in the village, she had to take part in the ceremony.

“No one can really tell you the truth about what happens there,” says 16-year-old Fanny. “Many things are kept secret. I tried to reach out to my friends who had been there, and they just laughed. They told me that I will have discover on my own.”

Initiation ceremonies: the good and the bad

When the time came, Fanny was accompanied by her mother to the secluded camp deep down the village forest. At the camp, she was welcomed by four elderly women known as initiators. Fanny would stay here for the next three weeks.

“The rules were tough,” she says. “We weren’t supposed to go out of the camp or to see anyone during our stay. Even those who brought us food were not allowed to talk to us.”

The initiation experience was a bittersweet memory for Fanny. Some of the things she learnt were helpful but others, such as the ‘sex education’, nearly ruined her life. Fanny says during the ‘sex education’ lessons, they were taught to ‘handle’ any man.

After we graduated, we were told that we had come of age. To many of us, this meant that we were ready for marriage. I then decided to try out what we had learnt, and found myself in a relationship.

As her newly found love fledged, Fanny started losing interest in school.

“I agreed with my boyfriend to get married,” says Fanny. “But when my mother heard about it, she sought help from the community police. Since I was under age, I decided to leave the area to stay with my grandmother so that they don’t arrest my boy friend.”

When Fanny moved to her grandmother’s place, word had already spread about her story. The local chief heard also heard about it, and he decided to seek her out.

Local leaders rise to the challenge

“Our district is known for harmful traditional cultures which have derailed the future of many girls,” explains Fraiton Pintu, the Group Village Head. “We need to change this. If we fail, we will leave behind a legacy that will be frowned upon by generations to come.”

Group  Village Head Pintu is a passionate advocate for girls education and also chairperson for the Mlirima Development Network, a community group that fights gender based violence and child marriage.  Together with her team, they engaged Fanny and supported her with counselling. 

“She listened to us and agreed to go back to school,” the group village head enthuses. “We also made sure that the boy keeps away from her by warning him that we will report to the police if he continued seeing Fanny.”

To help them discharge their duties better, leaders from Mlirima Development Network were trained in gender and rights by UNFPA under the Safeguard Young People programme funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The  training sought to be build the capacity of the grassroot organisations to  among others, raise awareness on the negative impact of child marriages, reduce gender based violence incidents, fostering gender equality, and empowering survivors.

Armed with knowledge and skills, Mlirima Development Network has so far withdrawn 30 girls from early marriage and sent them back to school.  And one of them is Fanny, who finally sat for her primary school certificate and passed.

“I am glad that I listened to the advice,” she says. “Now, I am the pride of the family as I am the only girl to go to secondary school.”

Bylaws to protect adolescent girls

The story of Fanny inspired group village head Pintu to relook at some of the cultural practices happening in her community. He called a meeting with his subordinates chiefs where he put in place bylaws that prohibited initiation ceremonies to spill into the school calendar.

Another key decision made during the meeting was to change the initiators. The chiefs noted that there was a huge generation gap between the old initiators and the girls.

“Times has changed and yet we still had old woman teaching young girls obsolete traditions,” says the chief. “During the meeting, we chose young women who were progressive to take charge of the initiation ceremonies. We cant do away with them completely, as they are part of our culture, but we can reform them from within.”

One of the new initiators is 35-year-old Hanna Mkamwa. Hanna says she is happy to be entrusted with the responsibility as it will help her connect with the girls and share with them information that will help better their future.

“I have been working with girls for some time as  a mothers’ group member and very much know the problems they go through when they are growing up,” Hannah told UNFPA. “Now that I am an initiator, I will use my knowledge to shape the girls into future leaders and not child brides as was happening.”

By Joseph Scott, Communications Analyst