Bidding Farewell to Gender-Based Violence

Esther (not real name) is 17 years old and has just sat for Primary School Leaving Certificate of Examinations in May 2019 at one of the schools in Nchalo Zone in the Lower Shire district of Chikwawa. She hails from Traditional Authority (T/A) Lundu.

Esther dreams of becoming a nurse. But unlike other nurses to be, her dream job will not come on a silver platter. This is not only because she has to work hard academically, but also because she has to always build self-esteem and fight the trauma within her when she sees older men, including male teachers, considering the sexual abuse she went through.

Esther was once raped by a man who came to work temporarily within her community in 2017. She reported the case to her mother, but she did not take it further and it died a natural death. Esther says she did not know who else to talk to and lived with the trauma.

As if this torment was not enough, Esther was raped again on 6th May 2019 by her class teacher after he cheated her to follow him for a punishment that Esther did not know the wrong she had done. This is a teacher who is married and has three children.

The ordeal started one afternoon when Esther was playing netball with her friends when her class teacher came towards her and asked her to follow him claiming she had an immediate case to answer. Esther tried to plead with him that she responds to the case on the following day since it was getting late, but the teacher insisted that she follow him, threatening her with a more severe punishment if she refused.

Innocently, Esther followed him to staff houses thinking it was about a school-related short time discussion of the punishment. The teacher then entered his friend’s house, but Esther refused to enter. To her surprise, he forcefully grabbed her to enter then pushed her to the floor.

“He forced himself on me and after raping me he said the punishment is over and asked me to leave. I run to the Village Headman (VH) to report the matter, but the VH suggested that my case should be discussed at the school. The headteacher called my parents and the irresponsible teacher whom I will not forget for his evil deeds,” explained Esther with tears gathering in her eyes.

At a time she needed moral support, Esther says she was more devastated to hear her mother calling her a prostitute during the hearing claiming Esther followed the teacher out of her consent. At the end of the discussion, her mother said she had forgiven the teacher and requested the case to be closed. Meanwhile, her father refused to take part in the hearing.

“I was not convinced with how my case was resolved, so, I reported the issue again to my Referral Agent, Catherine Tasosa, who took the matter to Chikwawa police. When this teacher heard that we have reported the case to police, he run away, and he is still at large. But am happy that someone is following it up and the police is hunting him,” she said with a sigh of relief.

Esther says she has been taking teachers as her second parents and best people to associate with and listen to until her fate. “I now look at male teachers and other older men with wrong expectation because of my experience. I fear them the most,” she added.

Esther says she was able to report the second case after attending a series of gender-based violence (GBV) lessons at Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) Club at her school. The club was established by Creative Centre for Community Mobilization's (CRECCOM) in September 2018.

Through the AGYW Club, CRECOM is equipping girls with life skills package that teach girls to be assertive by valuing and understanding themselves. It empowers them to refrain from malpractices that can destroy their future, including forms of GBV, how to protect themselves from GBV, and where to report GBV.

Knowing that Esther’s mother lacked knowledge on child protection, CRECOM field Officer, Kumbukani Ngaiyaye and the Referral Agent together with Police Forum members approached the mother and counselled her on the importance of reporting GBV to relevant authorities and protecting their children from GBV. Gradually, Esther’s mother has started understanding her role in protecting her daughter.

Catherene, the Referral Agent, says different forms of GBV cases have been on the increase in Chikwawa and says she is happy seeing girls reporting such cases and many local and religious leaders including the police taking an active role when a GBV case is reported. However, Catherine says she receives several threats for reporting the cases to police. “I soldier on only because I know this is the best way to bring perpetuators to book and scare would be offenders,” she says.

In Chikwawa alone, CRECOM is working with 115 in-school clubs and 115 out-of-school clubs. Each club has 50 members. So far, 370 and 86 GBV cases of different forms have been reported in Chikwawa district in 2018 and 2019 respectively under this programme. 69 of these cases were referred to court.

CRECOM is implementing these activities as one of the Sub Recipients under the Prevention Programmes for Adolescents and Youth, in and out of School Programme that ActionAid Malawi is implementing in Lilongwe, Mangochi, Mulanje, Thyolo and Chikwawa districts with funds from the Global Fund.

According to the ActionAid Malawi Manager responsible for Prevention Programmes for Adolescents, in and out of School, Francis Mbvundula, the programme is mobilizing adolescents and youths from in and out of school, parents and guardians, school teachers, religious and community leaders among others to report and speak out against all forms of GBV.

“A child that is abused grows up with trauma and cannot concentrate on education. This affects the child’s future and the nation at large. Imagine a girl that has been abused and fails academically. If she is not financially supported, she might indulge in transaction sex to meet her needs without power to negotiate for safe sex. The other next option for her is to get married at a tender age, which only adds more problems to her life including maternal death,” he explained.

The Prevention Programmes for Adolescents and Youth, in and out of School aims at reducing HIV incidences amongst adolescent girls and young women (AGYWs) aged 10-24 by increasing awareness of AGYWs in HIV and AIDS, reducing school drop-out rate and contributing to the reduction in incidences of gender-based violence.