Aron, 18 is working with Youth for Change as an advocate for girls’ and boys’ education and fights against early marriage. Before Aron became an advocate, he was one of the young people who was actively involved with initiation ceremonies in his community. Having been initiated at the age of 11 himself, he was committed to upholding the initiation culture becoming an initiation leader by age 15. In 2020, he decided to drop out of school to focus on his role as an initiation leader despite countless efforts to make him stay in school. Aron says that he enjoyed the perks that came with the position. “Due to COVID19 school being closed, I decided to drop out of school and focus on my role as the leader of the initiation ceremony. I used to collect 5000 MWK from boys and girls brought for the ceremony, and we shared it with the counsellors. This was a strong motivation for me” explains Aron
Initiation ceremonies are believed to be a transitioning process from childhood to adulthood for girls and boys ages 10-18, commonly practiced in the eastern and southern regions of Malawi. The practice is different depending on the specific community, and it is inclusive of practical information and religious and spiritual elements. In Aron’s community, girls and boys brought together in winter for the ceremony are taught about gender roles and sex. Girls are encouraged to lie on top of one another and practice different sex positions. The ceremony also focuses more on how women should treat men. Girls and boys are forced to meet in a dark place where they have unprotected sex with each other anonymously on the final day. Then, they are encouraged to practice what they learned. Consequently, this increases early and child marriages and pregnancies.
Aron did not know that most of the things he was accustomed to were denying him and other young people their potential and rights to education, good health and access to different opportunities. He mentions how he only spent the money he was getting on alcohol and cigarettes. It was in 2021 when Aron came to realize how the cultural practice is an infringement on several human rights after his encounter with the Youth for Change Organisation.
Youth for Change is a grassroots organisation based in Zomba working with Art and Global Health Center Africa (ArtGlo) under the Make Art for Women’s Activism (MAWA) project which aims to improve the lives of women and girls by challenging patriarchal social norms and mainstreaming women’s empowerment through strengthening grassroots Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Youth for Change conducted a research using HCD principles which showed that initiation ceremonies are one of the contributing factors to high school dropout rate and early and child marriages and pregnancies. Using forum theatre, they engaged the community to explore the negative impacts of how some of the content used for the initiation is limiting boys’ and girls’ potential in fulfilling their full potential. It is at this point that Aron as the initiation leader had a discussion with the youth for change on challenging some of the provisions of the curriculum.
“Looking at all the negative consequences of initiation ceremonies which were raised during the discussion, it made me think about my position and what I can do to change things for the better.” Says Aron
After a series of discussions and meetings with community leaders as well as councellors, the curriculum was amended and adopted by the community. The new curriculum has put a limitation on some practices that were exposing girls to gender and sexual harassment in their life. An element of early and child marriages was incorporated into the new curriculum putting in stringent laws prohibiting boys and girls under the age of 18 from getting married. This prompted the end of 5 child marriages during the period and Youth for Change strongly believes the number of child marriages is even low now.
Aron and other leaders also supported the initiative and he decided to go back to school because he realized how this is important for his dream of becoming an engineer. He no longer fancies drinking alcohol as he wants to focus on his future. Currently, he is in the community committee that is advocating for education and ending early and child marriages. Together with other community members, he goes around the community to encourage other young people to go back to school. Out of 80 boys and girls who dropped out, almost 60 have gone back to school.
“I did not want my past to dictate my future, even though sometimes I felt like I would be bored going back to school but Youth for Change provided me support and encouraged me. Now it is my time to inspire other young people in my community by encouraging them to come back to school” says Aron.
