Girl, 15 rescued from prostitution in Mzimba: CRECOM’s campaign pays dividends

A 15-year-old girl in Malawi’s northern district of Mzimba is counting blessings after a Luvwele mother group from senior village headman Chidima Mhango in traditional authority Ntwalo’s area rescued her from the pangs of prostitution and sent her back to school.

Chairperson of the mother group Margret Salanda told Nyasa Times that they acted upon reports that one of the girls Neva Judith Kalawo from their work of jurisdiction had dropped out from school for no reason.

“As the mother group we carried our investigation and found that the girl dropped out from school due to ill-treated from her parents. The girl decided to run from her home village and was staying in Mzuzu where she started patronizing the night clubs,”says Salanda.

She said the mother group followed the girl to Mzuzu only to find that she had moved to Jenda where she was working as a sex commercial worker.

“After undergoing proper counselling Neva Judith Kalawo decided to go back to school at Madimba primary school where she is learning in standard 7,” said Salanda.

In an interview with Nyasa Times, Judith thanked the mother group for encouraging her and advising her about the importance of girl child education in Malawi.

Judith said after finishing her education she want to become a teacher and be a role model in her village.

The mother group attribute their success to  Centre  for community mobilization (CRECOM ) who conducted mother group trainings workshop that were conducted in Mzimba north Education district in respect to the agreement between Plan Malawi and CRECOM.

The mother groups were trained to take part in school management and address social barriers to girls’ education.

CRECOM is implementing the project called Enhancing Girls Participation and Completion of Primary Education with funding from Swedish Plan through Plan Malawi.

The project is being implemented in 6 zones of Lusangazi,Ekwendeni, Ezondweni, Njuyu, Kafukule and Enyezini in the north. Other regions include Kasungu, Lilongwe and Mulanje in the southern region.