Esther Mlungu is a chairperson for Namatubi CDSS Mother group and from Musani Village, Group Village Head Amos, Traditional Authority Mwaulambia and says that following the training they received from Creative Centre for Community Mobilization under Let Girls Learn funded by Girls, they have, managed to send 3 girls back to school.
“We were trained on how to motivate and empower girls to continue working hard on their education, empower those girls who got married to return to school and even those who got pregnancy to return to school,” said Mlungu
Mlungu said that they do ensure that the girls who are learning at Namatubi Community Day Secondary School are well focused on their education
“We do not want girls from the school to get married before finishing their education because when we educate a girl child we educate the whole community,” said Mlungu
Grace M’buka is one of the girls who dropped out of school after getting married to a certain businessman and got pregnant in 2018. After noticing some of the gender-based violence she was experiencing in the family while staying at the man’s house in Rumphi district, Grace ran away from the marriage and started living with her parents.
Mlungu and her team of mother group from Namatubi CDSS said that after they were moving around the village, they noticed that there Grace was not going to school, they approached her and asked the reason behind her absence at school and Grace narrated her story to Namatubi CDSS mother group
“We empowered Grace on the importance of education and that there is a possibility of returning to school after delivering her baby despite that she was about to lose her hope of going back to school,” said Mlungu.
Mlungu said that after empowering Grace on the importance of education, Grace waited and agreed to go back to school when her baby grows a bit old and her mother also accepted that she would be taking care of the child while she is at school.
“Grace returned to school when the baby reached one year and eight months and Grace is now in form 4 working hard and ready for her Malawi School Leaving Certificate Examinations,” said Mlungu