Madonna fights for rights of people with albinism through this pose!

American pop star Madonna poses with Malawi's folktale banjo musician, Lazarus, at Chilembwe Primary School, Kasungu District, in Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa.

People with albinism have been facing challenges in Malawi. Some of them have been abducted, while others have seen their body parts being chopped while alive.

At the moment, Joseph Kachingwe, a 12-year-old boy with albinism in Phalombe District of Southern Malawi, went missing on July 6 this year and police are yet to recover his body.

National Police spokesperson,  James Kadadzera, says six people have, so far, been arrested in connection with the suspected murder of the boy.

And, against such a background, Madonna's pose with Lazarus serves as a condemnation of people who attack albinos.

Madonna jovial as she visits Malawi

• I came here to check on activities
• Reveals plans to establish football academy 

American Pop singer Madonna returned to what has become her home away from home-- Malawi-- on Monday afternoon, where he toured facilities at Mercy James Centre.

On July 11 last year, Madonna was back to Malawi on a trip that saw her open her heart to the children of Malawi, who she aided by gifting the Mercy James Centre.

The centre, located at Malawi's major referral hospital of Queen Elizabeth Central, has, since its opening last year, helped Malawian children access treatment that would, otherwise, not be available without Madonna.

On a cool afternoon, when the weather hovered between 8 and 12 degrees Celsius, Raising Malawi Executive Director, Sarah Ezzy, could not be blamed for being on top of the world.

Ezzy said, in a well-crafted statement: "Madonna has returned to Malawi, where she has worked since 2006 with her charitable organisation, Raising Malawi, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Mercy James  Centre for Paediatric Surgery and Intensive Care (MJC).

"Located on the campus of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH)-- the largest referral hospital in the country [of Malawi-- the Mercy James Centre, which opened on July 11, 2017, includes Malawi's first paediatric intensive care unit, three operating theatres dedicated to surgery in children, a dy clinic, and 50-bed ward."

Truly, it has been a tremendous first year for the patient-focused team at Mercy James Centre, who have skillfully: performed 1,690 paediatric surgeries; admitted nearly 300 patients into the paediatric ICU; seen 2, 300 patients in the outpatient clinic; admitted nearly 1, 500 patients into the ward.

In fact, the Mercy James Centre has doubled the capacity of the paediatric surgery team, which averaged 700 surgeries per year in their old facilities. Last month, the team made history in Malawi by masterfully completing the first successful separation of conjoined twins in Malawi.

HAS MADE A HOME IN MALAWI: Madonna

Ezzy said: "The Mercy James Centre represents the expansion of Raising Malawi's work at QECH since 2008 with Professor Eric Borgstein, one of four full-time paediatric surgeons in the country. Through the partnership with Raising Malawi, Professor Borgstein has developed a paediatric surgical training programme at QECH, which trained the first Malawi-born paediatric surgeon, Dr Tiyamike Kapalamula, who is now working at the Mercy James Centre.

"Raising Malawi built and donated the two-storey, free standing building to QECH and, as a part of its commitment, will continue to work with the Ministry of Health to help support operations. 

"Madonna founded Raising Malawi in 2006 to address the poverty and hardship endured by Malawi's orphans and vulnerable children. Raising Malawi partners with local organisations to provide Malawian children and their caregivers with critical resources including education and medical care."

On her part, Madonna was ecstatic, saying: "I am thrilled to see that the Mercy James Centre has become a centre of excellence in Malawi in just one year and I am grateful to the many partners, including the Ministry of Health, who have worked with Raising Malawi to make the MJC so successful. Our achievements have exceeded our expectations, and we will continue with our mission to better serve the children of this country."

Madonna indicated that she has plans to establish a football facility for youths, citing progress made by her son David James, who plays for an academy in Spain.

Madonna was in the company of all the four Malawian children she has adopted, including twins she adopted two years ago, namely Stella and Esther.

David looked like a giant he never was when he was under the care of Malawian guardians.

Mercy is growing into a young woman; smiling, forward-looking and out to show that, given a chance, the girl-child can go all the way.

Stella has become clever girl; one who is wary of the paparazzi. Just like Esther, of course. 

They seem so grown up already that they dodged cameras. 

Madonna in Malawi

• To visit Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre at 1pm
• Star set to donate items

IN MALAWI: Madonna-- Picture courtesy of NME.com

American pop star, Madonna, is in Blantyre, Malawi.

The pop idol is set to visit Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre.

Madonna is a frequent visitor to QECH, where she handed over the Mercy James Paediatric Ward last year.

The philanthropist, who has put Malawi on the map, will donate undisclosed items to the facility.

She has been on a fundraising drive that has seen her reach out to more than 10, 000 Malawian children, most of them have accessed services at the Mercy James Paediatric Ward, named after her adopted daughter Mercy, in Blantyre.

Madonna has four adopted children from Malawi,  among them David, Mercy and twins she adopted two years ago.

She remains a darling of Malawians.

Holding child marriage bull by the horns

In a country littered with a litany of social ills, it is easy to throw important issues such as those pertaining to the ills of child marriage out of priority trays. More so when issues related to individual countries are thrown into the tray of global records, which often do not resemble the life of simple bliss local policymakers want it to appear like. ATTENTIVE: Participants However, Fountain of Hope Organisation, a non-governmental organisation, has decided to pick issues related to Malawi in global statistics. After observing that the battle against child marriage can be lost, it decided to act on findings of researchers who came up with recommendations that, on an ordinary day, may be trashed as too global to spur the action of individual nations. What spurred Fountain of Hope Organisation into action is a United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report released in March 2018 which shows that 25 million child marriages were averted in the last decade. The report further indicates that, globally, 12 million girls marry each year before they turn 18— a drop from Unicef’s previous estimate of 15 million. “That report prompted us [Fountain of Hope Organisation] to intensify the fight against child marriages through the ‘Right To Be A Girl Programme’ being implemented in Karonga District. We have based our work on the Unicef report [released in March 2018],” says Fountain of Hope Organisation Executive Director, Shora Kauluka. However, other than losing hope, Kauluka looks at Unicef’s figures positively. He says what the report shows is that “ending cases of child marriage is possible”. “At the same time, we must recognise that change is uneven and we still have work to do because key figures indicate that little has been achieved. For instance, globally, the proportion of women aged between 20 and 24 years, who are married or in union before their 18th birthday, has dropped from 25 percent [one in four people] to 21 percent [one in five people] in the last decade. “While, on a positive note, cases of 25 million child marriage were averted in the last decade, 12 million girls continue to get married every year, down from Unicef’s previous estimate of 15 million,” he says. From whatever angle one looks at it, progress is being made, if one takes into consideration the fact, according to Unicef, that 650 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday, down from 720 million. This means there has been a reduction of such cases as 70 million women who, under the old order, should have been married by their 18th birthday are safe from the jaws of marriage. Danger looms, though. Researchers, at Unicef and elsewhere, indicate that 150 million girls will marry before their 18th birthday between now and 2030— unless, of course, progress is accelerated. ACTIVE: Kauluka

“ 

“Similarly, in Malawi, progress is needed for acceleration as well,” Kauluka says.

According to Millennium Development Goal Endline Survey 2014, the percentage of people aged between 15 and 49 years who first married or were in a union before the age of 15 is 10.3 for women and 1.5 for men.

In addition, the percentage of people aged between 20 and 49 years who were first married or in a union before the age of 18 years is 49.9 for women and 9.1 for men  where as the percentage  of people aged between 15 and 19 years  who were  married or in a union is at 28.4 for  women and 2.6 for men.                                                                                                                                                                                

The problem has not spared Karonga District, where evidence suggests that there are variations according to hazard types.

Generally, women, children and the elderly are more vulnerable to child marriage than men, according to research conducted in 2013 by Dodman and others.

In regard to exposure and capacity to respond to risks in urban areas, women are, therefore, more vulnerable than men.

As the United Nations Development Programme observed in 2013, even fatalities after disasters tend to be higher for women than men.

This is not shocking in Karonga District, where residents follow the patrilineal system where men take a leading role in controlling the means of production, resources and power.

“This has greatly affected lives of girls in the district, one of the consequences being that they are forced to marry earlier than men. This has greatly contributed to cases of school dropout among girls in areas such as Traditional Authority (T/A) Kilupula, especially in Group Village Head Mwangwera.

“This has been noticed in five schools, four of them are primary schools while one is a community day secondary school , a situation which has devastating impacts on girls’ education, health and development,” Kauluka says.                                   

It is for this reason that Fountain of Hope Organisation, with support from Mundo Cooperante of Spain, introduced a project aimed at reducing, and curbing, cases of child marriage by supporting the enrolment and retention of girls aged less than 16 years old in T/A Kilupula.

The project targets four primary schools— namely Kakoma, Kasisi, Namuzinga and Lutete —and Ngerenge Community Day Secondary School.

These institutions and villages have over 3,500 girls, some of them are married while others are in school. The organisation is working hand in hand with Ukhondo Service Foundation and Kakoma Community-based Organisation.

The project identifies girls who are married before 18 years, girls who are forced into marriage, those who dropped out of school and those who are in school but face various  forms of violence.

The initiative directly targets 3,500 girl children who are capacitated in fighting against the problem of child marriages.

In the month of June, the project trained 10 girls, 10 women, 10 local leaders, five men, five head teachers, five village development committee members, five school committee members as paralegals in support of victims of child marriage, sexual and gender-based violence and human rights abuses by serving as peer educators.

“This targeted all local players who are crucial in the fight against child marriage in the area. The training was facilitated by Karonga District Social Welfare Officer Atupere Mwalweni, Karonga District First Grade Magistrate Radson Gamaliel, Karonga District Child Protection Officer Rhoda Mwakasungura, Kaporo Police Station Assistant Superintendent Robert Chiotcha and  Constable Christopher Lawrence of Kaporo Police Victim support Unit,” he says.

Kilupula says Fountain of Hope Organisation has come at the right time.

“The intervention has come at the right time, considering numerous cases of child marriage we continue to register in our area. Participants should start working on outstanding cases as a starting point to show that their capacity has been strengthened,” Kilupula says.

Mwalweni further advises participants to avoid favouritism when handling issues.

Kauluka says, initially, the plan was to train 10 girls and women only as paralegals but, after noticing the negative situation on the ground, they decided to include all relevant structures so that 10 targeted volunteers can receive support from all angles.

“For instance, community leaders, head teachers and mother groups are key stakeholders in this project,” he says.

Some of the activities in the project include conducting awareness campaigns targeting 25,000 community members on consequences of early marriages, sexual and gender-based violence; advantages of keeping girls in school; providing income generating activities (IGA) to 650 households where girls are enrolled in school, among others.

IGAs include the use of incubator machines for poultry production, machines for manufacturing candles, a set of solar products  for electricity business and start up farm inputs.

Implementers are also ensuring that five mother groups of 10 members each are operating efficiently at each school so that they can monitor affairs of girls and work hand in hand with project staff to protect the rights of girls in school.

Each school will also have a club to strengthen the capacity of girls so that they can protect themselves from perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence.

Boys are not foes, though, and have been incorporated in the initiative. Boys and local leaders have put their hands to the wheel and are committed to making issues of human rights abuse directed at girls a thing of the past.

One day, children borne by the targeted girls will look back at history, learn from it, and tell stories that end with a smile.