N'zatonse Project sends "seventh wife" back to school in Rumphi

MALAWI: A 22-year-old girl in Rumphi has hailed N'zatonse Project for helping her to go back to school after spending two years in marriage as a seventh wife.

The girl, Ellena Ng'ambi, said in 2018, she fell pregnant with a polygamist who already had six wives before her.

When her parents learnt about the development, they chased her out of their home and asked her to join the man responsible for the pregnancy.

“After getting married to this man, I discovered he already had six wives and I was the seventh one. He moved with me to Blantyre, but we were only struggling and he used to batter me for no apparent reasons. I returned home but my father said he had no support for me but my siblings only. I decided to run my small-scale businesses through which I could support my child,” she said.

“Later, some youths from Katumbi Resource Centre approached and encouraged me to go back to school. Now I have sat for the just-completed 2021 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination and I would like to become a journalist.”

Area Development Committee (ADC) chairperson for the area, John Mkandawire, said implementation of N'zatonse Project in the district was a stitch in time as many young people used to indulge in immoral behaviours such as drug and substance abuse, premarital sex, and dropping out of school.

Ellena is one of the so many girls N'zatonse Project has sent back to school in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Katumbi in the district, after either getting married early or falling into teenage pregnancy.

The project, which aims at enhancing access to information on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and family planning (FP) amongst the youths in churches and mosques, is bankrolled by the German Bank of KfW through ACT Alliance.

It is in its fourth phase which started in March this year and will end in August 2023. It targets Rumphi, Mzimba, Thyolo, Blantyre, Nthisi, and Ntcheu districts as beneficiaries.