Coaching at RashidatO.com | Social Activism at Whereveryougolove.com
IG: @RashidatO_ FB: @WhereverYouGoLove.com
“It broke my heart and immediately I went to the chief’s house to talk to him about the situation”.
Women still fight many battles around the world. In America, women have the freedom to literally take over the world, to run for and be elected as president. But in Eastern cultures, women are still fighting for basic rights. Basic rights like education, to choose whom they want to love, and whom they want to give their bodies to.
We had the opportunity to visit a sister ministry of Youth Care where I met a lovely young women who articulated the plight of so many women in Malawi.
The Tribal Right of Passage for women in Malawi is the Hard Knock Life.
We walked through the village as she told me stories and some of the older women asked her and I to sit and talk with them. Fiki greeted them and explained that I was not a local and therefore did not know the language. I said “hello” with a big smile as I sat on the Chintenge they offered me. As I listened to the heated discussion, I didn’t understand a word they said, but by their body language I understood that something was wrong. I smiled at the baby as I listened, patiently listening to their chatter. Finally, Fiki bid them good day and we continued our walk.
She explained their conversation to me…
This family of women had property that was owned by the family. Something had happened and one of the men in the family chose to sell the land without telling them. They sold the land to Chinese man that wasted no time starting to build on the property, promptly cutting down their crops. The women tried to reason with the Chinese man, but as far as he was concerned, it wasn’t his problem. Again, the women tried to reason with him asking, at least, for some time to harvest their crops. He gave them 1 day, but no crop could be properly harvested in one day especially since the crop was not ready to be harvested. The women tried going to the village chief, but he was no help. The women then tried to go to the government authorities for help. It took a couple tries to get anything done there, but eventually was able to get a letter stating that construction should be halted until the issue was resolved. The women took it to the Chinese man, but he ignored it. The women took the letter to the chief and even though it had gotten his attention, he did not move to speak with the Chinese man. Building on the land continued and no help to resolve the dispute was being given to the women. The women told Fiki this information in hopes that Fiki would help them, but she had no more connections than they did. She advised them to return to the authorities and keep them updated on the progress, or lack of progress, of the situation while pushing for further assistance to have the situation resolved. As she finished the story, she turned to me with a defeated look on her face, “but the reality is that in Malawi, no one here will really help. They are women, uneducated women, women from the village. In Malawi, women are only respected if they have an education and scarcely even then. This will be a hard fight for them.” And while that fight rages on, their homes, their property, and their crops are crumpled leaving them with nothing regardless of the outcome.
The Tribal Right of Passage for women in Malawi is the Hard Knock Life.
In the Eastern countries, women without a covering, a man as a head of house, are left out in the cold. The story of Ruth is just as real today as it was many years before as documented in the historical literature of the Bible. Ruth married one of Naomi’s sons. But a nightmare happened… Naomi’s husband died first and then her sons. There was no male covering, no advocate, no protection in the house for any of the women. In these times, and even present day in Eastern countries, no covering means utter disaster. The other daughter-in-law went back to her family for covering, while Naomi and Ruth headed back to Naomi’s homeland in hopes of finding provision.
Fiki and I started to walk again and she told me about a little girl in the village. Early in her time of working with this ministry, a young girl confided in her that she had “been made ready for marriage”. Fiki was appalled! “They actually do that here in this village!” Immediately, Fiki was off to the chief’s house to protest.
To be made ready for marriage in the culture of many rural villages in Malawi means that when a young girl has their menstrual period for the first time, she is taken to be prepared. The girls are rounded up by the women of the village and taken to a hut. In that hut, the women explain that it is time for them to become women. A man from the village then comes in and sleeps with every single one of the girls. If the girl tries to fight, the women come back in and beat the girl into submission and then the girl is raped by the man. From then on, she is a woman and is ready to be married.
For early bloomers, these girls can be as young as 8 years old.
The Tribal Right of Passage for women in Malawi is the Hard Knock Life.
Broken and abused, these young girls enter womanhood without an elementary school education, without a trade, and only the worth of being a man’s wife and making more babies. …Trapped… There is nothing else for her. And if that was the end of it, it would still be bad, but that’s not the end. There is a great chance that it will get worse.
Through another ministry we met a young girl whom her parents were divorced. She is now an orphan. He parents didn’t die, they were simply divorced. But that was enough to ravage to their family. When her parents divorced, in this tribe, the children belong to the father. The mother was no longer allowed to lay claim of them. The wife, their mother, was banished back to her home village, and the children were to stay in the village with their father. But the father decided to remarry. He married a woman of yet another village and moved in with her. He did not take his children with him. He left them in his home village to fend for themselves and forbid them to see or live with their mother.
Rose was 13 and her younger brother Franklin was 9 at the time. In order to have shelter, together the two children built a house. Franklin formed and baked the bricks while Rose built the small 3 room house without indoor plumbing or electricity.
While we visited this ministry, Rose took us to her house. I happened to be walking with her in the front at as she led us into her village. She was ecstatic to say “you’ve reached my home, this is my village.” With a smile she led us into the village and to her house. She proudly rolled out the mat for us and invited us to sit.
She said “I built this house”, but I heard her say “I survived… my brother and I survived”. And I heard God say “I redeemed… my daughter and my son are redeemed”. I cried my eyes out as I prayed blessings over these two.
The Tribal Right of Passage for women in Malawi is the Hard Knock Life.
Life for women around the world has yet to be equalized. In many places women are still used and abused in many ways. Ruth was redeemed by God through Boaz. Rose and Franklin are redeemed by God through the ministry Rise Malawi. There are so many more women and children around the would that need help. If you feel the Spirit tugging at your heart, I encourage to look further into the plight of women around the world. I encourage you to see outside of yourself, your family, and your country. I encourage you to allow the Spirit to use you to redeem someone. There are many young women, and children, being supported by this ministry. They need your help, though. Consider supporting a young woman empowered and taught her worth. Consider supporting a young man taught to love, lead, and support women and his family as God has created him to do. Support education in these regions so that the tribal right of passage is no longer a hard knock life, no longer rape, no longer destruction. Support ministries Rise Malawi that bring God and change the culture around them to love as Jesus loved. Click here to support: http://urbanpromiseinternational.org/our-ministries-malawi/malawi-risemalawi
