By Nicole Schafer
In Chitera, a village in the Chiradzulu district, about 50km outside of Blantyre in Malawi, a group of women, headed up by the Traditional Authority – TA Chitera, have joined forces to tend to the needs of the increasing number of orphans in their community.
TA Chitera, who is one of the few female traditional authorities in Malawi, says: “Most of the problems the orphans face is that they don’t have a place to sleep and that they don’t have enough food like the other children, and they are always worried seeing other children happy and they are not happy”.
The impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has placed tremendous strain on the extended family network and the AMAI A PLAN Women’s group is one of the many community-based organizations in Malawi that have been created in response to the crisis.
Mary Khonje, Senior Child Development Officer from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, says: “In Malawi the government advocates for community based care for orphans as opposed to institutional care, we’ve realized its cheaper if they are left in their own environment, where orphanages uproot children from their
communities, so there is that loss of cultural identity…”
Tsala Dilirio (17 years old) runs one of the many child-headed households in this community. Tsala lost her parents to AIDS when she was twelve and has since left school to care for her two younger brothers. Tsala and her brothers live in a one-bedroom structure next to the crumbled remnants of what used to be her parents house. Tsala’s parents left them a piece of land, which she farms to provide food for herself and her brothers. She says she also sells fritters and pumpkins from time to time to generate a bit of income to buy soap and flour. She says she struggles to raise sufficient funds to pay for her brothers primary school fees which is 50MK a semester (0.5US cents).
Tsala says that when her parents were still alive they used to have a grocery store so all their needs were provided for, but what she misses most about her parents is the
love they gave her.
The “Journey of Life” workshop, developed by REPSSI in South Africa is widely used as a psychosocial support tool for orphans across the Southern African region. The workshop comprises various exercises that use drama, art, dance, song and discussion to create awareness amongst communities about the challenges children face.
Elsie Kumwenda, a Journey of Life facilitator from NOVOC explains: “During our workshops we carry a number of exercises, one of them is about death because most
children have nobody to take them through the grieving process, so during this exercise we want to help both adults and children to know that it’s very important to
talk about death”.
Children are asked to draw an object that reminds them of one of their family members who have passed away. Then the children gather on a blanket, which represents the persons who have passed away and share the meanings behind their drawings.
Mabvuto (22 years old) who has been looking after his three younger brothers since his mother passed away when he was 16 drew a rosary. He said: “I’ve drawn this rosary because it reminds me of my late mother. When she was alive, she taught me how to use it. She was a Catholic – I was not Catholic, she was just teaching me how to use it. So after she died, and every time I see the rosary, it reminds me of her.
Tsala drew a hoe because it reminded her of her grandmother. “My grandmother told me that she has left me a hoe which I should use for farming to help the younger ones…”
One of the outcomes of this workshop was that the five orphans, who participated, would like to return to school. These five orphans all run child-headed households and have as a result had to forego schooling to care for their siblings.