The Star Prize Winner of the Future Africa Leader Award (FALA) 2015 has urged Malawians to brace up, and build a nation free of gender-based violence and early child marriage.
Rose Sakala was keynote speaker at the last International Women Day celebration which took place inside the Bingu International Convocation Centre in Malawi.
She officially welcomed Malawi’s First Lady and Prof. Gertrude Muthalika to the event which began with a solidarity walk from the Lilongwe Parliament.
The FALA awardee later delivered a speech in the BICC auditorium.
She starred at the event as a youth and women activist.
Her speech addressed Malawi’s highest prevalence of child marriage which stands at 42%, a rate higher than the regional average for sub Saharan African at 37%.
She said the nation ranks 13th on the world list of countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage, with nearly 1 in 2 girls married by the age of 18.
“The rate of child marriage is seven times higher among girls than boys. And 12 % of women are married before they are 15 compared to only 1.2 % for the men,”she said.
She estimated that half of the girls will be married by their 18th birthday.
On girlchild’s education, she noted that only 28% of girls complete primary school and are forced into marriage.Some as young as 9-10 years old.
“Between 2010 and 2013, 27,612 girls in primary schools and 4,053 girls in secondary schools in Malawi dropped out because of forced marriage. In addition, 14,051 primary school students and 5,597 secondary school students dropped out after becoming pregnant,”she added.
In Karonga, according to Rose, the Commonwealth National Alliance on Ending Early Child and Forced Marriages which she chairs, has been able to pull out over 400 girls from these marriages and readmitted about a 120 girls with the support of FOCUS (a local NGO) and other NGOs.
She then called every one to #pressforprogress in ending early child and forced marriages and promoting women and girls’ rights.
“The change we desire for Malawi will not come until we take full part in changing things. Every one of us has a role to play,”she said.
“A country free of child marriages, gender-based violence, domestic violence and poverty is possible and it all begin with us.”
Rose, a member of the Believers’ LoveWorld, founded a campus netwwork across Malawi in 2015, impacting hundreds of students with her outreaches.
She also collaborated with NGOs to assist youth with potentially viable ideas. She impacted over 5000 individuals across the country at that time.
She won the 2015 star prize ($25,000) for FALA, an initiative of the BLW President and Pastor Chris Oyakhilome founded in 2013.
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