Female chief in Malawi breaks up 850 child marriages and sends girls back to school
NEWS
Theresa Kachindamoto, the senior chief in the Dedza District of Central Malawi, wields power over close to 900,000 people… and she’s not afraid to use her authority to help the women and girls in her district. In the past three years, she has annulled more than 850 child marriages, sent hundreds of young women back to school to continue their education, and made strides to abolish cleansing rituals that require girls as young as seven to go to sexual initiation camps. With more than half of Malawi’s girls married before the age of 18, according to a 2012 United Nations survey — and a consistently low ranking on the human development index, Kachindamoto’s no-nonsense attitude and effective measures have made her a vital ally in the fight for women’s and children’s rights.
Image © UN Women
Kachindamoto, who was born in Dedza District, had been working as a secretary for twenty-seven years in another district when she was called to come home and serve as a chief. Upon her return, she was dismayed at the sight of 12 year-old girls with babies and young husbands and quickly began to take action. Last year, Malawi raised the legal age to marry to 18, yet parental consent continues to serve as a loophole to allow younger girls to marry. Kachindamoto ordered 50 of her sub-chiefs to sign an agreement ending child marriage in Dedza District. When a few male chiefs continued to approve the marriages, Kachindamoto suspended them until they annulled the unions. In addition to annulling the marriages (330 in June of 2015 alone!), this fierce chief sent the children back to school, often paying their school fees with her own money. She has also asked parliament to raise the minimum age of marriage again to 21.
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In an area where girls are often married early to ease a family’s financial burden and where one in five girls in Malawi are victims of sexual abuse, Kachindamoto is also taking a stand against the cleansing camps where girls are routinely sent before marriage. The sexual initiation rites that take place there are extremely disturbing, particularly in a country where one in ten people has HIV. Kachindamoto is threatening to dismiss any chiefs that continue to allow these controversial practices. Kachindamoto has faced plenty of opposition to her efforts from parents and community members, even receiving death threats, yet she remains determined to continue changing minds and laws for the benefits of Malawi’s females and their futures. In Kachindamoto’s own words, “If they are educated, they can be and have anything they want.”
Via The Huffington Post and Al Jazeera
Lead image © Hannah McNeish for Al Jazeera
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HOW TO: Spring clean your house when you can’t trust most cleaning products on the market
GREEN FAMILY
Spring cleaning is a tradition for many families, but in recent years it has become harder and harder to trust cleaning products, which can seriously put a damper on your spring cleaning goals. In the past, it has been semi easy to find environmentally sound cleaners at just about any store. But sadly, research over the last few years shows that what you see may not be what you get. For example, Environmental Working Group (EWG) has a Guide to Healthy Cleaning, and it's one of the only tools out there designed to help families choose safer cleaning supplies. Even if you can muddle through the EWG guide and do some extra research of your own, a study from the Silent Spring Institute shows that avoiding chemicals in household products may be insanely difficult because products are often labeled incorrectly. On top of this, the government really isn't looking out for consumer interest when it comes to chemical safety -- and chemical reform efforts, while improving, are still moving at a snail's pace. What to do? You can't trust "green" labeled cleaners at the store. You for sure can't count on manufacturers or the government to guide you and yet, who wants a dirty house? Below are some tips to help you manage spring cleaning, plus year-round cleaning efforts, while steering as clear of harmful chemicals as possible.
Make Homemade Cleaners
The best and most logical solution to toxic and/or mislabeled cleaners is to go homemade. Homemade green cleaners aren’t that tough to whip up, are very inexpensive and you can make them as safe as you like. Plus, you can make pretty much every single cleaner you need, from floor cleaners to glass cleaner to mold cleaners and much more. Check out our guide: HOW TO: Make Your Own Eco, Kid-Safe Cleaning Supplies.
Research Cleaners but Take Information with a HUGE Grain of Salt
As a parent, you should get educated about all the various cleaners and chemicals out there. However, this can be difficult. As noted above, many cleaning products are mislabeled and guides, such as the one by EWG, can simply confuse the matter by suggesting known toxic cleaners over “eco” cleaners. On top of this, you have to be very careful when reading reviews of green cleaners. Some bloggers, for example, will write a GREAT review of a green cleaner, simply because they get it for free, from the company, thus are compelled to say nice things. Find a blogger or website that doesn’t give every single product a high score. TIP: If someone rates every single green cleaner as perfect, you cannot trust their reviews. One excellent site to check out is Safe Mama. Her research is as solid as can be, she’s not the type to rate everything as perfect and she creates easy to use cheat sheets about various products and chemicals. Healthy Child, Healthy World is another trustworthy site packed with information about chemicals and green cleaning.
Clean Consistently
Spring cleaning is a nice idea, but if you only deep clean once a year, you may need harsher cleaners to get the job done – many layers of dirt and grime are way harder to clean than one layer. Keep up with your household cleaning year-round so that gentle, earth-friendly or homemade cleaners get the job done. It’s easy to set aside time to clean on a weekly basis if you get the whole family involved. In fact a good motto is to clean up as soon as you make a mess! Open your windows frequently to air your home out, wipe everything down often and stay consistent. Read Ten Simple Ways to Clean Green and snag this Daily Quick Cleaning Checklist to help you out.
Read Labels Diligently
Even though you cannot trust all cleaning product labels, right now, learning to read labels is still one of the best things you can do as a green parent. Teach yourself which chemicals are most important to avoid, make a pocket-sized list and then take it to the store with you. At said store, read your labels, looking for the biggest baddest ingredients to avoid. Below are some guides you can print out or download to your phone.
- Personal Care and Cleaning Products Guide
- Clean by Design – guide to green clothes cleaning
- Mean 15 Chemicals to Avoid – in body care and other products
- Huge list of stuff to avoid in body care and cleaners
- EWG app to safer product choices
- GoodGuide Mobile App – GoodGuide is sketchy sometimes, but they do have a decent rundown of green products.
Less is More
There are millions of conventional cleaners out there plus a slew of “green” cleaners. Still, just because they exist, doesn’t mean you need them all. Keeping it simple is great advice in most cases, but with cleaners (and body care products) it’s even better advice. Find a few multipurpose, safe cleaners you adore and stick to them. You don’t need a different cleaner for every surface in your home! For example, you can use basic Dr. Bronner’s soap for cleaning tubs, toilets, laundry, counters, floors, some fabric stains and much more. A basic eco-glass cleaner can also be used for counters and stove tops. Most households that buy store-bought products can get by with the following: One laundry soap, one dish soap or dishwasher product, one general cleaner and one glass cleaner. That’s it. The more products you bring into your home, the more you put your family at risk for chemical exposure. Keep it safe and super simple.
Give Germs Some Loving
If you let germs freak you out too much, it just sets you up to invest in products you really shouldn’t, like bleach, antibacterial cleaners and so forth. Germs aren’t your enemy! Some amount of germs are A-ok and even healthy for green families. Keep it clean sure, but don’t freak over germs – not to the point where you’re sanitizing your entire house and family.
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Lead image via Shutterstock
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