Sacrificing a Bright Future for Early Parenthood

The effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic continue long after the death of parents and caregivers. Many extended family support systems have collapsed due to the loss of older members of the family who would have taken over the responsibility of caring for orphaned children.

This has left entire households to be cared for by children making them take on adult responsibilities that are way beyond their means and their tender ages.


At the age of 15, Ndachimwanji Florence Kachelenga is a mother of two, not by choice but due to some circumstantial mishap, not rape or premarital pregnancy but undeniably, through self-sacrifice.

In the hope of improving her difficult situation, she dropped out of primary school last year when she was in standard five to support her younger sister and brother after both parents her parents died.

People in Ndimbule village in Traditional Authority Mpama escorted the remains of Ndachimwanji's father in the year 2000 and mother in the year 2006 for burial. Both had succumbed of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Days after her mother died, the little girl realized that there was nobody else to take care of the family. The small capital that her late father had invested in his business of dried fish, and later diverted by the mother into a snacks business, had been consumed at the mother's funeral.

One of her older sisters, Mwaiwawo (now 19), was taken by their aunt for support while the eldest and first-born sister got married. She is unable to offer any support to the three younger ones and says her husband is a drunkard and does not know his responsibility, even to his own family.

Ndachimwanji now has the responsibility of taking care and supporting herself, younger sister Sungeni (12) who is now in standard three a last-born brother named Light (10) who is also in standard three.

"Every morning I have to make sure that the little ones have had a bath, eat breakfast, dress in good clothes, and get their school items like books and pencils ready to go to school. I have to provide food and other basic needs for them when they come back from school and have to provide medical care when one of them falls sick," says Ndachimwanji as she likes to be called.

Ndimbule village lies in the interior part of Chiradzulu district in the southern part of Malawi. About six kilometers off Chiradzulu road setting off from Mbulumbudzi Trading Center, this is along the road from Blantyre to Zomba. Though one has to take footpaths to reach the village, there is about 15 kilometers between the village and Chiradzulu Mountain beside which lies the district's offices and a small trading center.

Ndachimwanji walks to the mountain to collect firewood that she sells to people in her village and uses the money for the family upkeep.

Ndachimwanji says she would like to go back to school but with no relative to take care of her and her siblings, this will remain just another dream for her.

Sadly the plight of Ndachimwanji, is not unique in any way. She is but one of the many young girls her age and younger who have had to sacrifice their own future in order to give bothers and sisters a chance of a better life.

Although the United Nations has put in place the Millennium Development Goal (MGD) Number 2 in order to address issues of primary school education for children, Nadachimwanji is not going to benefit from this goal because there is no-one else to take on the responsibility of the other children or to support her financially.

Goal number 2 of the MDGs signed by the Malawi government in 2000 aims to achieve universal primary education for all children and the target is to "ensure that by 2015, children everywhere boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling"

According to the Malawi MDG report of 2003, the feasibility of the country achieving the target is only probable and systems in place to support the achievement are not that encouraging when explained as being just "fair".
Although registration was high when free primary school education was first offered, this was negated by the "drop out" rate.

The report also states that the higher the standard, more girls drop out of school because of the negative attitudes of educating girls, lack of food and cloths, finances and early pregnancies.

Malawi has a current official rate of 14% HIV prevalence that indicates the decline of new HIV infections. However, the effects of the HIV/AIDS within society will continue to surface and continue to be a challenge to government, policy makers and society in general for a long while to come.