Malawi – Northern Region - the Rumphi district: most people here belong to the dominating ethnic tribe of the Tumbukas. The Tumbakas follow the patrimonial type of marriage. A husband pays a bride price called “dowry” which comprises of two to six cattle.
Through this system, most families encourage boys to go to school but wait impatiently for the daughters to get married and receive their bride portion.
In addition, this attitude is aggravated by external factors:
Most of the community secondary schools are 50 to 60 kilometers apart. This poses a big problem for students residing in between these schools, as they have no means of Transportation, the students need to rent houses closer to their schools and have to take care of themselves.
These young, 12 to 16 year old, children have to prepare their own food, take care of their clothes and pay the rent of the houses on their own.
Since girls receive very little support, they are forced to promiscuity to get their basic needs like food, clothing and even school fees to some point.
The school dropout level is at 55%, due to early marriages, early pregnancies, HIIV/AIDS infection and death. More project details...
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