GGAZ calls on more early marriages sensitisation

THE Girl Guides Association of Zambia (GGAZ) has observed that there is need for more sensitisation on early marriages in peri-urban areas because that is where the scourge is rampant.

GGAZ executive director Caroline Kafunya noted that girls in peri-urban areas are vulnerable to early marriages due to poverty and limited information on the scourge.

Mrs Kafunya was speaking at a sensitisation meeting on early marriages in Mtendere township under a project dubbed Youth Exchange from South to South (YESS).

The YESS campaign is being carried out in nine African countries by the YESS girls’ participants and member organisations in order to sensitise the community on the full potential of girls and women.

The meeting was attended by Zambia’s songstress and child rights activist Daputsa Nkhata, alias Sista D.

“Parents and girls in communities must realise that a girl child can also be modelled into a full grown adult with potential to be great and reach greater heights like a man,” Mrs Kafunya said.

Alice Mbewe (15), a grade nine pupil at New Mtendere Basic School, said indulging in early marriages is not healthy for girls.

She said girls her age who get pregnant face the risk of suffering from vaginal fistula which they can die from, because their bodies have not matured to handle child birth at an early age.

“My advice to my friends is that let us try by all means to stay in school and avoid engaging in relationships we are not ready for, otherwise we will end up in early marriages or getting pregnant,” she said.

And Lydia Nyika (17), a grade nine pupil at Mahatma Ghandi Basic School, reiterated calls for girls to forsake early pregnancies and marriages.

Lydia said getting pregnant whilst still living with one’s parents doesn’t show respect, a practice she described as being against the African culture.