Giving adolescent girls an education is preparing them to become productive citizens and defenders of their own rights.
This was said by Daina Zakochera a writer and main actor in a movie called ‘Atsikana’ which premieres this Friday at Bingu International Conference Centre (Bicc) Auditorium in Lilongwe.
“We have been losing the fight against gender based violence, sexual harassment and poverty because we miss out on one important aspect, which is promotion of girls education. Educated girls are likely to defend themselves from all sorts of human rights violations like sexual abuse. Therefore, keeping girls in school is the best bet to fight violence against girls including trafficking,'” said Daina.
She urged different players, including the corporate world to invest in girls’ education to reduce incidents of violence against girls and women.
“Basically, Atsikana movie has been inspired by different stories of abuse that girls face in our communities. For example, many are sad stories that are a result of poverty and economic insecurities left by parents who had no plans for their children. As result, children, especially girls are exposed to forced marriage, prostitution and trafficking upon the death of either one parent or both,” said Daina.
She challenged corporate institutions such as banks to support Atsikana movie saying it is an initiative which seeks to transform lives of many vulnerable people, especially girls.
“We are not ending at premiering the movie. We are taking it to gender based violence hotspot areas to create awareness on predominant gender disparities and harmful cultural practices that fuel violence against girls and women.
For example, we want to fight child marriage and teen pregnancies which force adolescent girls out of school,” said Daina.
Currently, statistics show that 42% of girls are forced in Early Forced Child Marriage annually. While about 400 to 600 are trafficked for forced labour and prostitution in countries like South Africa, monthly.
Daina, who is a writer and producer, is a young married woman who is passionate about girls’ rights. Her serious acting career dates back to her secondary school days. She acted in her school stage plays, and participated in several competitions where she was decorated with such awards as “best actress” and “best English speaker”.
