Memory banda
Memory Banda (born September 24, 1996 in Mzimba ) is a Malawian activist for human rights . She became known for her non-violent work against traditional organized girl rape and against traditional child marriage.
Life
Memory Banda's older sister had to submit to the traditional organized rape of girls, which is common in her home country in South Malawi, at the age of eleven and was traumatized and impregnated (like many other girls there). The rapist and biological father was unwilling to act as a social father. This older sister suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (likely to last for the rest of her life) . After three failed marriages, she decided to go back to school. In the face of these sisterly experiences, Memory Banda opposed this tradition, with the sole support of her mother, who comes from a northern part of Malawi where this tradition did not exist, against the opposition of numerous relatives. Memory Banda has been campaigning against this tradition with numerous chiefs from the age of 12 through diplomatic means. After initial (apparently conservative) hesitation, she achieved increasingly relevant successes. It is mainly thanks to their efforts that the permitted age of marriage in this region in southern Malawi has been changed from 15 years to 18 years and thus (according to the European definition) child marriages have been banned. She founded the organization "Formation 4 Girls Leadership".
Web links
- MEMORY-BANDA her blog
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f The activist Memory Banda on child marriage in Malawi October 29, 2019, by Anna Vollmer, on faz.net
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Banda, memory |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Malawian human rights activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 24, 1996 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mzimba |