In Malawi, child labour and early marriages continue to be some of the main reasons that girls do not go to school and receive an education.   When given a choice and limited resources parents will choose to send their sons to school rather than their daughters. This is due in large part because parents expect their girls to get married – often as teenagers - or they become pregnant. If the girls are sent to school they will most likely not finish because they will be...
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The rains had just taken a break and the sun seemed to have exercised its supremacy over the clouds. If it were not for the downpour resulting from the furious clouds, I could have been here two hours ago, just in time for my appointment with the first female teacher ever at Chiputu Primary School, 49 kilometres (30 miles) from Kasungu town. “What will you have first, dowe (roasted green maize) or, nkhaka (cucumber)?” was the greeting from Yamikani Kantepa. As I enjoyed the dowe,...
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Every once in a while during our work in JMV we come across situations where our personal and professional skills are tested. One such situation arose during a Mothers’ Group meeting in Amradevi village in the Sirauli Gauspur block of Barabanki. This is one of the 195 villages where the Maternal and Neonatal Health program of Join My Village is being implemented.Here I met Malini, who was pregnant. After wrapping up the meeting, I began talking to Mithilesh. In her early 20s, Malini was one...
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“Any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a dad”.  With this in mind, I set out to look for role models of good dads in our maternal field and came back with surprising results. I visited families which were involved with JMV and those which weren’t. As expected, the men who are involved with the program came across as better fathers, proving that knowledge and information are keys to a healthy society. Name: Sarabjeet Spouse: Neelam Children: 4 girls Sarabjeet is an active member in all...
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As I peek inside the mud-and-brick home, I spot a frail old woman in a crumpled sari sitting on a string cot. “Oh, that is my mother. She hasn’t been keeping too well,” says Manoj.  I was visiting Manoj as part of my hunt for role-model fathers in the villages where CARE’s Join My Village runs its Maternal and Neonatal Health Program. Manoj is a regular at all Male Group meetings and I was told he had become a father of a baby boy 15 days...
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