Traditional leadership transforming communities

This interview was undertaken with Chief Theresa Kachindamoto from Malawi who has taken a lead in challenging harmful practices mainly targeted against women and girl in her community. She has demonstrated how traditional leadership can play a crucial role in transforming communities.

Can you briefly tell us about yourself. About how you grew up?

I am Theresa Kachindamoto. Kachindamoto was my father. I am the last born of a family of 12. My father used to make me change schools all the time. I never seemed to do anything that my siblings did. They seemed to do anything they wanted to like to eat whatever they wanted while l sometimes went without eating. My father always insisted that I should not worry about what my siblings were up to but focus on my education, which was a crucial investment. I am married to Mr Ndovi and we have five sons. It never crossed my mind and l had never dreamt of ever becoming a chief due to our culture that prohibited women from becoming chiefs. However, my father always said that l was the one who was going to bring forth change to our culture.

Why do you think your father thought you were the one who would bring change to the culture?

I don’t know and because of that l had so many questions in my head as to why he would say that. At some point whilst working at the theological college, I got married to my husband who was a businessman. We had five small boys together. The royal family then came to my place of work and asked me to go home to be a chief. l however refused several times. I was shocked that out of all of my siblings, including brothers, l was the only one who was chosen [to be chief]. When l asked what the reason was, they said your father always treasured you and held you as the figure to change the culture. His exact words were, “Once she has changed [our] culture, please put flowers on my grave.” At first my husband was somewhat not in favour of me becoming a chief and taking our children to my home, and his words were ”Am I now going to be your wife?” However, when the royal family kept coming back, he eventually gave in and advised me to go back home and take up the chieftaincy and my people would be his people too.

Your husband said that your people will be his people, he will follow and go with you?

Yes, and my children as well. My installation was on the 30th of December 2003, and I was shocked to find a lot of people present including President Bingu Wa Mutharika who installed me into power. His exact words were “l am here to install this woman. She will now be the senior traditional authority.” After two months as l was taking a walk with my husband, l saw what seemed to be a very young couple. I was shocked to learn it was a 16-year-old girl married to 24year old man. They were the first of many such couples l learnt about in which young teenage boys and girls were being forced into marriages. I was so appalled that such was happening in my village which prompted me to call all the chiefs under me and l made it clear that such behaviour was to be stopped immediately whether they liked it or not.

I also stated that l would like the end of the hyena culture. This is the practice where married women were forced to have sex with other men. The women in question were not given any choice as in-laws were desperate for grandchildren. These women were often blamed for the lack of grandchildren and would be compelled to go out and find other men to impregnate them.

The third practice that l ended was called the removal of the dust. This was when a girl child who got her first period would be forced to have sex with a man in order to “take out dust’’ from childhood and prepare her for marriage. This was a very severe violation of young girls’ well-being and rights. With all the changes I was making, many started questioning why a woman was now their chief as well as how culture had allowed such to happen. They argued that the above practices had been part of the culture for decades. However, l stood my ground and called all necessary parties to my headquarters and made it clear that no one would be forced to participate in such a culture and no one below the age of 18 was to get married on my watch whether they approved of my position or not.

How did you manage to deal with the other chiefs who wanted the cultural practices to continue?

I dismissed them and told them that until they obeyed my laws and the positions l stand on, they would no longer work with me, and l could easily find someone else to work with.

As a senior chief, do you have the power to dismiss other chiefs who are junior to you? Secondly have you seen changes from the other chiefs you have been working with since you stated that those who do not obey will leave.

Yes, l do have the power to dismiss those who are junior to me. So many chiefs in Malawi have come to my area to learn what l have been doing and have gone back to their homes and implemented the same laws and changes which l have put forth. Not only chiefs have visited my area, but SADC representatives as well came to my area for almost a week to learn the changes l had been making. They then took the same changes and implemented them in their home countries such as Zimbabwe who later sent an invitation for me to come and visit. I managed to visit six countries, moving around, talking to their chiefs and explaining the changes in culture that needed to take place. All these countries showed immerse gratitude for all l had done.

What has motivated you to fight this culture? Most of the times there is this belief that African culture is bad and associated with things that are not good. What has motivated you to make this change? Secondly do you also believe that our culture is bad, or do you believe that there are things about our culture that can be treasured?

Yes, I can say that our culture is not good but at the same time it is good. I believe we as leaders must see what is good for our people. The bad elements of culture must be abolished and put far away so we can preserve the good side of culture, that way everyone will be happy, especially my people.

What has been your inspiration to see young girls and boys go to school and to just keep the good culture?

My father used to change me from school to school. During that time l would see young girls with babies on their backs. I used to assume they were their siblings only to find out they were their own children. It pained me to see such situations growing up as well as when l was chief. So, after my installation, in 2004 I visited countless households only to find out that many of the young girls had babies and were wives. In trying to question and find out the reason behind this, l was told it was common everywhere for young girls to have children. This was when l decided that it was important for me to bring an end to child marriages. This is the perfect example of taking out the bad elements of culture that are harmful and trying to preserve the good. The police officers were very eager to help me in the process of eradicating all the above including the district commissioner and non-governmental organisations.

Are these girls married to boys their age or are they married to older men?

Some are married to boys their age whilst others are married to older men Those who are married to older men, their parents are arrested, and the girls are taken for testing.

What have been the effects of your bringing an end to child marriages and all these other harmful cultures? What are some of the results that you have seen because of you ending these cultures?

After the end of the marriages the girls all went back to school and l informed the headmasters that I am sending about 10 or 20 girls, or five boys, please take care of them. They have been back at school with the permission of their parents; however, the parents had no money to pay the school fees. I have used my salary to pay for their fees. For those in secondary school who need school uniforms, we had to sell rice to raise the money. However, resources to support children to return to school remains a challenge, although we try our best.

Some chiefs have once again visited my area or have invited me to their district. So far l have been to 15 districts in Malawi which means l have seen more than half the country. In Africa, l have been to about nine countries and in Europe l have been to about five countries. I have also received roughly 35 awards from 35 countries.

Which are some of those awards? Can you share some of them?

The most important awards were the Voices Awards from the White House in America. I have met Presidents Clinton and Obama and received awards from both of them. There were so many people at the John Kennedy home where the awards were being held. There were so many people waiting for me, and l became quite overwhelmed that l was receiving such a big award.

You have shown how leadership can be used to transform the lives of many people and you have talked about moving around African countries, about nine of them. What do you find beautiful about Africa?

Nigeria is very beautiful, and their people are very good and can sing. Then there is Zambia where l have been invited many times and when I travelled there, I was received like I am one of the residents.

Where would you like to see young girls in Malawi or even young girls from Africa go in terms of leadership? Where would you want to see young women and girls?

Growing up my father changed me from school to school and advised me to be very strict in terms of school as it is the key. A key that allows you to open doors. I would like to see more young women educated like me or even further than me.