Edrina Kenamu, is 28, and chief of Kandusiwa Village, in Salima District. She has 3 children, all girls, and is educated to primary school level. People in her village respect and like her and it’s easy to understand why. Her smile is contagious and she speaks with the confidence of a leader.
Edina married at 19 but her relationship was not harmonious. “When I married my husband was going out every day. I knew he was cheating on me. I was scared because our family was at risk of HIV infection. We stopped having sex. I felt bad and I felt unloved. I wondered if I should leave, I almost started an affair with another man.”
Her husband explains their violent home life. “I was beating her and I believed I had that right because I am a man. I was wrong. She took the beatings but in turn beat our children, perhaps she had learned this from me.” After nine years of this, things changed dramatically when Edrina’s husband joined MIAA and Trócaire Tiyeni Tisinthe program in Salima.
Edina says “It was the best thing that happened to me, to us. My husband stopped going out, and staying away and he started to help me at our home. I never thought that was possible. I am living in a dream. We sit together and we discuss everything, even sex. We trust each other now. There is no more violence in our home and we teach our children they too must live this way”
- This case study was prepared as part of the Gallery Exhibition to commemorate the visit of the President of the Republic of Ireland, His Excellency Michael D Higgins to Malawi in November 2014, and later to coincide with the launch of the 16 Days of Activism against GBV on November the 25th, 2014.
- Pictures taken by: Chipiliro Khonje.