A marvel of a youth club: MamaYe in Mchinji

Mamaye Club in Mchinji is one of a kind. With over 50 members, the club is determined to make a difference in the field of maternal and newborn health in the village and surrounding areas. Here is the story.
I once shared a story of a certain club in Pitala village in Mchinji district with a colleague but she found it to be absolutely unbelievable.This is a club that is operating in the central region of Malawi located to the western part of Lilongwe district – 140 kilometers from the township.It is one of the extra-ordinary villages exist in Malawi as far as issue of maternal, child and newborn health (MNCH) is concerned. In this village no woman has died due to pregnancy or childbirth in the last ten years.The reason is not because they have the best or enough hospitals with qualified nurses in their community but simply because choose to make MNCH a concern for everyone; whether young or old, male or female as well as the literate and illiterate. To them MNHC sees no face.Yes, the youth in this village are equally involved and treasured that they work so passionately towards helping save the lives of mothers and babies.Proving their Passion I decided to take my friend over to that village so she could see for herself. Two days before the visit I called the patron to warn him but he was out of reach. It was not until the night before around 8:30 in the evening that I managed to get to him.We arrived at mid-morning on Tuesday. To our surprise, we were welcomed by over 40 students with songs, dances and poems. Having worked as a teacher it was amazing for me see that the patron was able to mobilize the club members for action within that period of time.All the well composed poetry carried the themes of ‘let’s deny early marriages’ let’s prevent teen pregnancies’ lets protect ourselves from HIV/AIDs and other messages to do with maternal and child health.   Organized for action The club has over 50 students and the patron and the matron are simply amazing. In his reply to a question my colleague had asked the patron as to what keeps him motivated, Mr. Tenazio Mwale, a slender medium heighted guy said “It pains me to see young girls dropping out of school due to pregnancies or early marriages, as such I ensure that all the young people in my community as well as those surrounding are well informed about sexuality and reproduction which includes maternal and child health”.To this cause the club members are involved in a lot of work in their communities as well as the surrounding communities. During their outreach activities they go round in their communities helping pregnant women with some basic necessities including soap, cooking oil, sugar as well as helping them with some household chores like sweeping the surroundings, chopping wood and cleaning the dishes.These youngsters raise funds for these activities through community work commonly referred to as ganyu in local language. In addition to all this, they are also involved in teaching women about the modern methods of cooking especially local vegetables to retain their nutritive values necessary for pregnant women.Reaching out to fellow youthClub members are also passionate about sharing the knowledge and the skills they have acquired in the club to other youths through sensitization campaigns.  One such activity took place at Pinda educational zone.The event brought together ten schools and they reached out to over 350 students with messages that carried the theme of “Dangers of early teenage pregnancies and the importance of returning to school after delivery”. Lessons learnt This is a low cost intervention which is helping young women to stay in school with little support from the outsiders and if replicated in other communities in Malawi, we would be talking of a different story by the year 2015. Chances are child health will have improved, maternal mortality reduced and possibly eradicated extreme poverty and hunger.Final wordPitala village is able to have maternal and child deaths free community. We all can also be able to do the same. Let’s unite for our mothers and babies. MamaYe!!!!!!!!

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