Kudzai Munhuwa is 19 years old and lives with his parents in Rengwe Village, he has two brothers and a sister. He sat his O-levels last year but is unable to find a job. He expressed his joy at becoming a Youth Champion and being a part of the youth group who are teaching people about the importance of eliminating child marriages,
“Now I have hope that my life will change.”
Kudzai Munhuwa
While several males his age were already married, he believed he was different from them in that he desired to improve his life before considering marriage. He confessed that while growing up older boys would teach them that to be a considered a man they would have to sleep with many girls, consequently many boys impregnated young girls and were then forced to marry them or push them to abort, putting the girls lives in danger. He also lamented that most boys who practised this, resulted in them eloping with the young girl who would then be ill-treated. He testified that he witnessed a friend who slept with a girl who was 15 years old and he was forced by his parents to pay damages/compensation and the girl became his wife, in turn his friend ran away from home because he did not want the girl as his wife saying she was not beautiful enough for him. The girl remained with his friends’ parents and stopped going to school whilst his friend went to the city and never came back. According to Kudzai the problem of child marriage in his village is rampant and he is pleased to be one of the village youths who lead by example and train other youths about the negative effects of child marriage.
Kudzai now takes every opportunity he gets to constantly discourage other young men from engaging in sexual activities with young girls since it leads to illegal child marriages and unwanted pregnancies. He encourages young men to work hard and have a better future and marry the women they truly love who is above the age of 18. He also stated that the majority of the adolescents he is educating are responding well to the trainings. He excitedly expressed that since the inception of the training and going around wearing a t-shirt and cap that speaks against child marriages and educating other youths the rate at which child marriages are being conducted is significantly decreasing. Other boys now take him seriously and they have since stopped indulging in sexual intercourse with young girls and are aware of the legal implications.
In his village even the elders through his trainings and awareness campaigns are changing and are no longer participating or facilitating child marriages for fear of being arrested. He has taught several young girls, and they were thrilled to learn that not all men are predators and that some young men are there to defend them as their sisters
Fig 1:Kudzai dialoguing with district policy stakeholders
He encouraged all girls to be empowered and not entirely depend on men who might take advantage of them and ending up missing opportunities for a better future. Kudzai confidently explained to district policy stakeholders impacting on child marriage that the youth needed opportunities in their district to prove to the community that they can participate effectively in community development. He proudly stated that in his village, he had started reaping the fruits of his hard work as the cases of child marriage had significantly dropped and encouraged other youths to become champions for the elimination of child marriage.
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