Photos by Marieke van der Velden

It is easy to come into an African country as a Westerner with pre-conceived ideas and prejudices…so easy to act all superior and condescending about the way of life here. But if you try and approach the experience with an open mind and allow yourself to be open to this different culture then you can come away enriched as a human being.

I continue to be reminded of the racism back in Malta..yesterday walking into a maternity hospital, a few of the toddlers ran screaming anyway from us in terror at the sight of our white skin and strange features. They cowered behind their mothers, big brown eyes welling up with tears. The mothers soothed them, smiling at us apologetically, and then wrapped their children behind their backs in the traditional sling for comfort.

This little girl was scared of us because we look different

Your perception of who you are shifts dramatically in Africa.

We have seen a few tourists but they come for the stereotyped adventure of organised safaris and a trip to Lake Malawi…we on the other hand are being shown the real thing. The short walk to the clinic took us past the market with its ramshackle stalls, street vendors selling bizarre items such as rubber stamps and the river where people were washing clothes..and this in the heart of the city. For us this is poverty, but we have not even been to the rural areas yet.

At the clinic I speak to Getrode (seen in these pictures), a 21-year-old married young woman
expecting her third child. She had her first child at the age of 16, forced into having sex by her boyfriend at 15 and pressured by friends who were already sexually active. Although she married the boyfriend immediately the marriage is already on the rocks as her husband comes home late every night.

I ask her whether she was surprised to fall pregnant the first time – she says yes, “I didn’t know sex could make you pregnant. I didn’t think it could happen so easily”. Sex education at school came too late and she did not know about contraception. She comes from a village and her parents were angry but then more concerned that her small frame might not survive the birth. There was the inevitable gossip about her bad reputation.

Her advice to other young girls is not to have sex so young; she imagined having children would be easy..but it is not. She has a lovely smiling face and obviously loves her little boy, but the regret of a wasted youth can be seen in her eyes. Too much responsibility at too young an age, and now facing the prospect of raising her children alone, dependent on her family for money
But she is just one face of the young Malawi female.

My interpreter for this interview is a 17 year old university student whose life could not be more different. Amber is well protected by her mother who does not allow her out past 5pm unless she is with a family member. A good girl does not stay out late, she tells me …reputation is
very important here. Girls who go to clubs late at night and go out with older men end up on the wrong path..and they usually drop out of school as well.

Interviewing one of the young mothers with the help of my interpreter Amber

Choosing the right boy to go out with is crucial she adds, “I had a boyfriend but then I found out he was lying to me. It is very difficult to know who to trust..you have to ask about him and his family background.”
It is no coincidence that Amber’s mother is a career woman and it is clear that she is a good role model who has shown her daughter that she can choose to be anything she wants to be…
As Amber and I gaze at the rows and rows of young pregnant mothers waiting for their check up I ask her now she feels when she looks at them, she shakes her head, “I feel sorry for them.”

Speaking to these young women I realised that their stories were really not far removed from that of countless young Maltese women. If you look past the dirt roads and the lack of creature comforts, and the fact that it is customary for them to simply sit on the ground when there are no chairs…and simply listen to them speak about their lives, you realise that the experiences of these women are more similar to what happens in our own society than we might have ever imagined.