GirlZOffMute – Former US first lady Michelle Obama and some of her close friends came to Malawi
If you were to meet the former US first lady Michelle Obama face-to-face, what would you tell her, and what would your reaction be? Over 300 Malawian schoolgirls had the opportunity to interact with her while in Malawi to support the fight against child marriages. Which other African countries do you think she should visit for a similar course? #GirlZOffMute #DWAfrica
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Former United States First Lady, Michelle Obama, alongside global influential figures
00:09Melinda Gates and human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, were here in Malawi to engage over
00:13300 girls from various schools.
00:16Among the schools visited by these three exceptional women are Luzi Girls and Chinji Mission Secondary
00:21Schools.
00:22During their visit, they championed the cause against child marriages, promoted gender equality
00:27and explored how their respective organizations could support Malawi.
00:31I want to fight to make sure that the world sees you because I know who you are.
00:37Child marriage is something that still happens quite often and there are many factors that
00:42contribute.
00:43Today, I'll be talking to girls here in Chinji who had the privilege of rubbing shoulders
00:48with these powerful women.
00:49I'm Alertha for Girls of Mute and I can't wait to get to know their first-hand experience.
00:54Let's get talking.
00:55You guys are so, so lucky.
00:57You literally met the most powerful women on earth.
00:59How did that feel, Ntanda?
01:01For me, it was a really heartwarming experience because it was her first time coming here
01:06and for the first time, she came to Malawi and she was coming for us, Luzi, and that
01:12was a really great honor.
01:14How is it for you, Isabel?
01:16I felt a blessed cause meeting the former First Lady of United States.
01:21I felt that I can achieve all of my goals.
01:23You know when you're having that kind of a strong feeling that if she did it, then
01:27why can't I?
01:28These three women came here especially to talk more about the fight on gender-based
01:33violence and child marriages.
01:35Does that resonate with you as an African girl, Ntanda?
01:40Being Malawian, I have peers who are supposed to be at school getting married.
01:45Some of them who are just married because they're influenced by others and poverty too.
01:50So seeing those prominent women here trying to decrease these levels and hopefully even
01:56end it really made me feel happy because there's someone who cares.
02:02There are those people who care about us girls whose futures are being ruined and who could
02:07actually provide for us, make this world a better place.
02:12This has been very great, but do you have any last words, Ivy?
02:18As a country, we have to fight for the girls whose rights are being violated.
02:25Those girls who are entering an early marriage, who are being forced into a marriage.
02:31If prominent women from other countries, America, if they are fighting for us, so why not?
02:37We should fight for us ourselves.
02:39Exactly.
02:40Do you have any last words?
02:42My last words are going to girls in Malawi.
02:47We have to work up and push.
02:50If those prominent women come here to fight for us, it means we also need to put our own
02:55efforts to end child marriage.
02:57Ntanda, any last words?
02:59My last words go to girls like me and to other people who are willing to end child marriages.
03:07In some societies, girls actually take it as a custom, as a normality that they're supposed
03:13to get married early because that's what the society teaches them.
03:18So to all the girls out there, you have the right to be educated to become someone and
03:22not someone's wife.
03:23I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but you have to first be independent and then think about
03:29marriage.
03:30Oh my goodness, that's very beautiful.
03:32And that concludes the insights from my fellow teenagers who had a life-changing experience
03:37with the First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, Melinda Gates, and
03:42the human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney.
03:45I trust you've gained valuable insights from these girls.
03:48I'm Alertha Banda reporting for Girls of Mute in Chinji, Malawi.
03:52Bye!
03:53Bye!
03:54Bye!
03:55Bye!