Her name is Kusala, and if you are at the Namikango Mission you may see her. Every morning she goes with her mother to the market. She is a grade 2 pupil at Msamba Primary School, a school located less than 5 kilometers from the mission. Her family earns a living selling sugarcane, and during school holidays she joins her mother in carrying the cane to the roadside market and selling it. With six members in the family, Kusala’s mom earns about $4.00 a day. This means each family member lives on 66 cents a day. When asked how she feels carrying the cane on her head, Kusala says, “my family has no choice; we must eat, having clothing, and it totally depends on selling the cane. I don’t enjoy carrying them on my head, they are very heavy.” This business earns her a pen, a pencil, exercise books and soap.
Wants to be a nurse
Carrying sugar cane for 10 kilometers is not simple for a seven-year-old. However, she tries to look beyond the end of the cane’s length. “I want to be a nurse, so I work hard at school,” she explains with excitement. Her life, and future demands a lot on her if she is going to become a nurse. Malawi is the home to many children like Kasala whose lives are subjected to adverse poverty due to the loss of parents who die of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
Growing up in a Yao tribe in southern Malawi, Kusala has a mountain to climb if she is to realize her dream. Many cultural practices lead to girls such as Kusala becoming sexually active long before marriage, and this can easily lead to HIV/AIDS, or other problems that will bring about the loss of any promise of a productive future. For her to realize her dream of being a nurse Kusala will have to look well beyond the end of the cane.
Reported by Wilson Tembo,
Namikango Medical Warehouse Manager