HAVING been married when she was around the age of 18 herself, songstress Felistas “Feli Nandi” Chipendo believes the world can be a better place if and when the girl child is allowed to be in school longer and if she is not rushed into marriage for any reason.
By Michael Gwarisa
According to UNICEF data, child marriage remains widespread in Zimbabwe and one woman out of every three was married before the age of 18. In Zimbabwe, some of the major drivers of child marriages include poverty, lack of policy enforcement, religion, and cultural and forced marriage practices.
Feli recalls how she ended up marrying early just to escape from a not so pleasant economic situation back at home.
I got married when I was so young,” she says. “I got married when I was about 18 or so and then eventually I got out. I got married because of circumstances, life poverty and stuff.”
Unlike Feli, most young girls in Zimbabwe fail to get out of early marriage settings they would have entered into and chances of them pursuing their dreams are next to none. Feli is now working with the Swedish Embassy and the Population Solutions for Health (PSH) on their new campaign against early child marriages dubbed the “Give Me A Chance” campaign.
“I am part of the campaign Give A Chance “I am a child, I am not a wife.” I am very excited to be part of this because this is very personal to me as I mentioned earlier that I have been through almost a similar situation to that and I got out.
“Being here today and eventually having gotten out, I can really relate to the statement that I am a child and not a wife. I couldn’t be here today had I not gotten out. Marriage is not for children. I am going to be working with the Swedish Embassy and PSH throughout the campaign and I look forward to working with them in other campaigns,” she said.
Early child marriages in Zimbabwe have been largely driven by cultural factors and the Give Me A Chance campaign seeks to address structural, cultural and religious practises that perpetuate child marriages in Zimbabwe. Child Marriages have also resulted in girls dropping out of school and have widened opportunities gap between boys and girls.
Feli says getting into marriage early almost killed her dream of becoming a musician.
“When you are married, you are now a wife and it is really hard and rare to be able to push a career. It is different from when it is your personal decision you would have made. I was young, I was trying to run away from poverty and I was trying to run away from a lot of things and also my mind was not there.
[pullquote]“I was a baby, instead of going to school and instead of pursuing my career, I entered into an early marriage. I could have been far probably but I only I started (music) a few years ago after making a decision that marriage is not what I want, I want to get out, I want to pursue my career.”[/pullquote]
Feli has recorded some hits that have made her a household name within a space of two years. Having curved her musical career as a backing vocalist for the Afro-Fusion star Asthon “Mbeu” Nyahora, of the Mhodzi tribe band, Feli took the solo path in 2020 just before the COVID-19 induced lockdown and since then, she has never looked back.
Apart from entertaining people, Feli now wants to use music for a greater purpose. That of advocating against early child marriages to ensure children realise their full potential.
“If you listen to most of my music, you can tell that something was not right with this girl. It resonates a lot with a lot of mental health issues because when you marry at a very young age, a lot of things just come. A lot of mental health is included. That is why I want to use my voice to end this scourge of child marriages.
“I love what the PSH and the Swedish Embassy are doing. If they continue doing what they are doing, we are going to save a lot of young children. Educate them to say no, that way we empower them and we should tell them that there is more to life that marriage. I stand for girls and I also stand for men. I believe I might do an album juts to address child marriages in the near future.”
The campaign is being held in partnership with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development. The vision of the project is to create a national movement and dialogue that will contribute to the elimination of child marriages and achievement of gender equality between boys and girls in Zimbabwe.
The project seeks to engage adolescent girls (AGs), parents, religious and traditional leaders, men and boys to be champions for gender equality and ending tolerance of child marriages. The campaign also seeks to prevent child-marriages through dialogue and awareness of its negative effects among different stakeholders and influencers nationwide. It also seeks to change parental, family, and community attitudes, behaviors, and norms around child marriages) Improve adolescent girls’ skills and agency to child marriages.
