I’ve supported Theatre for a Change for almost ten years. In 2013 I visited Malawi and saw first hand their awe-inspiring work in the area of Child Protection.

Working with the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in the country their brilliant Child Protection Officers make a genuine human connection with very young girls who are in dangerous surroundings and at great risk. Many of the girls have experienced extreme acts of sexual violence and are trapped in the routine of sex work as a means of survival.

I met a number of girls on my visit to Malawi who with the help of Theatre for a Change had started a journey away from sex work and the threats of bars, bottle stores and brothels. I heard first hand about their dreams for the future. Dreams brought a step closer because they realised, perhaps for the first time, that their life has value.

I’d like to raise over £20,000 to help this work continue. Below is an illustration of what your support could achieve along with a personal account from Chisomo, one of the girls from the programme.

£1 could pay a girl's exam fees at the end of the school year.

£2.50 could pay for a balanced meal for one of the girls we work with on arrival at the social rehabilitation centre or during a back to school workshop.

£5 could pay for one girl's school uniform.

£10 could pay the school fees for one girl for one term.

£20 could pay for a 'care package', including blankets, soap and toothbrush, sanitary pads and underwear, for one girl on arrival at the social rehabilitation centre.

£30 could pay the school fees for one academic year for one girl.

£100 could pay for a 'positive living' workshop for 20 of the girls we work with who live with HIV.

£150 could pay for a 'stakeholder meeting' with community decision makers. These community decision makers can help us to provide the protection measures within communities to ensure that fewer girls are at risk of marginalisation and exploitation.

£400 could pay for a training programme for the child protection community teams. These teams  provide us with a valuable link to the community to identify and then support the girls most at risk of abuse and exploitation.

£500 could pay for a series of 'back to school' workshops, supporting the girls we work with to thrive in the school environment - building their self-confidence and efficacy and supporting them to achieve good grades.

£1000 could enable us to continue to support the running of the SRC (social rehabilitation centre) for the next year. The SRC provides a shelter for children and women escaping abusive situations. Running costs include food, electricity and water and ongoing maintenance costs.

Chisomo’s story

“I was born on 10th September 1993. When my mother was pregnant for me, my father refused responsibility and my mother faced all the challenges of pregnancy on her own until I was born. When I reached 2 years, my mother got married with a man who took good care of me. The man was at that time working at police area 30 in Lilongwe. When I reached 5 years old, my step father wanted to rape me but I was very clever that time and I was always running away from him. 

However, when I reached standard 8, my stepfather finally raped me and took away my virginity. I reported this to my mother and my father chased me out of his house saying am just accusing him for something he did not do and cannot do. My mother took me to the hospital to check if it’s true and the hospital results showed that I was indeed raped.

My mother just took me away and we started staying in Chisapo. She started doing business, selling second hand clothes. She was paying my school fees, rentals and eating from this business. It was very difficult for her to manage all these responsibilities. Things got worse when I passed exams; I was selected to start at Chisapo secondary school. She could not afford to pay school fees for me; this is when I decided to go into a romantic relationship with a certain guy in Chisapo. The guy was paying school fees for me up until form 2.

I got pregnant and couldn’t continue with school, the man accepted the responsibility because my mom knew about the relationship. We started living together as a family. Things changed when my baby whose name is Blessings was born. The guy started abusing me physically and emotionally only to realise later that he was married already. I eventually got tired with this and I left him to stay with my mom. Staying with my mom got worse because I couldn’t afford soap for my baby’s nappies and other things. I got really very angry with my life and I decided to start drinking alcohol and smoking to forget all these problems. I started having sex with other men to find money to help myself and my child.

While I was living with my mom, the Chisapo Chief who knew about my life connected me with TfaC. Through TfaC programme I was able to KNOW my HIV status voluntarily. The behaviour change sessions and knowing my status prompted me to stop selling sex and all my hope was in this programme.

While in this programme, TfaC has enrolled me on vocational skills training on welding and fabrication. Nowadays, I go home very tired and when I wake up the next morning I continue with welding, my life is busy now! 

My prayer now is to have my own materials to start the business on my own because if I do so, I will be financially independent and be able to support my mom and my child Blessings.”