Background; working at Eva Demaya

One of the board-members of MalawiMoon Foundation spend in the summer of 2007 several months in Malawi, where she worked as a volunteer in the Eva Demaya Clinic. She visited over 200 women in several villages more than once and talked with them about Reproductive Health, Family Planning, Female Condoms and HIV/Aids. She also advised the starting Mwalukavichi Youth Organisation based in Luviri.

Female Health Work in Malawi

Together with a courageous HIV-positive woman and a

female translator I visited groups of women in a

disadvantaged part of North Malawi. By bike we cycled

to their villages. During these visits they learned me a

lot about their culture, habits and knowledge. I learned

them about Female Condoms, Reproductive Health and

HIV/Aids.

I learned that they had minimal knowledge about these

issues, but wanted to know everything. They had so

many questions and were so thankful for the knowledge

I could give them. Knowledge in this area is not easy

accessible, women get their knowledge from 2nd, 3th

or 4th hand and most of the time this knowledge is based

on an exceptional case/story.

Women and their husbands were surprisingly positive

about the Female Condoms, a novelty for them. The

UNFPA, based in Lilongwe, was delighted to find

someone who could actually engage in the Female

Condom project and they sent me huge boxes of

Female Condoms.

Despite the distribution of male and female condoms, I

was always in need of more condoms than available. I

also hand out flyers with information for girls (BLM) and

facts about HIV/Aids.

At the end of my stay I invited all women groups for a

farewell party under the mango tree in the Eva Demaya

Centre. There was a lot of dance, drama and singing. I

encouraged all women to teach their children and youth and to take care of each-other by giving each group a present. The women were so thankful and gave me presents as well. It was a special day for us all.

Mwalukavichi Youth Organization

During my stay in North Malawi I worked as an advisor

together with the starting Mwalukavichi Youth

Organization. This youth had built a youth office together

with two Dutch students. When I arrived, we started

organizing activities and tried to get National Registration.

After four months we were honored by a surprise-visit of

the National Ministry of Youth, Sports and Development.

After this visit, where all active youth was present, we

could start the national registration. National registration

means that in future Mwalukavichi youth will get training

and materials from the Malawian government.