Memory Mdyetseni - Living Hero #2

Africa’s socioeconomic circumstance leaves its citizens with few choices and little hope when faced with disasters such as HIV/AIDS and famine. Because of their role and position in society, all these challenges hit women the hardest.

Approximately 65% of the women in Malawi are illiterate and therefore cannot engage in meaningful economic activity or employment save for casual labour and peasant farming. As drought exasperates the already critical situation, many women are forced to make desperate decisions. When things like wild tubers, roots, and termites have failed to sustain their families, women have found themselves joining the sex trade just to get a little money to buy maize. They argue that it is better to die five or 10 years later from AIDS than to die now from hunger.

As an orphan from a young age, Memory Mdyetseni struggled to complete her education in her homeland of Malawi. Despite all the odds being against her, Memory graduated from university in 2006 with a degree in education, a lifelong dream she once thought to be unattainable. She is now the co-founder and Director of Atikana Pa Ulendo (Girls On The Move) Secondary School for Girls in rural Malawi. This project is a joint Canadian/Malawian initiative that is giving Malawian girls the opportunity to move forward, to improve their lives, and to take ownership of their futures. APU is an all-girls’ secondary school (grades 9-12) in rural Malawi. With a total of 72 students, APU’s goal is to reach its capacity of 320 students within the next four years. The first group of girls began form 1 (grade 9) in January, and the hope is that 80 more will fill their places next January when they move up to form 2.

It may seem like a daunting goal, but it is already a small miracle that each of these girls are where they are today. Memory is putting her considerable talents and passion into improving the lives of hundreds of other young girls who are suffering the same hardships that she has overcome.

During the 2005 famine in Malawi, Memory undertook the daunting task of launching her own Famine Relief Effort in her home region of Kasungu. She and her husband Henry Mdyetseni, risked their lives to purchase, transport and distribute hundreds of bags of maize to thousands of the poorest villagers in Chamama, near Kasungu.

Through her work with girls education, as well as through her Famine Relief Effort, Memory has become a respected role model in her community. She has single-handedly changed the views of the male leaders in her community who are now encouraging their daughters to continue with their schooling. Not only are they willingly accepting leadership from a woman, but they are actively seeking Memory’s advice. Because of Memory, hundreds of little girls can now believe that they too can have a future – a future that includes education, health, independence and empowerment.

Memory Mdyetseni, my living hero #2.

“The world belongs to the stubborn." – Memory Chazeza Mdyetseni