Mtisunge Kachingwe
Mtisunge Kachingwe currently sits as the newly elected President of the board for the YWCA of Malawi. She also heads the YWCA of Malawi’s program on sexual and reproductive health and rights of young women, working to ensure that women have accurate information and education on SRHR as well as access to services. Mtisunge is a medical Doctor completing her internship at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. Mtisunge’s guiding principle is ‘be the change you want to see in the world’. In her free time she enjoys reading and interacting with people.

Personal background leading to activism within the YWCA movement

My name is Mtisunge Kachingwe I was born and raised in Blantyre, Malawi. My parents died when I was young- my father died when I was four years old and my mother three years later. My Mum’s older sister raised me as her own but in the true sense everyone in my extended family (grandma, aunties, uncles) loved and took care of me and shaped the person I am today.

Growing up had its challenges but I managed to complete secondary school and make it to medical school. Becoming a Doctor was not planned. After secondary school I had no idea what I wanted to do, so my Mum suggested I apply to medical school and I got accepted. Looking back I’m glad I did because I cannot imagine myself doing anything else.

Outside of my own life and surroundings, I never really paid attention to issues affecting the country. Medical school opened up my eyes to issues affecting the world and Malawi. It gave me insight on the hardships women go through in their day-to-day lives. Women make up the majority of guardians in the hospital. It is common to see women finding out they are HIV-positive after having to take care of their husband with an HIV-associated illness, most of which were fatal, and then ending up having to fend for themselves. Many times have I seen rape or gender-based violence victims, the death of women due to unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths due to flaws in the health system. This made me see the difficulties young women face, and the disappointing thing was to see that many women seem to accept this as their life- it is all they know and see. They don’t feel empowered to make decisions on their own, their husbands or uncles decide for them whether to be on oxygen or not, how many children to have, and whether to use contraception or not. I have seen so many examples of the gap between men’s and women’s rights. There were so many occasions where if the woman was empowered and educated, the outcome of her health as well as her children’s would have improved significantly. This is what led me to join the YWCA. I realized that the root cause of these issues resides in community and involves more than the health system, and that if they are to be addressed effectively, a multi-disciplinary approach is needed as well addressing the issues at a community and policy level.

Current role within the YWCA movement

As a member of YWCA Malawi my work has been in the sexual and reproductive health and rights program. I assist in coordinating this program and work towards creating safe spaces for girls to come together and discuss issues that affect them, and I advocate for them to have access to sexual and reproductive health services and sexual rights. Seeing a young woman rise and fight for her right re-enforces my commitment to be a member of the YWCA.

Reflections as a YWCA Delegate to the CSW at the United Nations

Recently I attended the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations. I had applied for a long-term internship at the World YWCA. I didn’t get selected for that post but was then selected for a short-term internship. As a short-term Intern I was in the Programs Department. CSW was a new experience for me. I had to step out of my comfort zone, never having had been out of Africa or an international conference, and I had to rise to all the challenges CSW offered. At CSW I spoke on several panels addressing issues to do with young women’s leadership, adolescent SRHR, and faith and cultural barriers of young women accessing SRHR services. In addition to this I worked with the advocacy team in lobbying governments for actions that protect the dignity and rights of young women and girls.

At CSW I interacted with people from different countries and learned a lot, but the one thing I took back home with me were the words of UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka when she said, ”The time for baby steps are over, we should aim High and put women and girls at the centre of development”. This statement rings true to me. As the MDG’s come to end, now more than ever, young women need to be mobilised and their meaningful participation ensured in decisions that impact their lives at all levels and in all sectors.

The future of the YWCA Malawi and its relationship within the World YWCA movement

My vision for the YWCA Malawi is to see it expand, to create programs that are sustainable, and to engage our national government more to make them accountable. Having learned from other YWCAs that a system of hostels helps create a consistent source of income for their activities and projects, it is my hope to do the same for my national YWCA.