the worst part of “you’ll understand when you’re older” is that you really do understand when you’re older
The second worst part is, once you get older, you find yourself saying “you’ll understand when you’re older” with Full Comprehension of how fucking annoying you’re being right now, but also knowing that it’s all you can say.
At the gym. Partner saw me doing my daily Duolingo practice on the elliptical and was like “Do you ever just do one thing at a time? You’ll never be reincarnated as a lotus flower at this rate”
Her name is Theresa Kachindamoto, and she is a senior chief - political leader of a region with a population of about 900,000 people.
She didn’t run for election; she was appointed, without her knowledge, while she was living and working in a completely different part of the country. She just received a call one day telling her to come back to her childhood home, because she was in charge now.
So she did; and when she arrived, she discovered widespread sexual abuse of children. She browbeat 50 uncooperative local leaders into accepting her decision to annul all the marriages. She then fired four of them when they continued to allow children to be married off in their areas. She still faces widespread opposition from parents who consider it their right to sexually abuse their daughters if they want to; but Kachindamoto very evidently does not give a fuck, and is continuing to use political and legal means to protect children in the region.
She’s not just an anonymous do-gooder; she’s an effective political leader despite incredibly difficult circumstances. Theresa Kachindamoto.
[Image Description: a twitter post from user Al Jazeera English @ AJEnglish that reads “This woman has broken up 850 child marriages and banned sexual initiation camps in Malawi”
Below the text is a picture of Theresa Kachindamoto. She is a dark skinned woman with short hair. She is outside and smiling. End ID]
got worried checking the dates on this post and seeing 2016, knowing how risky this kind of political activism is
good news: Kachindamoto is still in office, and last year (2024) she received honorary doctorates from 2 universities and was given the African Genius Award 🙏
