No wonder they're adopting these children. They're coming from a culture that condones molestation and abuse.

Those poor kids.

Horrible.

Great parent. Terrible creatures, all of them.

Translated

In Malawi, in the "sexual initiation" camps for girls The hyenas of Malawi or the terrible "learning" of sex . Families send their barely pubescent daughters to 'holiday' camps to learn 'the things of life'.

The innocence of Awa Kandaya is only a facade. The virginity of this 20-year-old woman, a schoolgirl's backpack on her shoulders and a charming smile , was snatched from her when she was nine years old in a "sexual initiation" camp in southern Malawi . According to local tradition, a man, paid by his parents to teach him " the things of life ", has violated her. Eleven years later, the parents spoke of the camp. Rape remains a taboo.

Sitting on the steps of a building in Nampugo, a village in the district of Mulanje, miles from the first asphalt road, Awa explains the rite. While it is common to some East African countries that gradually abolish it, this tradition of "sexual initiation" of girls remains very much established in Malawi. Here, as in the majority of rural areas, they must all go to a camp from their first menstruation. They come out if not deflowered, at least profoundly changed.

" Parents enroll their daughters in the camp, it's a family affair," says Esitele Paulo, one of the two organizers of the camp where Awa Kandaya was sent. They show up during the September holidays and are with us for two weeks. " Two weeks to make these little girls" women "before time supposed to be able to take charge of a home.

A real tool of enslavement to men, the initiation camp is run by two women. " We leave the village, in a building away from the men where we are alone with the organizers of the camp," recalls the young Awa. " Once the first rituals begin, we understand that we are here to learn how to please a man, how to please him sexually, " she continues. Becoming anxious to evoke her memories, the girl loses her smile.

Teaching "life"

Nothing appears on the practices of the camp: the omerta is entire. To the gamines who refuse to yield to the rite, the law of the ancestors promises skin diseases and family woes. Some, naive, are happy to go to what they believe is a holiday camp, others have already heard rumors, or NGO denunciation messages. But, willingly or unwillingly, the vast majority of girls resign themselves to it, encouraged by mothers who perpetuate what they themselves have suffered without telling their children what is in store for them.

" They are taken to the river, the girls undress, they must be naked , explains without inconvenience the farmer of the place, barefoot and dressed in his traditional chitenje blue king. They try to dance chisamba, to move their buttocks to excite the men. " Always open, children are rubbing against each other, and then lengthen and must simulate each sex. On an old plastic chair in Namulenga Catholic school Esitele Paulo says without flinching what it does for " decades ".

Esitele Paulo, co-organizer of one of the sexual initiation camps in the district of Mulanje in southern Malawi. At the edge of the river, in the forest, girls have to practice fellatio on a piece of wood while they have not even passed their puberty. But Esitele Paulo and many mothers of families do not give up: it is necessary to teach "life" to the growing youth. " Why did I send my daughter to this camp? For tradition and to teach him good manners, "responds to the tactics of Lima Kandaya, the mother of Awa, sweeping away the reactions of" the people of the city "who dare to ask questions about Psychic and physical trauma generated by these practices.

Hyenas are legion in rural areas

Here, tradition takes precedence over individual consent, basic hygiene rules and family planning. Among other laws taught in the camp, everything that relates to menstruation - the use of sanitary napkins or tampons - must be hidden from men because they may be disgusted and no longer want to touch their wives. In contrast, no teaching on the female reproductive system, procreation, any encouragement to the use of contraceptives. There is also no prevention on the transmission of AIDS .

" These camps are a wash brain of those girls who become women too quickly denounced Joyce Mkandawire, the NGO Let's Girls Lead. The consequences are disastrous. And after the camp, many girls get married and leave school. "In Malawi, one girl in two is married before she turns 18. In Mulanje, the weight of tradition is powerful as much as its questioning is slow. " How many have the strength to challenge this culture when your mother, your grandmother tell you it's okay? How many have the strength to say that a " hyena " is a rapist? "

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The hyenas, these men paid by the families to have a sexual relation with their girls, are legion in rural area. If the authorities insist on the disappearance of this practice, many girls still undergo an unprotected sexual relationship with a hyena on leaving the camp to "complete" the rite.

Esitele Paulo speaks freely of hyenas, but refuses to be associated with them. " Not that with us!" "She irritates herself, with a haughty air and accusing eyes. The Kusasa fumbi , as it is called in Chichewa language is banned in Malawi since 2013, and no one wants to risk to end behind bars.

Summary of our series The hyenas of Malawi or the terrible "learning" of sex Episode 4 "In Malawi, we must make it clear that this is no longer the norm for marrying girls at the age of 13! "

Episode 3 Louis, "hyena" of Malawi and proud of being

Episode 2 In the Nsanje district, rape of women is consecrated by tradition

First episode In southern Malawi, in sexual orientation camps for young girls

Presentation of our series The hyenas of Malawi or the terrible "learning" of sex

Diving into four stories in the extreme south of this East African country, where tradition demands that girls and women be regularly "purified sexually". The young Awa, she agrees when we conjure together the fisi , the hyenas. The other speakers all denied, one by one, but Awa Kandaya, a former resident of the Esitele Paulo camp, acknowledges the presence of a hyena in the community. Yes, she was forced to have unprotected sex with this elderly man. Yes, she was raped. In Malawi, one person in ten is HIV positive. Awa did not test, she refuses for the time being to worry . Like a reminiscence of his innocent youth. Her youth before the hyena.