daniel chigunwe
Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
AT the age of 18 years, Natsiraishe Maritsa is already making a difference in her community after taking it upon herself to fight child marriages and pregnancy, which are some of the major problems affecting young girls.
Maritsa founded the Vulnerable Underaged People’s Auditorium initiative to fight against child marriages and pregnancy.
This was after losing friends, classmates and relatives to child marriages and pregnancy.
And without resources to back her idea, she turned to taekwondo, a sport she was already involved in, to drive the noble cause within her community, in Epworth.
The initiative caters for girls between the ages of 10 and 18.
Taking into consideration that there are a number of factors that lead to child marriages, including peer pressure, poverty, cultural and religious beliefs among others, Maritsa has made it her mission to also engage parents.
“In this campaign I do home visits where I visit the parents of these young girls and talk to them about the effects of child marriages and pregnancy because I understand that sometimes parents are the ones who push their children to get married due to financial challenges. So that’s what I also do.
“And I also work with young mothers, survivors of child marriages, they also got married or pregnant before attaining 18 years because they are the exhibits of the effects of child marriages.
“I work with them so that the girl child will be aware of the negative effects of child marriages.
“So far I have seen a great change, for all the girls that I have enrolled in this initiative, I haven’t even heard any of them got married or pregnant since 2019 until now. So it’s indeed a great achievement and a lot of parents are supporting me,” said Maritsa.
She registered the Vulnerable Underaged People’s Auditorium last year and had the first annual meeting this year in January where she invited parents.
“They were very happy about everything we are doing and they also gave positive comments concerning the behaviour of their children, how they have changed. They also gave recommendations on some of the things that I have to improve.”
Maritsa’s efforts have not gone unnoticed as she recently won the International Olympic Committee Women and Sport Award for Africa.
She is one of six gender equality advocates who were honoured by the IOC with 2021 Women and Sport Awards.
For her, the award is an inspiration to keep going and hopes it will change the community’s perception on the initiative as well as inspire other young girls to believe in themselves and pursue their goals despite their background.
The 18-year-old, however, admits, it has not been easy.
“If a girl gets pregnant or gets married before attaining 18, it’s something that is being perceived as normal. So fighting that thing that is considered normal is very difficult.
“So I had to convince the parents of the girls, and convincing someone who is older than you, someone who is of your mother’s age, it’s something that is difficult.
“They are like but you are a child, how can you tell me these things? I know a lot and even back then girls were getting married even when they were still young, we didn’t even consider the age. So changing that perspective that it’s normal for a girl to get married (at a young age) was really difficult.
“And also now, imparting the taekwondo skills to the girls that were allowed to come here was difficult since there are myths surrounding taekwondo,” said Maritsa.
She is currently working with more than 100 girls and her desire is to make sure they are empowered.
“If I get funding, my wish is to make sure that I pay school fees for the girls. If they don’t go to school, it’s also a leading factor to child marriages and pregnancies.
“The other thing is I will make sure every month I donate sanitary wear to each and every school in my society and if possible outside my province. I would like to have these girls equipped with life skills because in most cases they get married, they get lured into sexual activities because they want financial assistance,” said Maritsa. She paid tribute to her parents who have been supportive of the initiative.
Her mother, Ndanatsei, is hoping the recognition from the IOC will be an eye-opener to the community.
“I think this award will be an eye-opener in our community because sometimes people don’t really understand what she is doing. So you will realise that sometimes you get a lot of negatives from people and a few positives,” she said.
Maritsa’s father, Richard, shared the same sentiments and prays that his daughter continues making a difference in the community.
“If she continues like this her future is bright. These awards should not change her, she should remain humble and approachable as she has always been and not let the achievements change her,” he said. Maritsa is an Upper Six student at Domboramwari High School and wishes to change the world into a better place.
“My ambition in life is to change the world into a better place, that’s my ambition and also that’s my passion to change the world into a better place,” said Maritsa.
She developed an interest in martial arts from a young age. She started off with kyokushin before she switched to taekwondo as she hopes to make it to the Olympics in the future.
She has won several medals in local competitions.
Online Reporter