Photo Essay: The Dream That Drives Linda

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. A changing climate and high rates of tuberculosis and HIV put the health of the fragile nation at great risk. Even though AIDS-related deaths have been cut in half in the past decade, 1 million people in the country still live with HIV. More than half of them are women.

In the city of Zomba in southern Malawi, it’s not uncommon for women to carry all the weight of responsibility for the family’s well-being — they’re often left to raise their children on their own, without a steady source of income, and live in fear for their health.

One of the biggest problems is that people are unable to access health services because they simply can’t afford them. On a hot afternoon in a simple classroom, as part of the One Community program Project HOPE runs in partnership with Johns Hopkins University and Plan International,  young women in Zomba are finding the support and skills they need to care for their children and break out of poverty.

Every week, 27 women, all under 25, meet inside an old schoolhouse to learn about subjects like business management, family planning and gender-based violence. It’s called the Go Girls Club.

The room is a safe space: women share personal stories of their own experiences as victims of violence, discuss the best health practices to protect their families, and explore the possibilities of starting their own businesses.

The Go Girls Club is an important part of HOPE’s work to reduce the risk of HIV in Malawi. As HIV is not a problem with just one cause, One Community is not a program with just one solution.

In addition to helping people get tested and access health services, we engage communities at all levels — through mother care groups, village savings groups, business training, parenting skills, and safe spaces. We bring together people with and without HIV to break down stigmas about the illness — because lasting change can only be achieved from the ground up.

The enthusiasm in the room is palpable. Thanks to the club, many of the women have built the courage to speak up for themselves and learned to better navigate their relationships with their partners.

Others are raising their children alone after their husbands left the village to find work, some traveling as far as South Africa. The women lean on each other for support — they consider themselves a team, and work together to save money through the village savings group offered by the club. Half the women are now running their own small businesses as a direct result of what they’ve learned.

One of them, 23-year-old Linda, steps up to share her story.

Linda is no stranger to hardship, but a living testimony to perseverance. Many people in the village have been affected by TB or HIV, and Linda is no exception: She lost her father to TB and her mother a year later to HIV.

Last year, her husband left to find work in South Africa but has yet to send any money home. She’s never sure when he’ll return, and while she waits it’s up to her to provide for her kids. Her parents never talked to her about safe sex or HIV, and while she’s currently HIV-negative, she often fears she will get it when her husband comes back.

Linda had her first child when she was 14, which placed a seemingly interminable hold on her education. She always dreamed of going back and finishing school, she says, but she never had the money.

The schoolhouse is fitting, as it recalls the education taken from the women when they became young mothers and wives. Almost half the women in Malawi are married before age 18, which almost always comes at the cost of dropping out of school. Only five women in the club have been able to afford going back.

Thanks to the group, Linda is one of them.

Using the business skills and loan support she received from the group, Linda started her own business selling tomatoes and is using the money to finish her education.

With a complete education, she’ll have better chances to earn a more sustainable income. And in a country with such dangerously high rates of HIV, having income means more than putting food on the table — it means securing access to lifesaving health care services. It means Linda’s 8-year-old son, Grant, and her 5-year-old daughter, Margret, will have a healthier start at life, and a greater shot at pursuing their own dreams.

Linda is already more confident in herself and her ability to raise her children.

“I believe when someone is educated, they are empowered,” she says. “The group has helped me to not underrate myself. My self-esteem is now high.”

Project HOPE has worked in Malawi for more than 30 years, helping reduce infant mortality and combat HIV and TB by reaching at-risk communities, like those in Zomba, with the care and support people need to lead healthy lives.

In Malawi, Ethiopia, and beyond, HOPE is helping rewrite the narrative around HIV and accelerate progress toward the UN’s 90-90-90 goals. Empowering women like Linda is an essential part of that work.

“I’m excited when people visit,” she says. “It makes me feel like somewhere out there someone cares about us. It gives me hope.”

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