Chimwemwe Simpito is one of the winners of the Media Challenge for their article on how economic insecurity is putting more girls at risk of child marriage. The article was released on the 14th November 2023 on Walamo Radio 98.3 FM.
In the Mpulungu District in Northern Province is Lake Tanganyika, a great lake shared between Tanzania, Burundi, DRC, Rwanda and Tanzania.
The main economic mainstay for most of the residents is fishing which is done on Lake
Tanganyika. However, Simpito reports that where business opportunities become extremely difficult especially the increasingly high demand for fish, young traders scramble and consequently opt for desperate measures to obtain favours from the fishermen.
Traders in this case known as “Bana ma Bowl” meaning those who buy directly from fishermen
go an extra mile to offer sex for fish. In similar circumstances, women traders expose their
underage children to fishermen, who subsequently get married off at a young age for fish favours
from ring net owners who are mostly the suppliers of fish.
To read the full story see below:
