Malawi sex camps where underaged girls are taught sex

New Delhi: Girls as young as 10 years old in Malawi are being sent to sex camps to be initiated. The girls are taken to the camps where they are taught to have sex and expected to lose their virginity. The ‘campers' are usually tricked by their families into attending these camps and they are told that they must either have sex or get a skin disease. The horrifying practice is not new - it is a time-honored ritual passed through generations and the girls are sent by their families to make sure they are accepted into their communities as adults. During their week-long stay they are taught about respecting her elders and doing household chores, but also how to have sex by the women that led the camp who are known as he women, known as anamkungwi, or 'key leaders'. 10 years old Grace told a group of journalists visiting Malawi with the United Nations Foundation that the women demonstrated sexual positions and encouraged girls to do 'sexual cleansing,' also called kusasa fumbi, which meant they should get rid of their inexperience with sex through practice. She said she was not told about the risks of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases or how to protect herself. She was also forbidden from using a condom, although Grace did not refused to do her sexual cleansing. Joyce Mkandawire, the communications advisor for the Girls Empowerment Network said many girls are often not given the choice and sometimes adult men (known as hyenas) are hired by the girl's own parents. 'The girl doesn't even know who is the ‘hyena' coming to have sex with her.' Malawi, like most countries is Southern Africa is facing an AIDS crisis that has orphaned at least half a million children so far. During the initiation ceremonies, many girls have unprotected sex with a man to prepare them for womanhood. Without undergoing this process, a girl was considered to be a child and was therefore illegible for marriages.A girl is often married soon after she is found to be pregnant, deferring the cost of caring for her and her baby from her parents to her husband. Malawi rates 10th for the highest rate of child marriages in the world.