Catherine Kita  

Growing up from a rural setting, from a community where you don't have role models, life is so hopeless every day. You're not sure if you will make it or not. And just for me being someone who is coming from that background and going back to them and saying, Hey, girls, we can make it. It's possible out there. There is space for all of us in the world. We just need to be focused. We just need to do this. And we need to go this way. So, I think that really makes them to get connected to say, if she did it coming from this setting, then there's also space for us somewhere in the world where it's waiting for us.

Paul Meunier  

Hello, I'm Paul Meunier, the executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association, and I'm a youth worker at heart. How lucky am I? I have the privilege to meet youth workers from around the globe and learn their stories and share them with the entire world. I'm glad you're listening because together we'll learn how their life experiences shape their youth work. As you listen, I encourage you to consider how your experiences shape what you have to offer young people. Welcome to this edition of The Passionate Youth Worker. Hi, everybody. For this episode, we're joined by Catherine Kita from the Southern District of Malawi. Catherine is a tireless and dedicated leader for girls’ rights in her home country. She uses her personal story from her early years, and has helped to create a movement to ensure young girls don't miss school simply because of menstrual cycles. She is upbeat and friendly and thoroughly enjoys supporting young people. Catherine, thanks for being a guest on The Passionate Youth Worker.

Catherine Kita  

Thank you for having me, Paul. It's great to be joining the podcast today.

Paul Meunier  

Well, it is wonderful to have you on the podcast and I'm super eager to start talking about your story. Catherine, you use a very personal story to help motivate and inspire others. What is that story that has helped spark a movement and create social change in Malawi?

Catherine Kita  

Growing up as a young girl in Malawi, I grew up in Blantyre but was born in Chitipa. So, part of my life was in the north but a longer part of my life has been in southern Malawi. So, growing up in a family of two girls, mostly because I was growing up in the rural, I did not have an opportunity to see so many role models growing up as a girl. The most role models that I saw were the teachers that were teaching me in class. But we did not have like people who were coming to speak to us in school and to inspire me to make a career decision of what I wanted to become. But also, I grew up in a society that was very closed up. So, in Malawi, especially in the southern culture is really very strong, and Chiefs and local leaders are the custodians of culture. So, in such an environment, I grew up in an environment where we did not talk about sexual reproductive health issues starting from home, at school, and also just with friends, it was the topic that we could not talk about while growing up. So, as I was growing up as a young girl, my body started changing. I had so many questions about what was happening to me, what was happening to my body. But every time I asked my parents, especially my mom, she did not have answers to give me because it's a closed-up society where you don't talk about issues of growing up and changing with your parents. So, because of that, I was being curious. When I had my first period, I did not know what to do. And when I went to my mom and told her that I think I have a period, I don't know what's happening. And my mom told me that you have to stay in your room, don't go anywhere until your auntie should come. So, it really sounded as something that was making me to be curious to ask even more questions than the ones that I had like What's going on? Am I hurt? Am I, should I be ashamed of myself? Should I talk to someone apart from my mom? And when my aunt came in just to tell me that I've grown up, I've had my first period and this is what I'll be experiencing every month. But because it was a closed-up topic, I did not get to ask so many questions. And when I went to school, asking my teachers, they always took me back to my parents to say you should go back home and ask your parents what this is all about. So, it was sort of growing up in a position where issues of sexual reproductive health and monthly periods is just turned back from school, to home, school to home. So, I was growing up without really knowing what is the true story behind periods. Until when I grew up and got out of school. And maybe just to mention that also in the school that I was going, we did not have sanitary products that were being given to us. So, in the third month of having my period, I started my period at school and I did not know what to do. I went to my teachers and I had to change my school uniform, I still remember. And there was no sanitary towel for me, there was no changing room for me to go to. And my teachers told me to go back home. But now the question was, how am I going to go back home with my uniform that is dirty, I don't have anything to cover myself. And everyone was looking at me and shaming me for what had happened at school. So, I went back home really embarrassed. And for the first day I wished all the schools were just providing sanitary pads for girls. And that is how I started to say, if they didn't provide the solution, then one day, I want to provide the solution to any girl who is going to come in school after me. This shouldn't happen to any girl because I know the shame that I carried just to fail to handle my period while I was in school. So, that is how I started the movement, Women for Social Change. Basically, it's a local movement, led by women only and the ones that encourages that we should take menstrual health seriously in schools, especially in Malawi. Looking at the provision of sanitary products, washrooms that are in schools, and also handwashing stations or changing rooms that we can put in schools.

Paul Meunier  

That must have been a really pivotal moment for you to have this period in the school and to be embarrassed by it. And to have a culture that didn't really want to talk about really what was going on. I know your mom is a wonderful person and is very important in your life. But yet she didn't have the ability to talk to you about it. But she asked your aunt to talk to you about it. In the culture there or in the past, was there one person who talked to all the girls about it? Or why was it that your aunt was able to talk about it, but not your mom?

Catherine Kita  

So, my aunt is basically a sister to my dad and culturally that's the person who is supposed to talk to you when you grow up. There is no reason to it but it's just like a cultural setup that a sister to your dad is the one who has to talk to you. So, that is what I had gone through, like a sister to my dad to be the one who talked to me. Besides my mom being very close to me and being my superhero, I think that was one thing that was making me very curious to say, the woman that I have always known as the strongest woman, why is she failing to open up to me about this particular issue about my period? So, that is one reason was making my first period most scary because the person that I trusted the most could not even talk to me about it.

Paul Meunier  

So, your parents, your mom and dad, what are they like? Were they people that gave back to the community like you're doing or what did they do for work and what was their role in your community?

Catherine Kita  

My mom was a teacher by profession. She stopped teaching due to health issues. And then my dad is still teaching ‘til now. So, growing up, I used to grow up as a daughter who was in a family where both parents were teachers. And one might be surprised that when this shouldn't be an issue for them, but it still was because growing up in a in my home, like we’re just two girls, myself and my sister. So, this was not even an issue for them to talk about casually. But also remember, when we go back to school teachers were sending us back as an assignment to say this particularly sexual reproductive health topic we're going to give you as an assignment that you have to go and talk with your parents at home. So, it's a topic that teachers were throwing at parents and parents were throwing at teachers. And for me, I had both parents who were teachers. So, it was still an issue that they could not talk to me openly.

Paul Meunier  

What do you think you took away from the fact that both your parents were teachers and now you're out, literally teaching people, maybe not in a school setting like a teacher-student kind of relationship, but you are teaching, you're informing you're educating, you're trying to help people understand that it's okay. Menstrual cycles aren't something bad, it's just part of the natural way your body works. What do you think you learned from your parents as teachers? Do you think that influenced you to go out and teach other people?

Catherine Kita  

I think it influenced me to read a lot about anything that I was not sure of. So, if I come across something that I'm not very sure what the truth is, they would always give me books related to that particular topic to read about. But for the sexual reproductive health books they never gave me. So, it was out of my own curiosity to find which sexual reproductive health books should I read to find out more about menstruation. I remember growing up they always used to give me like career books. There's a point when I thought I wanted to become a nurse and I had all these nursing inspirational books that they bought for me. They had geographical books that they bought from me because at some point, my dad thought I was going to become a geographer. So, they had those books for me and my sister. But still more just particularly for sexual reproductive health there were not any other books that they were giving to me. So, I had to find out myself. And that's how hard it is for every girl growing up in communities in Malawi. Just to find out the truth about their body and how their body works.

Paul Meunier  

Yeah. And a lot of the girls there probably don't have access to the books you did to do that self-education about what it all really means. Or some of them probably just aren't motivated enough and just stick with the cultural norms to say, oh, yeah, we just don't talk about this. So, I know that when you had that experience at the school that you've talked about, that was very embarrassing. You had to change schools. Can you talk about how that came about? Did you ask your parents or did the leaders of the school suggest you go to a different school or how did that come about that you actually switched schools just because of that event?

Catherine Kita  

So, I was not asked to switch schools. Actually, my teachers visited me at home because I had missed school for the next three days just to handle my period from home. And this was because I did not have sanitary products, I did not have sanitary pads to go with to school. So, I was using a cloth. So, I didn't have to go back to school for the next three days. And also, because I was just ashamed of myself. And I felt like I'm going to be stigmatized because everyone was still thinking about what happened to me the previous week. So, I decided not to go to school. And then my teachers followed me home and say, I still had to go back to school because I was one of the promising kids in the class. So, they still wanted to see me back. But even though they encouraged me to go back, the first day when I went back everyone was still talking about the same issue when they see me. They were still laughing, and even the boys were asking, like, did you get hurt? What happened? Did you go in a tree and then you fell down? What happened? So, I was failing to explain myself. And I thought it was just good for me to go to a school where I could start over again.

Paul Meunier  

And when you started a new school, did you want to go to a different school?  Was it that difficult for you that you thought I just need to start over? Were you glad with the move or did it feel like that was just part of okay, I had such a bad experience, now they want me to go over here? How did you accept the move, was it positive or negative for you? 

Catherine Kita  

Well, for me, I took it positively for the fact that because of what I experienced I didn't want any other girl in their lifetime to experience that because I knew how heavy it was for me to know that everyone is sitting down and talking about my period issues. So, what I did was I said, I want to go to a new school. But when I go there, I want to start a movement where we girls can sit down and just talk about our bodies. I want girls to come together and talk about all these issues that we don't talk about in our home. So, I took it as an opportunity for me to start something which I was looking forward that every girl should be aware of. So, I took that opportunity to establish a club in our school. And then we were coming together as girls after classes and just talk about period and what we feel like managing periods should be like and that is how I managed to start working with a peer movement.

Paul Meunier  

And how old were you at that time, Catherine?

Catherine Kita  

I was 13 years old.

Paul Meunier  

So, at 13 years old, you're starting a club to talk about menstrual cycles, periods, feminine health, and yet it was going against the grain of what society and culture encouraged you to do. That takes a lot of guts and I think a lot of foresight to do something different. Did you think of it that way or was it just something hey, I just don't want to be all alone in this, I want to talk to people or did you think, literally, this is something I want to work a lot on?

Catherine Kita  

I felt like every time I speak about periods from my own experience I was helping even my other friends who were failing to speak up. And that for me was something which was making me happy. And I remember the first year when we were doing this because that was the last year of my primary school. And the last year that we're doing that it was a closed-up thing. So, even the teachers didn't know that the girls were meeting and talking about this. That's why we used to do honorary after school classes. And we made sure that we don't meet at the school. We meet somewhere in the community, not at the school. So yeah, so that really helped me to also listen to what the other girls’ experiences were mainly like, that's when I heard a lot of stories about these taboos that are associated with periods that I never thought even existed. It was my first time to hear my fellow girls say I am taught never to eat eggs. And so should you never eat eggs during your period. Never put salt in anything that you're eating during your period. Make sure you don't hand shake anyone. So, these were all things that I was discovering and learning during the process. So, it was really something that I was looking forward to every Friday after school because I knew that it was time for me to go and hear something which I don't hear from my parents.

Paul Meunier  

That's amazing. And you're amazing to take that on. Believe it or not, we're at a point where we have to take a short break. But when we come back, I would like to dig a little bit more into why you decided to take this on in such a big way. So, we'll be right back after this short break.

Jade Schleif  

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Paul Meunier  

Catherine, right before the break, I was saying I wanted to dig in a little bit more about why this has become so important to you. Catherine, there's so many things in the world that you could be doing and yet you are doing something that is to give back to other people to try to make it so girls don't have the same experience that you did. What inside you makes you want to take on such a big challenge? Where does that come from do you think, where does that sense of giving back to the community come from?

Catherine Kita  

So, Paul, start with a quote by Nelson Mandela which says education is the most powerful tool that we can use to change the world. And so, growing up as the daughter of a teacher, I was being told by my parents that education is the only thing that is going to take you out of poverty and help you to become an independent woman who can make your own decisions. So, looking at the education system in Malawi, every day we hear about girls dropping out of school and there were issues that were being highlighted as I was growing up. It was to do with distances of where the schools are. It was to do with girls do a lot of household chores home before they go to school, getting the water, there's no electricity, and other issues that affect education. But no one was really talking about how period poverty is a main factor also one of the main factors that's affecting girls' education. So, what is sparking the fire in me was I want this education is the weapon that we're going to use to change the world, then every girl should have it and every girl should be able to change the world. So, I was going back to why is everyone not talking about period poverty because I missed school for three to four days in a month. And teachers will never go back to teach what I missed during those days. And this means in a school term of three months, I missed approximately about maybe 12 to 15 days in one term. So, I wanted everyone to start addressing that openly because I felt like we were addressing all these other issues apart from this particular issue with society that was closed up. But it was a killer for many girls' future and I wanted it to be addressed. So, that made me to start speaking up about menstruation, about why don't we have sanitary pads? Why do we have sanitary pads that are very expensive? Why do we have higher taxes on sanitary pads when it's not a choice for us to menstruate? So, I think that was what was making me to start the conversation with everyone.

Paul Meunier  

I bet you're not alone. There's probably other women that are helping you lead this movement and create this change. But for some reason, you've been really instrumental in it. And it's been something that is near and dear to you because of your own personal story. I'm wondering, Catherine, what attributes or personality strengths do you bring to that movement? What is it about you that helps make it so successful?

Catherine Kita  

To begin, it's that Women for Social Change and mustering courage sisterhood as something which we want every volunteer who works with us, every girl that they meet out there to take them as their own sister and handle any issues that that girl is going to face or explain to them like their own issues. We work with young girls in schools, and we take them as our younger sisters who we are going to share something which we've been privileged to know at a younger age, and we want them to know as they're growing up. So, that has really helped the movement to become so broad and so strong and has helped us to know even deeper the things that culture says that are not even in our conscious because we have a lot of cultures in Malawi. So, we have come to a point where we're realizing the things that other cultures believe in that don't even apply to our own cultures but we are able to address them. So, sisterhood has really made the movement so strong. And also, I think the other thing has been being just a women-led organization. We are led by people who are all below 30. And everyone, I think, comes to a point where they give us attention because they say, What are these young girls saying, why does this concern them so much? So, it's like we are just not speaking about folktales but we are talking about real stories that are our own stories. So, we've been encouraging all the girls to be speaking up from our own experiences and sharing our own story.

Paul Meunier  

You also have such a hopeful vision of the future and such a bubbly personality and such a just charming way about yourself. Do you think that helps when you work with young people? Do you think the young people listen carefully to what you have to say and consider you as the sisterhood that you're talking about. Those characteristics that you have must really help you to connect with young people, isn't that true?

Catherine Kita  

Yes, it is. And mostly because I grew up in a rural setup. As I mentioned, I grew up in rural Blantyre. So, growing up from a rural setting, from a community where you don't have role models, life is so hopeless every day. You're not sure if you will make it or not. And just for me being someone who is coming from that background and going back to them and saying, Hey girls, we can make it. It's possible out there. There is space for all of us in the world. We just need to be focused. We just need to do this. And we need to go this way. So, I think that really makes them to get connected to say, if she did it coming from this setting, then there's also space for us somewhere in the world where it's waiting for us.

Paul Meunier  

The young girls in Malawi must just look at you in awe and think this is so great that they are telling me that everything is okay. That I am valuable, I am capable, and I'm able to do anything and the menstrual cycle is nothing to be afraid of. And it's not taboo. But you're taking on such a big task. There's got to be I don't know how long of a history about some of these taboos and some of these myths and stories about menstrual cycles and feminine hygiene products and things like that. How do you stay so positive when you're working in such a difficult space to try to change culture that the Chiefs have set? How do you do that, how do you stay positive?

Catherine Kita  

Oh, one of my biggest strengths to being able to do this work is to make sure that we establish a very good relationship with the community leaders. So, we make sure that before we go to the schools, before we talk to anyone, because our local leaders, our Chiefs in Malawi are the custodians of culture. So, we make sure that we establish a very good relationship with them. And we make them understand to what extent period poverty is affecting the girls. And not just today but also in the long run like how it's affecting their future. And once we have them understand to the extent of which period poverty is destroying girls' education, then we make them to become part of our movement. So, we make sure wherever we go, we go meet them. So, I think they have been that positive energy to carry on. Because once they understand they help us take the same energy to the communities to the schools, and then that makes our work very easier.

Paul Meunier  

Do you ever get discouraged, Catherine?

Catherine Kita  

I do. I do get discouraged sometimes. I remember especially when there was a time in Malawi when we were pushing and petitioning government to remove tax on sanitary products. It felt like something impossible. And I had so many people coming to me and say, you know, right now there is an economic crisis going on. There's a pandemic going on. There are so many things that should be prioritized. And I don't think period poverty is something that government is really going to prioritize. That was the first time of this work that I felt like being discouraged to say maybe it's true, because the pandemic was just the worst. And there were so many things that the country was going through and had to take care of. But we still continued to advocate for it. And I'm super happy that I contributed to the removal of sanitary pad tax in Malawi. So, right now all the period products in Malawi are tax-free.

Paul Meunier  

Congratulations! That is a huge success and think of the impact that has on people's availability to get what they need. When you get frustrated and you get discouraged what do you do to keep your positive attitude about you? Is it reading, or do you socialize with other people, do exercise? What do you do to regain that sense of optimism that sometimes gets pulled away from you by those big forces?

Catherine Kita  

Well, I get to read books about people who inspire me. Lately, I have been reading a lot of books from Michelle Obama and I've also been yeah I'm reading some books from Oprah Winfrey. And I think that keeps me going when I read the lives of other great women. But as I love to travel, so sometimes I just decide to take a travel and then see other places around the world. And that keeps me going.

Paul Meunier  

That's great that you read Michelle Obama. Here in the United States, just about everybody absolutely adores Michelle Obama. She's just such a wonderful role model and an inspiration for young women and just adult women too in our country as well, to stand up and be heard and to chase your dreams and be civil and be responsible. And she just is a wonderful person. You kind of strike me as having a lot of those same characteristics. You were raised by very ethical parents who taught you right and wrong and your mother's your role model and your superhero as you describe her. You have a great relationship with them and it's given you so much internal strength to take on these things. When you work with young girls, what do you think is the hardest part that you have to convince them about the menstrual cycle? Is it going against the years and decades and centuries maybe of these social norms? What is the struggle you're faced with young people, I should just ask.

Catherine Kita  

The biggest struggle when I work around combating period poverty has been to be able to convince the girls to speak up and that nothing is going to happen to them. Because culture has already taught them that the moment you start speaking about your period in front of men or in front of people you are not going to give back in the future. So, how to challenge these things just to make sure that the girls understand that it's a normal biological process that goes on in a woman's life and we can talk about it. There are challenges associated with it but they think it's just them who are facing them. But all of us are facing them when we can talk about them and figure out how do we address these issues together. So, it's about getting the conversation started and making sure that the girls open up and talk about their normal period that they have to talk about.

Paul Meunier  

They can talk about it and there's no shame in talking about it at all. What about the boys, the other side of this equation, you can maybe empower the young girls to talk about it. But if the boys are still laughing at them, and don't understand what is going on, is part of your work to educate the male population as well?

Catherine Kita  

We are really making male champions who we have made them to become agents of change as well, especially to support the movement of helping fight period poverty. So, we are teaching them about how can they support their sisters, their friends from their classroom. How can they support other girls and just making sure that they can handle their period. I remember in one of the partner schools that we work in when we just started, we could not even distribute pads when the boys were there because they would just look down or decide to walk out of the classroom because it was very uncomfortable for them to sit down because, right, it makes sense, they're coming from homes where they've been told that pads Don't touch, don't dare see a woman's pad, don't dare touch a pad, don't talk about menstruation. So, this has been something like we're changing the whole narrative about it. And it hasn't been seen positively for girls. So, what we've been trying to do is making sure that we engage the boys. And then we also engage them in distributing the pads to the girls. And actually, right now we're also teaching the boys how to make reusable sanitary pads so they can make them for their communities, for their sisters and for their families.

Paul Meunier  

That is so cool. Way to go. Catherine, it's been just a treat to get to know you and I am in awe of your spirit. I am in awe of your spunk and I'm in awe of your path towards justice for young girls and women. And I encourage you to keep going because you are changing the trajectory of all these young women and giving them the idea that they can accomplish whatever they feel like they want to accomplish. Whatever their personality is to let it unfold and not be restricted by the fact that they have menstrual cycles. And I am just grateful you are a guest on the show and I'm grateful for the work that you do. So, thank you for joining us.

Catherine Kita  

Thank you very much, Paul, for having me.

Paul Meunier  

You bet. Before we go, Catherine, I always ask the guests what words of inspiration would you like to leave with the listeners?

Catherine Kita  

I'd like to advise young people listening to me and all the young girls to stay focused, set goals and achieve them. It doesn't matter where you're coming from, where you grew up, the kind of society you're in, but once you set goals and be very focused about them, your dreams are valid. And I believe that you can achieve and become whatever you want to be. Thank you very much.

Paul Meunier  

If you would like to share your passion for youth work, we'd love to spotlight you as a guest. If you have feedback about the show, please let us know. Just visit training.yipa.org, that's training.yipa.org and click on the podcast tab. This podcast is made possible in part due to a generous contribution from M Health Fairview. I'm your host Paul Meunier. Thanks for listening to The Passionate Youth Worker.