Kuchotsa maliro

(Getting rid of death) In Chewa culture of the central region (as well as other cultures in Malawi), when a husband or child dies, the woman must have sex with a man in order to protect the family from further death. In an article by Josephine Kwizombe, she writes about Lizzie Linya who's two children died a year apart from each other. Her husband, in frustration, divorced her. After the death of one child, she was forced to perform the ritual of sex without a condom which is considered a way to cleanse her and the family from bad events. This means the likelihood of her catching AIDS is much higher. For those who are single, like Lizzie now, they are forced to have sex with strangers or male prostitutes, otherwise known as experts of the cleansing ritual. Roy Hauya, Director of Policy and Programmes at the National Aids Commission (NAC) explains: “Women’s rights are consistently violated in the name of culture which is not acceptable in human rights. Men are taking advantage of their gender position in society to satisfy their desires."
Doing Away with Harmful Cultures, in Malawi Nation Online