I attended the CSJ News training on abortion because I’m an open-minded person and I was interested in learning more. I didn’t really have the facts on abortion, just opinions. In family gatherings we might hear about a person who has had an abortion and everyone shared their point of view – this is where you get ideas about abortion. We had life skills at school but this didn’t include any discussion on abortion.
I actually got pregnant and didn’t know it until my second trimester. I was advised that it could be possible to get an abortion because I had an ovarian cyst, but my family said that I had to keep the child. I did have a thought about whether I would end the pregnancy, as it wasn’t something I had planned, and I had physical complications, but the stories in my family made me scared. So I thought, if I’m going to lose my life to give birth to this child I will just face it.
We used to see people who had abortions as sinners.
But there were church elders in the CSJ training who were enlightening us, and adding context on Bible verses to correct misconceptions. They were saying that people have a right to save their lives, we shouldn’t judge them. We are not the ones to judge, we leave judgement to God himself.
Maybe last year, if I had heard about someone having an abortion I would be judging that person for committing a sin. But now I understand it’s normal, and that she would have her reasons for doing so. For an actress like me, it has helped me to properly portray these stories and advocate for what I think is right. A play is entertainment, a break from your real life, the more you watch the more you relate yourself to those scenarios. Because the plays we create on gender and abortion rights are fun and relatable, people have come out to tell us that they have changed their mindset and attitudes after watching.
I would love to see people have the right to abortion in a safe way.
I would love for the community to totally change on abortion. To accept the need for safe abortion, and to support a legal reform. Rape incidents are so high, we would not have as many early pregnancies and single unsupported mothers – Malawi would be a better place to live.
Kattie Maganga – Actor trained by CSJ News, a SAAF grantee partner in Malawi.