The choice of partner and the time at which he or she will spend his or her entire life is an individual’s right to utilize his or her freedom of expression. This should be no different for a young girl from Kishapu district, Tanzania. Here child marriage is not just a practice, it is a deeply ingrained tradition. As a pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT), Pastor Patrick Zengo had witnessed countless young girls pulled out of school and married off before they even understood what their futures could hold. The girls he once saw sitting in church pews, dressed in their Sunday best, would suddenly vanish and be sent to homes where education was replaced by motherhood, and dreams were silenced under the weight of expectation.
For years, Pastor Zengo grappled with this moral and social dilemma. He counseled families, urging them to keep their daughters in school, but the lack of awareness, legal loopholes, and cultural pressures made his words fall on deaf ears. He knew that if he truly wanted to see change, he needed more than faith he needed knowledge, resources, and a movement behind him.
For years, Pastor has seen young girls disappearing from his congregation. Young promising children who never made it past their teenage years without being force into marriage. Back in 2023 when we were implementing the Sauti Zetu Project in Kishapu, Shinyanga, we held a local stakeholder’s meeting and Pastor Zengo was among the attendees. He sat next to social welfare personnel, gender desk police officers and other religious leaders. Through the sessions, he has broadened his understanding of the negative impacts of child marriages and the oppressive nature of the 1971 Marriage Act and made a reflection from his community.
“During the training session I connected with other stakeholders who oppose child marriages, including religious leaders, social welfare officers, and police officers from the gender desk here in Kishapu. I met Inspector Rose Mbwambo and Officer Grace from the gender desk.”
Pastor Zengo with members from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) together with Gender desk officers
“Returning to my community, I wasted no time. With the knowledge instilled, I began integrating messages about child marriage, gender-based violence, and girls’ education into my Sunday sermons. I didn’t stop there. I reached out to the gender desk officers I met during the training, Inspector Rose Mbwambo and Officer Grace, and invited them to the church’s Women’s Day celebration to educate the congregation on the harms of Child Marriages and how we can prevent and report cases of gender based violence. Before a packed congregation, the officers spoke about the dangers of child marriage and the legal steps families could take to protect their daughters. It was the first time many had heard such a discussion in a church setting, where traditions often dictated silence on these matters.”
Beyond the church walls, Pastor Zengo also took his advocacy to greater heights. In Magarata ward, home to the Wataturu community, a marginalized group where education for girls is rare, and early marriage is a norm, he conducted educational sessions to community members, ensuring that young girls and their families had access to information that could change their futures and that of their girl’s.
“I have also been providing special education on avoiding gender-based violence in secondary schools here in Kishapu. I have had the opportunity to teach during religious study periods within the Christian Students Fellowship of Tanzania (UKWATA) groups. Each school has a designated day for these sessions, and I try to involve the gender desk officers, Rose Mbwambo and Officer Grace, in these teachings. Moreover, in the Magarata ward, among the Wataturu community, which is one of the marginalised groups that rarely get access to education, I have also been conducting educational sessions.”
Pastor Zengo’s proactive engagement in educating his community and schools illustrates the project’s success in fostering collaboration among various stakeholders, including religious and government leaders. This collaboration has proven effective in disseminating education about child marriages and gender-based violence. By integrating gender desk officers into his educational efforts, Pastor Zengo demonstrates how the initiative has facilitated a coordinated approach to tackling these issues. His work in marginalised communities further underscores the project’s impact in reaching and educating diverse groups, highlighting the effectiveness of combining efforts from different sectors to address complex social issues.
