When they were children, Memory Banda and her younger sister were inseparable, just a year apart in age and often mistaken for twins. They shared not only clothes and shoes, but also many of the same dreams and aspirations. Then, one afternoon in 2009, that close relationship shattered when Ms. Banda’s sister, at age 11, was forced to wed a man in his 30s who had impregnated her. “She became a different person then,” Ms. Banda recalled. I felt like I lost my best friend.”Her sister’s pregnancy and forced marriage happened soon after her return from a so-called initiation camp.

---

Persons: Memory Banda, Banda’s, ”, Banda, “ Organizations: Memory