Violet Banda

Violet Banda (born 1991 or 1992) is a reporter and children's rights activist from Malawi. Through her weekly radio appearances, she has drawn the attention of the Malawian public and government to the problems affecting children in her country, including abuse, rape, forced marriage, and discrimination based on HIV status.

Early life

Banda was born with HIV. Both of her parents had the virus and died from it. Her mother died when Banda was three. She found out that herself was HIV positive when she was 14. "When I found out I was positive, I was in primary school," Banda has said. "Whenever I would tell people about my status it happened that I lost all my friends. Some didn't want to be near me or touch me. They just ran away." This treatment made it difficult for her to perform in school.

Activism

Banda first spoke openly about her infection in a 2006 interview on Radio Timveni, a weekly half-hour radio program in Malawi devoted to children's issues. Phillip Kamwendo, program manager at Timveni, has said that Banda's grandmother could not accept Banda's HIV status "until she came on our radio program." When Banda, then age 14, "told her story and how she feels," her grandmother was tuned in, and the testimony "changed her mindset towards her granddaughter." "Banda personifies the power of radio in Malawi," stated Speak Magazine.

After the interview, the program hired her as a youth reporter. Her job is to uncover cases of violence against children and interview them about their own stories about rape, abuse, and forced marriages. Radio Timveni was founded by Plan Malawi and since 2011 has been independently operated with funding from Plan Malawi and Plan Sweden.