Growing up an orphan: vulnerability of

adolescent girls to HIV in Malawi

Paul Mkandawire, Isaac Luginaah and Jamie Baxter
Based on a qualitative study conducted in the township of Chibavi in Mzuzu City, Malawi, this paper seeks to
contribute to the emerging debate as to why orphans may be more vulnerable to the AIDS epidemic through the
lens of an informal labour relation locally known as ganyu. The paper argues that although ganyu has deep roots in
the countrys history and has served as an escape from extreme poverty in rural areas, its transition to the urban
landscape is associated with an emergent practice of sexual exchange between those who seek ganyu and those who
recruit the workers. While youth in Chibavi generally work ganyu, the particularly oversized domestic roles of
encumbered orphans against a backdrop of extremely deprived material circumstances and weak kin ties propelled
them into prolonged ganyu contracts and compelled them to more readily concede to sexual demands imposed by
those who offered them ganyu. Drawing on geographic perspectives from political ecology of health and tracing the
historical and geographic interconnections of ganyu, this study adds to the understanding of how the spatial
transformation of this enduring ad hoc labour makes it a relation that potentially shapes vulnerability to HIV in
Malawi. This study also wrestles with the question of why current policy debates do not reflect these realities in a
country with one of worst AIDS epidemics, and in turn, makes relevant policy recommendations.

Key words HIV; ganyu; orphans; poverty; Malawi; urban

Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
Email: paul_mkandawire@carleton.ca

Revised manuscript received 27 August 2012

traditionally known to serve as a safety net for the poor,

Introduction
This study seeks to contribute to the understanding of
the geographic dimensions of population vulnerability
to disease epidemics. Concerns are emerging that the
large number of orphans currently coming of age in
sub-Sahara Africa may be more likely to engage in risky
sexual behaviour, and are therefore more vulnerable to
HIV (e.g. Birdthistle et al. 2010; Mkandawire et al.
2012; Palermo and Peterman 2009; Thurman et al.
2006). Yet very few studies have examined the specific
contexts of this potential risk. While epidemiological
analyses, which have hitherto dominated the literature,
provide valuable insights into correlates of this sexual
behaviour, these approaches nonetheless fail to ade-
quately account for the broader social and political
context that shapes this risk. This paper sets out to
contribute to this debate by examining how the risk of
HIV in orphans in Malawi may be linked to a well-
established livelihood arrangement, locally known as
ganyu.
Ganyu is a casual and ad hoc on- or off-farm labour
contract that has undergone considerable geographic
transformation in recent years amidst dramatic changes
in the countrys socioeconomic environment. While
ganyu is primarily a rural labour relation, where it is
it is rapidly becoming a mainstay of the underclass in
urban areas amidst persistent underemployment, food
insecurity and general economic decline (Bryceson
2001; Mkandawire et al. 2011). Payment for ganyu is
typically in cash, kind or a combination of the two
(Whiteside 2000).
Although it is greatly under-researched, ganyu
remains a vital livelihood for the poor. Traditionally
practised within the rural context of extended family,
kinship network and clan ties, ganyu serves as a social
safety net for the extreme poor and buffers them from
destitution. Additionally, ganyu also acts as a means of
maintaining and consolidating rural social ties
(Englund 1999). For example, better-off individuals
may hire relatives as part of a moral obligation
culturally placed on well-off kin members to help
poorer members of the extended family.
However, recent studies have suggested that the
notion of ganyu as a beneficial labour relation should
be tempered by emerging trends whereby labourers
doing ganyu with strangers may be prone to exploita-
tion (Bezner-Kerr 2005; Englund 1999). When ganyu
involves people outside kin ties, recruiters tend to focus
on their own self-interest, primarily guided by the need
to protect or increase their own wealth. The self-serving

The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of
the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). ISSN 0020-2754 2013 The Authors. Citation: 2014 39 128139 doi: 10.1111/tran.12002
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Growing up an orphan
contractual terms that patrons tend to offer to individ-
uals hired from outside kin networks have generally
been associated with accentuated inequalities between
the poor and the rich, thereby contributing to increased
social stratification (Englund 1999). As a result, it has
been contended that contrary to being protective, over
reliance on ganyu may rather be an indication of drastic
economic insecurity and severe livelihood vulnerability
(Bezner-Kerr 2005; Dorward et al. 2006).
In practice, ganyu has many faces some of which
are antithetical to historical socially supportive arrange-
ments. Reciprocal labour exchanges or farm work-
parties constitute a type of ganyu that is still widely
practised in rural Malawi. This form of ganyu is said to
be a form of social capital because of its protective
effects on the elderly, the sick or the widowed, who
otherwise face chronic farm labour shortages (Mtika
2001). On the other hand, smallholder farmers facing
acute land shortages may also resort to ganyu in order
to raise additional cash needed to procure fertilizer and
other farm inputs. However, more commercial types of
ganyu are reportedly on the rise, linked to Malawis
changing economic and agrarian conditions. This class
of ganyu relates to the realm of large tobacco or tea
estates where patrons typically hire relatively large
numbers of non-kin workers, usually drawn from far-off
places. According to Whiteside (2000), the poorer
smallholder farmers who dominate this type of ganyu
make a rational choice to sell their labour power to
large-scale farmers in order to meet their immediate
food, income and health needs instead of working on
their own fields to meet their longer term needs. As this
form of ganyu typically involves non-relatives, it tends
to be motivated by the desire to consolidate and expand
wealth on the part of large-scale farmers (Englund
1999).
Despite the on-going unravelling of ganyu labour
from the historical fabric of welfare relations and its
changing geographic extent in Malawi, very few studies
have examined the implications of this changing
orientation of ganyu for the spread of HIV in a country
still so dependent on ganyu as a livelihood. A notable
exception is a study conducted by Bryceson (2006) in
Lilongwe, Malawis capital city, which revealed that
women contending with a severe food crisis during
Malawis 2002 famine experienced sexually compro-
mising ganyu contracts. Devoted to providing for their
families, these impoverished women conceded to
sexual proposals from men who offered them ganyu.
In addition, their compromised material circumstance
further undermined their ability to bargain the terms of
sexual exchange (Bryceson 2006).
In this paper, we draw on geographic perspectives
from political ecology to examine how orphans are
positioned in ganyu relations in Malawi and how their
comportment in these relationships may heighten their
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129
risk of HIV. In doing so we seek to: discern how ganyus
spatial transformation amidst deepening poverty may
be linked to the spread of HIV; contribute to current
debates on factors that drive the spread of the AIDS
epidemic in Malawi; and provide a theoretical contri-
bution to the understanding of the social geographies
that produce and sustain population health inequali-
ties.
The paper proceeds firstly with an outline of
Malawis present HIV landscape before tracing the
historical origin and contemporary meaning of ganyu.
Both these sections set the context for this study.
Theoretical perspectives drawn from the geographic
subfield of political ecology of health are then
advanced to provide a backdrop for discerning contex-
tual realities that structure HIV risk and contribute to
the understanding of spatiality of vulnerability to
disease epidemics (Kearns 1993; King 2010;
McLafferty 2010). Methods used to collect and analyse
the data are then outlined, followed by results, which
demonstrate that despite being a vital livelihood, ganyu
can magnify HIV risk in orphans. The paper then
presents a discussion that links geographic transforma-
tion of ganyu and vulnerability to AIDS, and grapples
with why despite being a potential risk context, ganyu
remains below the threshold of policy concern in
Malawi.
Malawis HIV and AIDS landscape
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world,
with more than 60 per cent of the population living on
less than US$2 per day. Although Malawi is over-
whelmingly rural, with more than 80 per cent of the
population still living in rural areas, ruralurban
migration is accelerating (Malawi Government 2010).
Increased spatial mobility over the decades has been
linked, among other factors, to declining rural agricul-
ture and the resultant dependence on off-farm liveli-
hoods in the wake of neoliberal economic reforms and
increasing climatic variability (Bryceson 2001).
It is estimated that 10.6 per cent of Malawis
estimated 14 million people currently live with the
AIDS virus (Malawi Government 2012). However, the
reported national prevalence conceals considerable
spatial variations, with highest prevalence being in the
southern region at 20.5 per cent, while the central and
north regions are at 10.7 per cent and 10.2 per cent,
respectively. There are also significant ruralurban
differences, with prevalence nearly twice as high in
urban and semi-urban areas (17.1%) than in rural areas
(10.8%). Prevalence is also generally higher in women
(12.9%) than in men (8.1%) (Malawi Government
2012).
Apart from eroding already meagre economic gains
previously made, the AIDS epidemic in Malawi has
130
also resulted in an orphan population over one million.
According to UNICEF (2004), an orphan is any person
under the age 18 years who has lost one or both
biological parents. However, it is important to note that
while orphans older than 18 may have come of age,
this transition may have a different meaning in Malawi
given widespread poverty and rupturing of the
extended family network caused by the AIDS epidemic
(Chirwa 2002).
The majority of orphans in Malawi live in urban
areas (Malawi Government 2009a). The true extent of
challenges these orphans encounter remains unknown.
However, it is estimated that female-headed house-
holds, already a vulnerable population, also foster an
estimated 67 per cent of the countrys orphan popula-
tion (Malawi Government 2009a). In addition, only 11
per cent of foster households are currently headed by
someone with a primary or higher level of education.
Furthermore, foster households also tend to be AIDS-
affected, often headed by a surviving parent, usually
without the ability to even provide for the basic
necessities such as food and health care (Alumira
et al. 2005).
There are various factors that contribute to orphan
vulnerability in Malawi. For instance, it has been
revealed that poor schooling prospects, including high
dropout rates, place orphans at heightened risk of
sexual exploitation. Meagre education outcomes also
contribute to low employment prospects (Muula et al.
2003). Further, Munthali et al. (2004) revealed that
stigma and a compromised sense of self-worth, coupled
with cultural norms that limit more open discussion
about sexual matters, undermine orphans ability to
refuse sex or to bargain terms of sexual relationships.
Child migration following death of a parent a
longstanding cultural practice in Malawi that helps to
foster children within kin relations can also exacer-
bate the plight of orphans. Decisions about fostering
are increasingly being influenced by other consider-
ations, such as the ability of an orphan to contribute
economically or otherwise to the foster household
(Ansell and Blerk 2004). This provides scope for
exploitation and increased vulnerability. Consistent
with these views, a recent study revealed that adoles-
cent orphans in Malawi are more likely to initiate
sexual activity when they are separated from biological
siblings and when they reside in food-insecure house-
holds (Mkandawire et al. 2012). The role of alcohol in
fuelling risky sexual practices in youth living outside of
normal family environments has also been docu-
mented, with particular attention to locally distilled
highly potent, yet readily accessible, liquor known as
kachasu (Mkandawire et al. 2011). While not exhaus-
tive, these studies underscore the highly varied and
contingent contexts within which the AIDS epidemic
plays out in Malawi.
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Paul Mkandawire et al.
Ganyus historical origin and
contemporary meaning
Malawi is a landlocked country located in Southern
Africa and a former British colony. Due to lack of
known mineral resources, Malawi was reduced to a
supplier of cheap labour for export oriented farming
by colonial settlers in the Southern Region of the
country, and externally as migrant labour reserve for
estates and mining economies in the Southern Africa
labour-belt.
A short-term informal contractual labour arrange-
ment, ganyu, evolved from the historical context of
colonial agriculture in the Southern Region of the
country (Kandawire 1979; Vaughan 1987). The estab-
lishment of plantations in colonial Malawi created
unprecedented demand for manual labour, which was
met through temporary male migration from upcountry
areas such as the Northern Region and from cross-
border districts in neighbouring Mozambique. The
creation of European farms in an area where they
had not pre-existed hinged on displacement of natives
from traditional lands, a process that drove large
sections of the population into the plantation economy
as cheap labour. The need for cash to meet tax
obligations under the colonial state accelerated the
entry of natives into the estate labour force (Palmer
1986).
Initially, labour relations on estates were typically
governed through a rental system called thangata,
whereby tenants laboured for one month as a rent
payment for squatting on the farm, and a second
month in lieu of the colonial government tax. But since
both of these months were served during the agricul-
tural season, this arrangement directly conflicted with
natives own food production needs (Kandawire 1979;
Palmer 1986). For this reason and other related factors
such as cruelty of estate owners, the thangata system
became extremely unpopular. Although thangata con-
tinued, it was implemented on a limited scale, comple-
mented by other labour arrangements such as ticket and
chitando. Under the ticket system, natives laboured on
European farms for 26 working days over a seven-week
period. On the other hand, chitando concerned an
itinerant migrant labour regime involving temporary
migrants from neighbouring Mozambique.
It is in this context that ganyu emerged in the 1930s.
However, ganyu quickly gained traction due to an acute
shortage of farm labour created by World War II
conscription. Unlike thangata, ganyu was a more
flexible labour arrangement and more ephemeral in
duration. Under ganyu, labourers were typically hired
to perform large amounts of monotonous work such as
picking tea or ripe coffee beans on short notice and for
short periods of time usually a day. In contrast to the
other forms of estate labour, which favoured male
Growing up an orphan
labour, ganyu was largely dominated by women and
children (Pachai 1974).
Although the prevalence of ganyu labour had
generally dwindled in the decades after Malawis
political independence in 1964, it is widely believed
that its incidence has dramatically resurged in recent
decades due to worsening poverty and food security
(Bezner-Kerr 2005; Bryceson 2006). Economic stagna-
tion largely brought in by Structural Adjustment
Programs, increased climatic variability and recurrent
food shortages have deeply undermined local liveli-
hoods, greatly contributing to both the rise of ganyu as
an important source of living and to its geographic
burst into urban areas (Munthali 2002; Shah et al. 2002;
Whiteside 2000). Deepening urban poverty and job-
lessness similarly linked to neoliberal reforms have thus
fuelled the transition of ganyu to Malawis urban
landscape alongside the explosion of other informal
economic and cottage activities such as distillation of a
local high-potent gin known as kachasu (Mkandawire et
al. 2011). Although on-farm ganyu is still being prac-
tised in cities due to the rise of urban agriculture in
Malawi, metropolitan notions of ganyu encompass a
range of labour relations that extend beyond the
traditional view. These include ad hoc and ephemeral
activities such as house cleaning, laundry, sweeping
house compounds, pounding, milling, brick moulding,
cooking, landscaping, fuel wood gathering and tempo-
rary house-help (Englund 1999; Whiteside 2000).
Yet, in present-day Malawi, doing ganyu insinuates
dishonour and degradation because it is associated with
extreme deprivation. The social stigma of doing ganyu
is manifest, for instance, by the fact that people find it
embarrassing to openly admit to doing such work
(Bryceson 2006). The potential shame associated with
ganyu therefore makes it a relationship that locates the
labourer in a particularly vulnerable place that can
heighten, among other things, disease risks.
Theoretical perspectives
Various theoretical approaches have been advanced to
understand the geographic spread of disease epidemics.
For example, three modes of diffusion proposed by
Cliff and Hagget (1998) are among the commonest
approaches used by geographers contagious, hierar-
chical and relocation. Contagious diffusion occurs
when disease spread follows commuting flows and
social interaction networks, leading to expanded local
concentration of disease outbreaks. On the other hand,
hierarchical and network diffusion lead to geographic
relocation of a disease over longer distances and into
previously uninfected regions (Earickson and Meade
2010). While these and other related epidemiological
approaches provide valuable insights into how diseases
spread, they do not go far enough in identifying social
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131
and political contexts that bring people into close
contact with disease-causing organisms in the first
place.
This study mainly draws on the geographic perspec-
tives grounded in the political ecology of health.
Political ecology grew out of the need to understand
how local populations were being integrated into, and
transformed by, the global economy, despite local
resource management and environmental regulation
(Peet and Watts 2004). Political ecology has played a
critical role in understanding why local practices that
otherwise degrade the environment may seem rational,
especially in instances where people face extremely
limited livelihood choices (Bebbington and Batterbury
2001; Rocheleau 2008).
Similarly, the political ecology of disease framework
is largely concerned with the linkages between the
wider political economy and human health (Mayer
1996). It seeks to demonstrate dimensions linking wider
social forces and vulnerability to disease in particular
populations located in specific places (Kalipeni and
Oppong 1998; McLafferty 2010). In order to generate
insights for understanding the political economy of
disease spread, one must also consider the inclusion of
historical factors that bear on contemporary health
vulnerabilities in particular population groups. In
addition, perspectives from the political ecology of
health framework have been used to interrogate health
discourses and practices of individual actors and
institutions, focusing on how they shape spatial disease
spread, and health service planning and delivery (King
2010).
Closely allied with the political ecology of health
framework is the concept of vulnerability, which relates
to individuals ability to resist, cope and recover from
disease (Watts and Bohle 1993). However, while the
notion of vulnerability is strongly associated with
poverty, not all poor people are equally vulnerable
because susceptibility to disease is contingent upon
access to social and economic support and safety nets in
the context of place (McLafferty 2010). The ability of
people to rally from disease threats is tied to processes
of disempowerment, social isolation or marginalisation,
including processes that sever people from vital support
systems as they exist in particular place contexts. This
view resonates with space-time debates in geography,
which suggest that while places can offer opportunities
they can also restrict choices and behaviours, and
therefore shape health outcomes (see Merriman 2012).
Study context: Mzuzu City
This study was conducted in Mzuzu, Malawis third
largest city located 400 km north of Lilongwe, the
capital city. Mzuzu city covers an estimated area of
76 km2. The city emerged from a small tung (a tree
132
from which edible oil is produced) farm established in
1940s. The population grew from 8000 at the countrys
independence in 1964 to around 128 000 people in
2008 (Malawi Government 2008). Mzuzu has the
second highest annual population growth rate of
Malawis three major cities, currently at 4.0 per cent,
after Lilongwe at 4.3 per cent (Malawi Government
2008). In addition to a high birth rate, population
inflows from surrounding districts and southern Tanza-
nia also drive this growth.
Being the regional economic and political hub,
Mzuzu has a specialist hospital, tobacco auction floors,
an expanding industrial sector, a subsidiary for a
beverage company and a flea market. The city also
hosts several secondary schools, vocational colleges and
a public university. Chronic housing shortage amidst
rapid population increase in Mzuzu has paved the way
for large swathes of informal settlements. Likewise, the
citys population growth has outstripped formal
employment growth, leading to a proliferation of
informal businesses (Jimu 2008; Malawi Government
2005).
The study site is Chibavi area, a high-density suburb
situated on flood-prone state land that fades into
squatter settlement west of Mzuzu city. Chibavi was
chosen because it is the most populous area in Mzuzu
with over 10 000 homes. It is also where the majority of
orphans in the city reside. Although not the most
impoverished area of the country, Chibavi is neverthe-
less a very poor township. A recent study showed that
only 9 per cent of Chibavis residents have an annual
income level comparable to the countrys per capita
income of US$270 (Manda 2009). However, enclaves
of privilege exist in the city, resulting in noticeable
spatial variations in levels of affluence. Suburbs with
gated homes such as Chimaliro and Mapale, inhabited
by the well-off, sharply contrast with nearby Chibavi,
where houses are generally cobbled from unburned
bricks, and are without piped water, electricity or a
supporting road network. The availability of affordable,
albeit poor-quality, housing makes Chibavi an attrac-
tive place for newcomers seeking to gain a foothold in
the city.
Methodology
This study is set in the context of post-colonial Malawi,
where national development efforts have been charac-
terised by the fight against worsening poverty, the
AIDS epidemic and an escalating orphan crisis. As a
qualitative case-study design lends itself well to gaining
deeper insights into a phenomenon, individuals or
events (Miles and Huberman 1994), this methodolog-
ical approach was appropriate for discerning the
meaning and contextual realities of ganyu in everyday
life. Further, this intensive design allowed us to explore
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Paul Mkandawire et al.
important emerging links between ganyu and AIDS in
Malawi.
This study was conducted from October to Decem-
ber 2009. In order to gain a broader understanding of
how ganyu served as a context for HIV risk, the study
started by conducting two focus group discussions
(FGDs) with local leaders (n = 18) in Chibavi area.
FGD participants consisted of men and women who, by
virtue of their respective positions in this community,
were considered to be well informed about the problem
of AIDS, the plight of orphans as well as ganyu
practices. Specifically, FGD participants included tra-
ditional leaders (2), religious leaders (2), HIV peer-
educators (3), representatives of a community-based
childcare centre (3), health surveillance assistants (3),
people living with HIV (2) and foster parents (3).
These individuals came from a diverse range of
educational backgrounds and experiences. While some
of them had little formal education (the lowest was
Grade 5), others such as health surveillance assistants
had post-secondary and professional training in disease
surveillance and child nutrition and growth monitoring.
HIV peer educators were typically post-primary trained
but with considerable hands-on training in HIV-related
behaviour change communication and life skills edu-
cation.
Views of local leaders formed the basis of in-depth
interviews (IDI) with young women aged between 12
and 18. The choice of upper age limit of 18 years was
informed by the need to conform to UNICEFs (2004)
biologically-based definition of an orphan as an indi-
vidual below the age of 18 who has lost one or both
parents. A sub-group sampling design lends itself
reasonably well to comparing voices between two or
more groups with respect to a particular subject of
interest (Onwuegbuzie and Leech 2007). In order to
appraise views and experiences of orphans and non-
orphans with respect to ganyu, two sub-samples, one
each of orphans (n = 18) and non-orphans (n = 18),
were obtained by purposefully sampling from a list of
807 female youth who lived in the area at the time of
the study. A recently established youth centre kept a
register of youth in the area, which was used for on-site
and outreach HIV activities such as awareness, testing,
counselling and behavioural change and life skills.
In order to include respondents from a wide range of
backgrounds, maximum variation criterion was used to
guide participant selection within both the orphan and
non-orphan groups (see Strauss and Corbin 1998).
During selection, particular attention was paid to the
participants education level, household size, parental/
guardian, quality of home and occupation/employment
status, since these are important HIV risk factors.
Within the orphan group, consideration was paid to the
gender of the surviving parent, if such a parent existed.
The aim here was to ensure fair representation of
Growing up an orphan
maternal, paternal and double orphans in the sample.
Multiple interviews were conducted with IDI partici-
pants in order to develop rapport and go beyond
public accounts, whereby the orphans might report
what they perceive to be socially preferred responses or
simply what they think the interviewer wants hear.
Successive interviews thus helped them to share private
accounts, including deeper thoughts, feelings and
everyday life stories. The interviews were conducted
in participants home settings and were tape-recorded
with their own or/and their guardians permission.
Findings
The findings presented below demonstrate various
ways in which sexual risk is embedded with ganyu in
urban northern Malawi. They are organised into three
major themes: ganyu as lifeline for orphans; ganyu and
orphans social position; ganyu, sexual entrapments and
risk of HIV for orphans and male perpetrators.
Quotations are used to contextualise these themes
and ground perspectives. Participants pseudonym,
gender (F=female; M=male), age and education
(NE=no formal education; PE=primary education;
SE=secondary education) are provided at the end of
each quotation.
Ganyu: lifeline for the orphans
Findings from FGD and IDI indicated that ganyu
seekers invariably came from extremely poor house-
holds. Although many of these families were said to
have previously received some form of social support
such as free fertilizer, seed or food from the govern-
ment and charitable organisations, these transfers had
drastically dwindled or stopped over the years. The
residents precarious existence and predilection for
ganyu were also linked to extremely poor quality of
social support in this particular urban arena, as a
middle-aged widow who also raised three grandchil-
dren observed:
The notion of generosity is alien in this town. Everything,
including chigwada (cassava leaf) which [in the village] you
freely pick from any ones farm without consent is expensive.
We taka-taka (enterprise) every single day. Everyone has to
bring home something, however small. (Beatrice, F, 46, PE)
Although poverty was widespread in the area, the
specific trajectories and exact nature of deprivation was
perceived to vary markedly. For instance, participants
indicated that families fostering a large number of
children lived in excessively daunting circumstances,
and that such families faced complex livelihood prob-
lems. For example, there were reports that the meagre
support that families received from charitable organi-
sations ended up being mortgaged to better-off fami-
lies. Poor families also tended to heavily rely on
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133
katapila (informal credit) in their struggles to meet
their daily needs, a practice that allegedly further
tipped them into ganyu contracts as they struggled to
repay exorbitant interest on these debts. This was
surmised by an orphan who also revealed that her
mother was on lifelong treatment for AIDS:
I borrowed some money to pay (mothers) hospital bills, but
the doctor also said she should eat well. I have been doing
ganyu for the past months to repay this debt. She is very
delighted but also concerned that I am still too young for all
this (Eliza, F, 18, PE)
Accounts also revealed that the perceived over depen-
dence of families affected by AIDS on ganyu explained
why ganyu was increasingly becoming synonymous with
being an orphan. This view was emphasised by an
orphan who lost her father 5 years ago and has since
been caring for her ailing mother:
There were no problems until last year when my mothers
illness started getting worse. She was admitted [hospitalised]
but after 2 months in the hospital they told us that there
wasnt anything else they could do but put her on home-
based care. This was when I started looking for ganyu. If I
stop, my mother might also die. (Patricia, F, 13, NE)
Ganyu and orphans social position
FGD participants generally indicated that orphans
could be easily distinguished from non-orphans with
respect to ganyu. For instance, it was reported that
orphans tended to randomly call at peoples houses,
worked ganyu much more regularly and that oftentimes
orphans worked ganyu at odd times, as stated by one
FGD participant:
Every parent wants their child to read a newspaper and write
a letter (local metaphors for literacy). So, if a child is on
ganyu while others are in school, something must be awfully
wrong with the home where that child comes from. (Alfred,
F, 37, M, PE)
In addition to orphans relatively intense work routines,
participants also drew on other markers to distinguish
these children. For example, they stated that orphans
were generally overly contrite and more subservient
when performing ganyu. Orphans were reportedly also
rather too timid to bargain for ganyu payment; a
behaviour one FGD participant attributed to orphans
realisation that an amicable relationship with ganyu
recruiters was essential for their long-term survival
because prospects of being hired in the future were
largely contingent on their current conduct. Therefore,
sentiments such as just pay me anything were reportedly
more common among orphans. Underscoring a sense of
material uncertainty that rendered ganyu so central in
orphans lives, the participant retorted:
Pamsasa saipitsa! My grandmother never forgets to remind
me. Because being overly keen with short-term benefits can
134
foreclose important favours in the future I usually dont
charge because may be he doesnt have enough money at
that time Or if he sees that I am interested in work rather
than just in his money he might pay me well and perhaps
help me out again tomorrow. (June, F, 16, PE)
Combined with this demeanour were on-the-spot
pronouncements such as ndine wamasiye, ndithandizeni
(I am orphan, please help me) which were said to have
become routine salutations for drawing empathy from
ganyu patrons and, more importantly as one FGD
informant remarked, to signal that even among the
poor they were the most stranded. Altogether, this
comportment underlined orphans subaltern status in
ganyu relations.
Acute shortage of opportunities for ganyu in the
area sometimes forced youth to seek piecework in far-
off neighbourhoods by paying unsolicited visits to
homes. As a result, IDI participants expressed the
concern that children faced the risk of dog bites, or
being chastised by patrons annoyed by such drop-in
visits. A FGD informant stated that some people have
complained that while they certainly sympathise,
constant hounding by ganyu-seekers can be annoying.
Consequently, some individuals sought to shield
themselves by putting up posters announcing palibe
ntchito (there is no job) or warnings such as chenjerani
ndi a galu olusa (beware of vicious dogs) on front
gates of their homes. Although gated homes are
understood as a spatial enclave and a reflection of
socioeconomic disparities, participants in this study
interpreted this as an indication of weak social ties
and the poor quality of social support networks that
generally made city life less cordial when compared
with rural communal life.
Doing deeds in better-off homes did not only make
ganyu workers more aware of their own disadvantaged
conditions, but also aggravated the social stigma
associated with ganyu. To avoid humiliation some
orphans preferred to seek ganyu in distant neighbour-
hoods. The profound sense of shame associated with
ganyu also explained why many guardians preferred
sending their children instead of themselves. Despite
this shame, orphaned participants insisted that ganyu
was a source of salvation in this city, as surmised by a
participant who reacted that it is easy to ridicule ganyu
if your parents feed you. Divergent perspectives
towards ganyu were also reiterated by a teenage
orphaned participant who stated that, being the oldest
person in the family, ensuring that soap and salt (local
metaphors for basics necessities) were available at
home was her sole responsibility:
I am not saying that it is necessarily a good thing, but what
would you do if you had your entire family to feed? Just
think about what it means to feed 6 people in this city as a
child plus your mother who is on-and-off (chronically ill).
(Maria, F, 17, SE)
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Paul Mkandawire et al.
Ganyu, sexual entrapment and HIV risk
How being overly dependent on ganyu was perceived to
contribute to increased sexual exchange sparked a
heated debate among FGD participants. Participants
acknowledged that while it was still not uncommon for
better-off families to offer ganyu to poorer children out
of kindness, they also argued that it would be nave to
take such acts at face value in this city, especially if they
were from strangers. FGD participants especially
claimed that doing ganyu with non-relatives was dan-
gerous for girls because it created circumstances for
patrons to take advantage and ask for an extra service
a growing practice literally and figuratively associated
with children without guardians. This was highlighted
by a participant who lived with HIV and also longed for
more caring kinds of ganyu:
We grew up accustomed to ganyu; that was how we bought
school uniforms and paid school fees Your neighbours
daughter was your own, but now no-one will give you salt or
soap (basic necessities) without expecting you to scratch
their back. (Olga, F, 54, PE)
Especially, if you have no father Everyone will respect
you if you have parents, even if they are poor. But if you
dont have your own parents, you are a deer (freebie). (Pike,
M, 37, SE)
Generally, youth also acknowledged that it was not
uncommon to encounter patrons who also expected or
demanded sexual favours alongside ganyu labour. This
behaviour was mainly directed at the neediest or those
who didnt really have someone to fall back on.
A young female IDI informant clarified:
Ganyu is common, especially among those who just grow up
alone. But ganyu is hopeless and can jeopardise your future;
Id rather sell mandasi (donuts) than do ganyu. If no-one
buys them I can as well eat them up myself but if you do
ganyu you have completely sold yourself because they
want everything; your labour and your body too. (Justina, F,
14, SE)
It should be noted that although the notion of growing
up alone was not only used to refer to children without
both biological parents, but also those who lived in
homes without a male presence.
The emerging tendency for orphaned girls to be
exploited in these casual labour relations is better
understood through the lived experience of one of the
IDI participants, named Lusungu. Lusungu was 14 at
the time of the study, the oldest of three orphaned
siblings and she has been living in Mzuzu city since she
was born. She openly acknowledged that her father
died of an AIDS-related illness in 2007. Lusungu vividly
remembers that two weeks after her fathers burial, her
fathers kinsmen visited them at their house in Mzuzu.
During this visit, a fight between her fathers brothers
and her mother erupted over the deceaseds property.
Growing up an orphan
The dispute flared up, and being afraid of what might
happen (possibly witchcraft), her mother relinquished
all the household effects to her fathers brothers.
A month later, the family received notice to vacate the
house within 6 months because it belonged to the
company that her father had worked for and that
another employee had since been assigned to occupy
the house. Although her mother was not seriously ill at
this time, she observed that her health was also
noticeably deteriorating. However, the mother still
ran a small stationery shop in town, but the income
could barely allow them to continue living in this
relatively upscale neighbourhood, forcing them to
relocate to Chibavi. A year later, her mothers illness
took a drastic turn and she died of pneumonia at
Mzuzu Central Hospital. With no close relatives to turn
to, especially with ties with her fathers kinsmen
severed, Lusungu dropped out of school to provide
for her two younger sisters and enable them to remain
in school. Although Lusungu worried about sacrificing
her own education, she said I am happy that my two
sisters are still in school more than a year after my
mother died. It was later found out that her mother
had actually instructed her to take care of her sisters
before she died. Even though her two sisters were still
young, they occasionally helped her with ganyu after
school or on weekends. They were sometimes visited by
an old family friend who lived across the city, but
Lusungu said she now visited less frequently. Lusungu
said that one day she was deceived by a man for whom
she occasionally did ganyu. Although she claimed this
was her first sexual experience, she discovered she was
pregnant a few weeks later. However, the man denied
responsibility and in turn accused her of being a
prostitute. Lusungu explained that the mans contemp-
tuous and derisive attitude was in a large part due to
her being fatherless and therefore having no one to
help her confront this man. At the time of the
interview, Lusungu was planning for her first antenatal
visit, but she was now worried not just about the well-
being of her two younger sisters, but also because she
heard that HIV screening was mandatory for pregnant
women at antenatal clinics. She said I saw the agony
my parents went through before eventually passing
away and I am extremely tormented by the prospect of
a positive HIV test result.
Lusungus lived experience and sense of defense-
lessness generally epitomised the lives of many poor
girls living outside normal family environments and
struggling to survive in this area. Situations like this
were said to be on the rise in the area, prompting calls
to keep girls in homes. While admitting that extreme
poverty and lack of social ties pushed girls into
perpetual ganyu endeavours, FGD participants also
argued that allowing a young woman to do domestic
deeds for strangers was sometimes more risky than
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135
with familiar patrons, as narrated by a FGD
participant:
Sometimes when they know you personally they rarely say
something stupid. So he can say oh, I dont have any ganyu
for you today, maybe check again next time. Sometimes he
could quietly give you some work to do, not able say
anything else because he is afraid that you know his wife or
that he holds a certain position in the church and he does
not want you to start going around talking about him. But if
you dont know him quite well he has no reason to care.
(Falesi, F, 39, PE)
When understood in the context of space-time debates
in geography, the convenience of doing ganyu in more
anonymous, far-off spatial settings helps mitigate the
stigma associated with ganyu. Yet this was tempered by
the increased prospect of sexual manipulation by
unfamiliar patrons in such less familiar settings. Addi-
tionally, the increased spatial mobility entailed by
having to do ganyu in distant neighbourhoods also
fuelled other concerns on the part of parents and
guardians:
While doing work in these homes they realise that maybe the
family drinks tea with milk or eat Christmas everyday
(metaphor for rice and chicken) and they start looking for
ways of finding these things. (Maggie, F, 44, PE)
Accounts of IDI also revealed a concern among some
youth that sexual relationships forged within the
context of ganyu were often challenging to navigate.
Among other things, this view mainly pertained to
apparent powerlessness on the part of youth to
dissuade patrons if they were determined to have sex:
I was just very afraid that [he] would be upset and possibly
stop assisting me. I was more worried about what would
happen if he felt I was taking him for a ride and then got
upset given all he has been doing Yes, I agreed but
honestly I can tell you that deep down my heart I wasnt
myself. (Jane, F, 14, PE)
It was also apparent from these accounts that girls
generally found it practically difficult to refuse a sexual
proposition from a patron. An IDI informant reported
that if someone has been helping you, its hard not to
oblige. This claim mainly referred to instances of
repeated ganyu engagement with the same patron, and
must be understood in a context where being hired for
ganyu was also increasingly being viewed as a favour from
a patron, given that ganyu was often scarce to find. This
further explains why FGD participants generally indicated
that the safest way out was to completely stay out of ganyu.
The dilemmas and pressures that girls encounter
were not only related to conceding to sexual demands
of patrons, but extended to their inability to insist on
safer sex:
I didnt know what to say I thought it would have sounded
impolite and therefore I was completely tongue-tied. If I had
136
my own way, I truly wished he used a condom But I was
just so confused and so embarrassed. I couldnt just force a
word out of my mouth because of the respect I just have for
him. (Suzgo, F, 15, SE)
As evident from the above statement, the lack of
assertiveness in sexual matters was also linked to
cultural norms that limit more open communication
about sex between people of different age groups or
sexes. Consistent with such beliefs, an orphan who
reported encountering a similar situation narrated her
dilemma to insist on safer sex:
I was afraid to ask him because I thought I would be thought
of as a prostitute. In my mind I was saying; what will I say if
this man asks me how a small girl like me came to know
about all these things. (Komani, F, 16, SE)
The stresses of hand-to-mouth existence coalesced with
a persistent sense of material uncertainty, pressuring
orphans into overstaying in ganyu-related sexual rela-
tionships:
If we had someone to take care of us or even just provide
food, I would stop doing it (ganyu) I can say its like
eating. Being full tonight does not mean anything for me,
because I will be hungry again by daybreak, and must go
back to ganyu So whatever he asks you, you do it, whether
you like it or not. (Betty, F, 15, SE)
When asked as to who these manipulative patrons
actually might be, respondents FGD accounts fell short
of naming any particular individuals, providing general
descriptions instead. Surprisingly, although respon-
dents indicated that there were one or two well-off
individuals who occasionally preyed on young girls,
the practice was rather mainly perpetuated by men who
were not much better-off than the ganyu seekers
themselves. While certainly having the means to hire
workers, many of these men were reportedly often
poorly educated, had no steady employment and
similarly eked out a living from the informal sector.
A FGD participant, for instance, charged that no
dignified person would do such a thing to an orphan,
while another retorted that these individuals were
simply unbothered about the welfare of others in this
township. Commenting on this growing lack of concern
for others, which was allegedly at the root of the
problem in this community, a local leader clarified that:
What is ruining this place is that we now have all sorts of
people living here, some even from as far as Tanzania. You
see different strange faces every day. So, even to say theres
a community here is simply not true. All you see is people
moving in and out of the area and you wonder who they
might be. (Markos, M, 55, SE)
FGD participants generally emphasised that in a
context of abysmal material circumstances even those
with a little something can seem relatively prosperous
and easily use it for selfish ends. The following
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Paul Mkandawire et al.
quotation underscores the view that male perpetrators
in this area were also generally poor, with an existence
not overly different from that of their victims:
The first time it happened to me [sexual encounter] it was
about a year ago. I used to fetch firewood and ran maize-mill
errands for a certain man who was living alone because his
wife lived in Nkhata-Bay (home district). He had a kiosk in
town but he is back with his family in the village because he
lost his shop after the flea market was gutted down by fire a
few months. (Eliza, F, 14, PE)
The fact that sexual perpetrators often had established
families reinforced the view that ganyu was off-limits,
and underpinned growing fears about potential spread
of HIV in the area. In the next section, we will link this
nexus between ganyu, orphanhood and potential risk of
HIV infection back to the geographic literature on
vulnerability and the political ecology of disease.
Discussion and conclusion
Although current estimates point to a relative stabil-
ity in the prevalence of HIV in Malawi, findings of this
study seem to agree with growing concerns that
concealed in this overall picture are considerable
inequalities in vulnerability to the epidemic, with
disadvantaged groups faring the worst (UNAIDS
2010). This study shows how contemporary vulnerabil-
ity of orphans to HIV in Malawi is closely tied to a well-
established and supposedly beneficial casual labour
with deep roots in the countrys colonial legacy. As
evident from the findings, this historical labour relation
coalesced with worsening poverty (in part engendered
by economic restructuring) and social dislocation to
predispose orphans to the AIDS epidemic. The chang-
ing terms of trade of ganyu, particularly its close links to
the practice of sexual exchange in the context of
extremely deprived material circumstances and weak
social ties of blood relatives, has especially under-
pinned orphans vulnerability to HIV infection. Thus,
while there is certainly scope for understanding the
elevated risk of HIV for orphans in terms of individual
agency, it is evident that vulnerability has mainly been
defined by weak material position and limited social
support systems.
Given that ganyu has been shown to have varied
meanings and social significance in different contexts,
its role in stratifying possible exposure to HIV as
revealed by this study contributes to our understanding
of the situated nature of vulnerability to the epidemic.
When set within broader debates in health geography,
this study provides a lens for conceptualising the
uneven social geographies of AIDS, and the dynamic
nature of processes that underpin inequalities in
population health. This study, therefore, adds to our
understanding of how health inequalities are produced
and sustained by interconnected histories and geographies
Growing up an orphan
(King 2010; Mayer 1996), particularly at the local level
amid extreme poverty and weakened kinship ties.
Additionally, this study demonstrates how a population
can be exposed to multiple contingent vulnerabilities,
with one dimension of vulnerability (e.g. orphanhood)
shaping the likelihood and severity of other vulnera-
bilities (e.g. HIV and other sexually transmitted infec-
tions). While extreme poverty and social dislocation,
for instance, drove orphans into risky ganyu encounters,
cultural norms that forbid open discussion about sexual
matters between people of the opposite sex and large
age gaps between ganyu providers and workers further
constrained the orphans abilities to negotiate the terms
of sex. Furthermore, the selective nature of vulnerabil-
ity was also evident in the finding that while orphan-
hood generally pushed youth into ganyu, the death of a
father was particularly tragic in signifying a dramatic
collapse of livelihood through historical inheritance,
customs and reduced inability to thwart the manipula-
tive behaviour of male perpetrators, even in instances
where youth had technically come of age.
When viewed in relation to its historic dual role as
an escape from poverty and means for maintaining
social ties in rural areas (Mtika 2001), the particularly
detrimental role played by contemporary ganyu, as
pointed out in this study, shows that social relations of
ganyu as well as the impact of these relations may be
spatially and socially uneven. A positive relationship
has been transformed into one that sustains vulnera-
bility for orphans in particular. The shifting relational
pattern of ganyu has also been reported by some
previous studies in Malawi, underscoring the potential
of ganyu to accentuate economic inequalities when
undertaken outside kin relations (Bezner-Kerr 2005;
Englund 1999). However, our study expands this debate
beyond mere questions of social class differentiation, to
include particular considerations of how ganyus tran-
sition to the urban landscape seems to incorporate new
frontiers of social inequalities that stand to polarise
vulnerability to the AIDS epidemic. The finding that
sex was increasingly seen as a tribute that patrons in
urban and suburban environments expected or
demanded from ganyu labourers means that ganyu is
a relation that stands to introduce a new fault-line of
health inequality in Malawi.
Furthermore, although in some contexts ganyu may
still have a place for strengthening community ties and
providing a safety net, this labour relation seems
indicative of structural inequality within Malawi. Con-
sequently, the poor who are already disproportionately
affected by the epidemic may be rendered even more
vulnerable to HIV as ganyu becomes a more permanent
feature of their livelihoods. In addition, by taking
advantage of destitute children, male perpetrators also
stand to impose the risk of HIV on themselves and their
sexual partners, thereby rendering ganyu as a purveyor
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137
of the virus. This study, therefore, underscores the need
to pay attention to social relations through which
people come to gain and sustain their livelihoods, how
these relationships are reconstituted in spatially varied
contexts and how such social geographies become
implicated in spread of HIV in sub-Sahara Africa.
The assignment of individuals to discrete HIV at-risk
categories belies the fact that, in reality, people straddle
various social categories, thereby giving the illusion that
those outside those groups are rather safe. Yet it is
noteworthy that orphans have generally not been por-
trayed as particularly at risk for HIV in policy debates in
Malawi. Similarly, being widely presumed as a force of
good and an enduring safety-net for the poor (Mtika
2001; Whiteside 2000), ganyu is not of central concern in
HIV policy discussions in Malawi (see Malawi Govern-
ment 2009b). While certainly aware that poverty drives
the spread of AIDS, the government in Malawi none-
theless seems ill-equipped in its comprehension of the
specific dimensions that link adverse material conditions
and heightened exposure to the virus. Oblivious of such
vital dynamics, policy attention has remained confined to
commercial sex (Craddock 2000).
The governments uncritical fixation on prostitution
in Malawi has resulted in problematic state responses to
the epidemic that have pathologised women, with
detrimental consequences for the fight against the
disease (Bezner-Kerr and Mkandawire 2010). While
prostitution is certainly an important context of AIDSs
spread in Malawi, it is only one strand within a larger
category of established assortments of social ties that
facilitate the spread of the epidemic (Poulin 2007;
Swidler and Watkins 2007). Therefore, effective HIV
prevention approaches in Malawi should include policies
that first seek to reveal various everyday forms of
unequal social relations, and devise strategies for
overcoming overdependence of the poor on perilous
social ties. This sort of empowerment should also be
extended to, for instance, spouses of male perpetrators
who may become vulnerable to HIV by virtue of being
economically dependent on philandering partners. How-
ever, the centrality of ganyu in the lives of Malawians
means that policy responses aimed at dealing with the
hazard that ad hoc labour relations may present must
therefore be located within a broader strategy geared
toward securing alternative livelihoods for the poor.
This study has demonstrated that while the transi-
tioning of ganyu to Malawis urban landscape at this
particularly difficult economic time serves as a liveli-
hood for the extremely poor, it also comes with a price.
Our study sheds light on how contemporary health
trends may be linked to interconnected historical and
geographic processes and seeks to contribute to an
understanding of social geographies that underpin the
continued spread of HIV among orphans and the
general population in sub-Sahara Africa. Weaving these
138
elements together, we emphasise that more effective
HIV policies must draw on these theoretical perspec-
tives and, in turn, should seek to take into account the
historical and geographic contexts driving the epidemic
in Malawi.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the International Development
Resesearch Center (IDRC) for providing financial
support for this study. With gratitude we acknowledge
comments and constructive criticisms from our annon-
ymous reviewers.
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