The barbaric custom of forcing widows to have sexual relations with strangers in Africa.

Malawian women are forced to have sexual relations with strangers after their husbands die to avoid being haunted and cursed by their husbands' spirits.

"Widow cleansing" is a tradition that has existed for thousands of years in Malawi, a southeastern African country. According to this tradition, after the wife has finished her husband's funeral, the first thing she must do is find a stranger and have sexual relations with him.

Malawians believe this practice helps the wife avoid being cursed or harassed by her husband's spirit. This custom is so deeply ingrained in Malawian culture that widows feel a "responsibility" and "obligation" to perform it, despite the risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The "purification" ritual is a haunting experience for widows in Malawi. Photo: Force Change.

Although Malawian society has developed more than before, the barbaric custom of forcing widows to have sexual relations with strangers remains unchanged. It has even become "professionalized," transforming into a service that provides men for widows to sleep with. The price for such an encounter is $50, while the average daily wage in Malawi is only $1. This causes immense harm to widows, both materially and emotionally.

One man in the service even admitted to having unprotected sex with dozens of women even after being diagnosed with HIV. Despite this, many still choose the service because they don't want to seduce other men to perform the "purification" ritual. Conversely, Malawian men are generally not interested in widows and consider them bad luck.

Over 50% of women in Malawi marry before the age of 18. Photo: Diakonia.

Seodi White is a lawyer and women's rights activist in Malawi. She has traveled throughout the country to campaign against this horrific custom and persuade families not to allow their daughters to marry underage. “Many widows have cried when they spoke to me, saying they didn’t want to be cursed by their husbands. They cried while doing it, even though they were in immense pain,” she said.

Low literacy rates, unsafe sexual practices, and the failure to use condoms have exacerbated sexually transmitted diseases in recent years. Sixty percent of HIV/AIDS cases in Malawi are women, and this horrific ritual is a major reason they become victims of the world's most dreaded disease.

According to VNE