In Southern Malawi, Chief Theresa Kachindaamoto is known as the “marriage terminator.” In just three years, the chief to over 900,000 Malawian people has put an end to over 850 child marriages.

She is protecting girls, empowering them and making her entire community healthier.

Theresa never thought she would influence so many people. The youngest in a family of twelve, she was perfectly happy continuing her nearly thirty-year career as a secretary at a college in Zomba, Malawi. Thankfully for thousands of girls, she has chieftain blood. Meaning she was considered by the people living in her home district in Monkey Bay at the southern tip of Lake Malawi to be the next chief. To her shock, she was chosen to be the next district chief taking on the responsibility of guiding hundreds of thousands of people.