Memory Banda TED Talks Against Child Marriage & Malawi's Sexual Initiation Camps

Memory Banda TED Talks Against Child Marriage & Malawi’s Sexual Initiation Camps

Watching several TED Talks yesterday, the subject of Malawi’s child brides surfaced again in the passionate TED Woman2015 talk given by Malawi’s Memory Banda. Memory became an organizer in support of the new law against child marriage, and she also introduced me to the topic of ‘initiation camps’. Banda’s sister, who has three children and two failed marriages at age 16, was sent to an ‘initiation camp’ at age 11.

Watch more TEDWoman 2015 presentations.

Ashley Graham Tells TED: I'm Bold, Beautiful & Brilliant Even With Back Fat

Ashley Graham Tells TED: I’m Bold, Beautiful & Brilliant Even With Back Fat

IMG model Ashley Graham gave one of the most inspiring talks ever before a sold-out audience of 450 people in Valencia, Spain during an April 2015 TEDxBerkleeValencia event. Watch it here.

Dominating the stage with confidence and enthusiasm for her commitment to being a body-image activist for all women, Graham who is a 27-year-old Nebraska native said:

‘My body, like my confidence, has been picked apart, manipulated, and controlled by others who didn’t necessarily understand it. I had to learn to reclaim my body as my own, and in reclaiming my body as my own, I understood as a woman that I had a greater purpose to redefine feminine beauty.’