Royal tour: Meghan thrills students by Skyping during Harry’s visit to Malawi school
Meghan has surprised students in Malawi by Skyping in during a school visit by Prince Harry, as the royal couple again put the spotlight on women’s education.
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Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, thrilled a classroom of female students during a surprising Skype call during Prince Harry’s solo visit to Malawi on the couple’s African royal tour.
Harry was visiting the Nalikule College of Education to meet young women who have been given scholarships through UKAid.
Harry was greeted by students singing, in happy scenes outside the college.
While Meghan stayed behind in South Africa with Archie, she made the most of the event via a TV screen linked to Skype in the school’s library.
The students cheered and sang as Meghan appeared via Skype, with Prince Harry clearly delighted to see his wife.
Meghan has left Harry to tour Botswana, Angola and Malawi solo while she cares for Archie back at the couple’s South African base.
And no wonder. Some of Harry’s solo tour includes camping near a crocodile infested river, which the couple decided was no place for the newest royal.
Harry also saw the work of the CAMA network, which supports women in Malawi.
“CAMA is an alumni network of young women who have been supported to attend secondary school through help from the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED),” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
“The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) has been working with CAMA since 2017, DFID Malawi has been supporting CAMFED and CAMA since 2012.
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CAMA is 21 years old, with 140,000 members across Africa. The CAMA network has been expanding in Malawi, with more than 17,500 members.
Each member supports another three children to go to school, working to lift communities out of poverty, the palace added.
Harry has visited Malawi as a tourist many times before, but this is his first official tour and gives him the platform to highlight the importance of education for women.
Harry and Meghan have long campaigned for girls’ rights to education.
They did a similar tour in Morocco in February where they were told that without school, many of the girls would be married off at 14.
Meghan has long been an advocate for women’s rights, which have been a theme of the royal couple’s landmark African tour.
They visited Nyanga, the “murder capital” of Cape Town, South Africa, on their first official engagement.
Harry gave a stirring speech to a group of local people at The Justice Desk charity, where girls are taught self defence and about their rights.
“No man is born to cause harm to women, this is learned behaviour, and a cycle that needs to be broken,” Harry said in his speech.
“So now, it’s about redefining masculinity, it’s about creating your own footprints for your children to follow in, so that you can make a positive change for the future.
“To me, the real testament of your strength isn’t physical, it’s what’s up here and what’s in here. Your strength is in your spirit, which for me means honouring and protecting my wife, and being a positive role model for my son.”
Harry is also due to meet Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika, whom he has met several times before.
He is also expected at a reception at Malawi’s British High Commission.
MEGHAN RAISES THE FLAG FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Earlier, Meghan met with inspirational female leaders in Cape Town, among them a South African woman who, at 18-years-old, had led a march of 20,000 women against apartheid.
Sophia Williams-De Bruyn — the last surviving leader of the 1956 protest march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria — was one of a group of women leaders who met Meghan, and spoke at length with the Duchess about violence against women.
The Duchess of Sussex also met with Dr Mamphela Ramphele, a former anti-apartheid activist, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town and Nompendulo Mkatshwa, one of the youngest people in South African parliament and a gender rights activist.
Meghan described the women as “brave” and praised their ability to break down gender barriers and said they had created a lasting “legacy”.
“I was recently reminded that the first one up the mountain often gets knocked down the hardest, but makes way for everyone behind them,” she said.
“These brave women have been able to see how their struggle can pave the way for so many.
“For all young women organisers, activists and campaigners today, you must keep at it and know that you are working for this generation and the next, and also continuing the legacy of the generations of great women before you.”
The rights of women have been front and centre during the royal tour.
There have also been protests in South Africa following the rape and murder of Uyinene Mrwetyana, a 19-year-old University of Cape Town student.
Ms Mrwetyana had gone to the post office on August 24 but was unable to pay a bill because the credit card machine was down.
A post office worker asked her to return at 2pm when other staff had gone home.
He locked her in the post office, raped her and then beat her to death with a set of scales.
A court has heard the worker, whose name has not been released, then put her body in a car and burnt it to try to hide the evidence.
The shocking crime has hit a nerve in South Africa, where police statistics say a woman is murdered every three hours.
And there are 40,000 cases of rape reported each year.
Meghan, who visited the site of Ms Mrwetyana’s murder and tied a ribbon of remembrance, said she was humbled to have learned from the female leaders first hand about their experiences.
“We can learn a certain amount from the outside, by tracking it through the news, but it’s not the same as being able to truly understand what it’s like on the ground,” she said.
“Much of my life I have been advocating for women and girls’ rights, so this has been an incredibly powerful moment to hear first-hand from all of you.”
The Duchess added: “The leadership and strength shown by these women is remarkable, and at a time when the issue of gender and gender-based violence is at the forefront of people’s minds, I hope their voices will resonate and not only give comfort but also create change.”
stephen.drill@news.co.uk