Human rights organisations, activists and LGBTIQ+ community members across Southern Africa are mourning the passing of Malawian intersex rights activist Sammie Kwatiwani MacJessie, remembering them as a courageous advocate, a gifted movement builder and a deeply generous friend.
MacJessie, the Executive Director of the Ivy Foundation, passed away on 17 October 2026 following a long illness. They were just 35 years old.
MacJessie, who held an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, founded the Ivy Foundation in 2016. It aims to advance the human rights, health, advocacy, awareness and education of lesbian, bisexual, intersex and queer (LBIQ) people and operates in three major cities in Malawi: Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
They also held prominent regional and continental leadership roles, including serving as co-chair of the Southern African Intersex Forum (SAIF) and as a board member of Iranti.
Through their work, MacJessie helped strengthen intersex-led organising and build connections between activists and communities across Africa.
A life dedicated to overcoming ignorance
In a 2025 conversation with Victor Mukasa for the Trans and Intersex History Africa Digital Archive, MacJessie spoke candidly about the lack of understanding of intersex people within communities, families and the medical profession in Malawi.
“It has been a journey because even accepting myself with my condition hasn’t been easy. Even our medical expertise.. [are] not properly informed about intersex variations.”
MacJessie explained that their own search for answers as a young person had inspired them to become an advocate. They also highlighted the difficult realities facing intersex people in Malawi.
Intersex people in Malawi, they said, “are still facing terrible hardships, lack of information, living in severe poverty, where we are not even aware that we have an intersex variation.”
Their words reflected the challenges that drove their activism: the need for better information, greater understanding and a society in which intersex people could live with dignity and have their rights recognised.
A loss felt across the region
Tributes from activists and organisations highlighted not only MacJessie’s contribution to intersex rights, but also their warmth, humour, generosity and ability to bring people together.
The Southern African Intersex Forum remembered them as “a leader, a friend, and a deeply loved member of our intersex family”.
“They were warm, generous, and always ready to help with a smile. Their kindness made people feel welcome, their leadership built movements, and their legacy lives on in the people and organisations they strengthened,” SAIF said.
The Other Foundation also honoured MacJessie’s work, highlighting their “joyful presence, careful movement building, and strategic sensibility in community organising and advocacy”.
“Rest now, Sammie. We will continue to advance the work you started,” the organisation added.
A movement builder and a trusted comrade
For those who worked alongside MacJessie, their passing represents the loss of a committed activist whose influence extended well beyond Malawi.
Long-time activist Phumi Mtetwa mourned the loss of a comrade whose work and presence had been a source of strength for struggles across the continent.
“Sammie’s humour and ironic ways of talking will be memorable,” Mtetwa wrote, adding that their dependable presence had brought depth to the principle of thinking locally while acting globally.
“This is a huge loss, a collective loss,” Mtetwa said, extending love and comfort to MacJessie’s family, colleagues and comrades.
A legacy of dignity and bodily autonomy
Iranti, where MacJessie joined the board in 2024, described them as a formidable force who combined conviction with a rare ability to make others feel respected.
The organisation said MacJessie had worked to ensure that intersex people were represented in its thinking and public record, bringing their experience as a Malawian activist and movement builder to the board.
“They were a formidable force, gentle in their ways and in their words, able to hold a position with complete clarity and still leave everyone feeling respected,” Iranti’s Executive Director, Akani Shimange, said.
The organisation also recalled MacJessie’s infectious laughter and their instinct to check that others were doing well. “They were full of life, and their death has come far too soon,” Shimange added.
The Ivy Foundation said MacJessie’s work had connected people from marginalised communities with important resources and life support while amplifying voices too often ignored.
“Sammie’s contributions to the human rights movement in Malawi will never be forgotten,” the organisation said. “Sammie leaves behind a legacy of advocacy, courage, and service that will continue to inspire us.”
Their influence will endure
Transgender and Intersex Africa honoured MacJessie as a “fierce champion, visionary leader, and unwavering advocate for Intersex human rights”, while emphasising their commitment to bodily autonomy and dignity.
South African organisation Triangle Project likewise joined the intersex movement in mourning a life dedicated to challenging systems that render intersex people invisible and marginalised.
“Sammie’s passing is a profound loss to our movements,” it said, reaffirming its commitment to solidarity, care, resistance and the belief that every body deserves to exist and thrive without apology.
As Intersex Awareness Day approaches on 26 October, MacJessie’s death is a painful loss for the communities and movements they helped strengthen. But the tributes also make clear that their influence will endure in the organisations they built, the relationships they nurtured and the work they inspired.
