A second chance for teenage mothers in Tanzania

Joyce’s dream of becoming a lawyer was smashed when she was raped at the age of 16 in a remote rural village. She experienced stigma, mistreatment, and harassment after becoming a mother. When the Tumaini team visited her village to tell the community about the second chance we offer to young mothers,

Joyce leapt at the opportunity. Now she has successfully completed secondary education and starts her diploma in law in September 2024. Joyce asserted “I am so grateful Tumaini came to our village with two important messages.

The first one is that abandoned young mothers like me can return to school, and the second is the availability of stigma-free and fee-free second chance through which I have completed form four”. At Tumaini, together with secondary education, Joyce got involved in community sensitization programs while as a living testimony, Joyce advocated for the families and community to allow and support young mothers to continue their education.

Specifically, Joyce's message centered on her personal experience as a young mother revealing the fact that “most teenage mothers are not sexually immoral as it has widely been claimed. Rather, they are the victims of sexual and gender-based violence. They passed through sexual assaults that compelled them into adolescent motherhood.

The second chance is an opportunity to continue their studies that restore hope in their lives”.

Thank you for supporting girls like Joyce to overcome sexual violence and giving them a second chance to pursue their dreams.

With gratitude

Ezekiel