By Lancer Wao | Communication Officer
Dear partner and friend
Teenage pregnancies have been recently under the spotlight for derailing the success of the girl child in the society. Many approaches that have been used to fight the vices have been girl-centered. As such, HFAW identified the need to move beyond the girl-centered approach and make older women at the center of community transformation. It is because they have been socialized to uphold misogynist gender norms. Therefore, we believe that, just as a hen jealously protects its chicks from a threat, so should older women protect girls from FGM, child-marriage, and prevent teenage pregnancies.
Our interactions with the community members have given us the first-hand experience of the lengths that women go through so that their daughters are safe from teenage pregnancies.
One such woman is Joyce Amoyi. She says that she is yet to see something that will hinder her from protecting her daughters. Joyce takes us down the memory lane of the ordeals she has had to fight as a woman and mother to girls in the Abagusii community.
‘My problems started when I was approached by my in-laws to undergo FGM. I refused. So one of my sisters-in-law told me that they would cut me when giving birth. So, during the birth of my firstborn daughter, I asked the midwife to keep my in-laws away until I give birth. I even told them to leave the baby’s clothes at the door because I knew their evil thoughts,’ Joyce narrates.
How women are on the losing end in matters teenage pregnancy…
There are many women like Joyce in Nyamira who support the war against retrogressive practices like FGM, child marriage, and teenage pregnancies. Some of them previously endorsed FGM because they believed that it was the only way to achieve the status of a true woman in the community. Consequently, they had to silently endure the burden of separating from their young daughters who get married few years after undergoing, painfully watch their daughters raise children while their peers are in school, and see them as they experience health effects of FGM.
‘When my girls became older. I maintained my stand that they too will not go through FGM. I knew it would put them at risk of early pregnancy and force them to abandon their studies for marriage. That is where they started experiencing hate. They would be called derogatory names by other women, including their grandmother. Some mothers would discourage their daughters from befriending my children. At some point, they had to move to another church because the hate had become too much. Nevertheless, I assured them that they were complete and should focus on being disciplined girls and working towards achieving their life goals’.
All of the three daughters of Amoyi who completed form four and passed the Kenya Certificate for Secondary School, successfully proceeded to the best colleges in the country. Sadly, we cannot say the same about some girls who went through FGM, dropped out of school because of pregnancy, and got married. They are many. A study in 2014 by the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey showed that the region is among the top five with high cases of early pregnancies and FGM with a prevalence of 28%. Meaning the problem is far from over.
Placing Mothers at the Center of offering Life Skills Education…
Since the beginning of this year, HFAW has focused on using mothers to provide life skills education to end teenage pregnancy. So far, we have visited three schools and in all of them, women who are members our Community Health and Human Rights promoters, have taken the proactive roles of teaching girls to abstain and avoid teenage pregnancies. We have learned that our mothers are important in solving the problem of teenage pregnancy. Therefore, we plan to conduct intense training and empowerment session to increase their capacity in impacting students with life skills that can end teenage pregnancy.
Dear partner and friend, this initiative has had a lot of positive outcomes in our community. Thus, we are confident that the rate of teenage pregnancy will be lower in the next national survey by the KDHS. We would like to visit at least two schools per month between June 2019 and March 2020. Therefore, we humbly back to you asking you for your contributions to support the two school visits per month between June 2019 and March 2020.
By Lancer Wao | Communication Manager
By Teresiah Gitau | HFAW, Project Manager
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