Ray Of Hope For Teenage Mothers In Kilifi
More than 1,141 teenage mothers from Kilifi County have a reason to smile after they were enrolled in an empowerment program by Sauti ya Wanawake Organization and Action Aid Kenya to train them on technical skills so as to be able to transform their lives.
Most of the young mothers were sexually assaulted , and left to bear the burden of shame, responsibility and rejection by their own families.
The girls are part of the 13,000 from Kilifi who made headlines when they reportedly became pregnant at a teen age in 2019 leading to action by the county, national government and Non-Governmental organization.
As part of the empowerment program, Sauti ya Wanawake and Action Aid Kenya came up with the program that targeted the young mothers , training them in different life skills to help them become responsible and reliable citizens.
Already, over 200 girls who graduated with skills in tailoring and hair dressing were given sewing machines and equipment to enable them start their own business .
Lucky Mwaka, the project Coordinator of Sauti ya Wanawake in Magarini that works in partnership with Action Aid Kenya said the project targeted 1,141 girls who dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancy.
“Some of them are those who joined technical institutions through Action Aid and Sauti ya Wanawake and now they have qualified with different expertise,” she said.
Velma Kagonya from Sauti ya Wanawake said they issued 164 sewing machines to girls who did tailoring while 56 girls who trained in hairdressing got equipment to open their own saloons.
“It has been a long journey with these girls, which began five years ago, they were enrolled into polytechnics through our support and gained knowledge,” she said.
Teenage pregnancy among girls in Kilifi is unacceptably high at 25% according to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey report of 2022. This means that of every four girls aged between 15 and 19, one is pregnant or has had a child.
These figures contribute to a high rate of maternal deaths. Not to mention, the girls failing to achieve their dreams.
Linet Zimba, Victim of Teenage pregnancy, said that she got pregnant as a teenager while in class six and the father refused to fund her education.
She said through Sauti ya Wanawake and Action Aid she was enrolled in a technical training college where she learnt tailoring courses and has now graduated.
With the skills gained ,she says it will enable her to work and raise her son without being dependent.
Mapenzi Ponda, another teenage mother who benefitted from the program said she got pregnant at only 13 years while in class two .
Unfortunately ,her family sidelined her and only the mother was the one who encouraged her assuring of support as she was still a child.
“I was inspired by my mother who gave birth to me at a young age and struggled to raise me up by sewing clothes. I was touched and decided to dedicate my life to fighting this vice, to take on the defiling men and tow the line of training a girl is training a nation,”She said.
The Girls called on the county government to set up an empowerment center where they can do their tailoring work so that incase of any orders from schools, they can be given to them to do the work.
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