Teenage Pregnancy in Uganda.

Theme: Teenage Pregnancy in Uganda.

Teenage pregnancy took the life of my childhood friend and Cousin Sister.

As statistics would have it, in Uganda, alarming rates of teenage pregnancies are becoming a major cause for worry to the women rights movement and a possible threat to national development. Pregnancy rates amongst teenage girls are quoted at 25% (Uganda Population Secretariat, 2011), making Uganda one of the countries with the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Sub-Saharan Africa. At this age, it’s expected that any child should be acquiring an education which would brighten their future prospects; unfortunately, for many young women this is not the case.

The year 2003 will always be remembered as a year that snatched my only childhood friend and sister Ruth Ninyesiga out of this world. At a budding and fruitful age of 17 years she left a gap and a hole full of pain in my heart. Being born in a family of four with no sister to look up to, Ruth came in handy as a replacement. We grew up together, shared every little moment and smiles that kept me company even in the schools we attended together. My mother was glad I had found a reliable sister in Ruth. 

As fate would have it, Ruth became pregnant as she was about to sit for the senior four (UCE) exams. It was shocking and held me back for a while with tears in my eyes, Hard to believe as it were, it was real and in my face! She was asked to leave the school and my mother decided to get her another school to at least complete. Sadly Ruth was very disappointed with her-self and decided to have an abortion which took her life due to heavy bleeding!

My eyes are wet as I write this story because it’s vivid in my mind. Seeing my friend’s lifeless body gave me goose bumps. The picture is engraved in my head like a stamp. Ruth left me due to teenage pregnancy. However, some are lucky to go head and give birth to innocent children. As it were with Ruth, teenage mothers are often not able to complete secondary school which makes it difficult for them to find decent jobs to take care of themselves and their children. 

In Uganda, increased sexual abuse of children (at least 628 children are defiled per month) has become a major contribution to this evil. However, sometimes teenagers have consensual sex- (not protected) which can be blamed on the moral decay in the society and exposure to high level technology.

With Ruth’s experience I vowed to make her proud by achieving the dream that we had all vowed to get to. She wanted to be a lawyer and fight for rights of the needy and poor. Despite the sadness that will never leave my heart, I wear a smile for having managed to make her proud. I’m now a young lawyer working in an NGO Human Rights department ensuring that Ruth lives on through me. The story inspired me to be part of the young youth activists who inspire other young people not to be diverted and work hard to achieve their dreams they set out to achieve.

Uganda has put in place various policies to address teenage pregnancies but like many other policies, these have largely remained on paper and implementation has been very minimal. The National Adolescent Policy states that pregnant adolescent girls should be readmitted to school after they have delivered their children but this does not happen in most cases. Often, schools are not willing to re-admit a teenage mothers claiming that such students would set bad examples for the rest of the students. Teenage mothers face stigma, from their peers, families and even their teachers. 

The Government needs to ensure the policies in place are implemented; teenagers are sensitized about the dangers of teenage pregnancies, impact on their studies, future, families and communities they live in. Teenagers too have a role to play in ensuring that they are empowered and that their different potentials are not brought to a halt by getting involved in risky sexual behavior at a young tender age. Parents too should ensure that their children are educated on the evils of early pregnancies and not leave the job for the teachers. Teenage pregnancies are real; together we can fight for our uninterrupted future.  

If it wasn’t for the teenage pregnancy that took Ruth’s life at a tender age, am sure she would have been here to share the success that we all hoped to achieve. Through me, Ruth’s dream is ALIVE. 

Teenage Pregnancies are real. Together we can avoid them.

Written by: Adellah Agaba

adellah_agaba@yahoo.com

Mob: 0782/0702 - 171265.