Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Giving teenage mothers another chance
Keeping them in school is a priority for Masiphumelele NGO Girl Pride
A GROUP of teenage mothers have banded together in Masiphumelele to support each other as they try to raise their babies and finish school in the face of overwhelming judgment and poverty.
Last year, 2 143 pupils fell pregnant while at schools in the Western Cape.
“It is of grave concern that so many of our learners in the Western Cape fall pregnant whilst in school,” said Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokeswoman Jessica Shelver. “It’s crucially important that young girls and boys are aware of the consequences of teen pregnancy.”
Girl Pride Africa is an NGO in Masiphumelele that offers support for around 45 teenage mothers – the youngest being just 16. The organisation helps with nappies, food and clothes for the babies and offers a creche which allows the mothers to return to school or work while their babies are safely looked after.
Girl Pride encourages the mothers to return to school if they can and alternatively tries to offer them skills training so they can open their own small businesses. It also tries to combat stigma by taking the mothers to visit schools where they talk to pupils about sex and the dangers of falling pregnant.
According to Shelver, the life orientation curriculum advocates abstinence to teens – even though the legal age of consent is 16 and it is legal for children between the ages of 12 and 16 to engage in consensual sex within their age group.
“Sexual education in schools is focused on prevention and ‘making the right choices’,” she said. “The principle that it is best for learners to abstain from sexual activity should be stressed. Educators emphasise the importance of good moral values being the backbone of sexual education.”
Girl Pride member Vuyolwethu Lusawana found she was four months pregnant during mock matric exams in 2016 – despite being on contraception. The shock derailed her matric year.
“I was very surprised because I was using the contraceptive injection,” she said.
Vuyolwethu immediately went to the clinic behind Masiphumelele High School, to visit the nurse who had been administering her injections.
“I said to her, sister, here is my (clinic) card, how come I’ve become pregnant while I’m using the injection?
“The sister said if I want to sue her I can sue her. I wanted the answers, nothing more. But she didn’t answer me.
“I came home from the clinic and cried and cried. Then I told myself no, this is my gift and I have to accept that I’m pregnant.”
Just two months later, Vuyolwethu gave birth to a tiny premature girl, who she named Alunamda.
“That name means my love for her has no ends.”
Alunamda’s father doesn’t contribute child support, so Vuyolwethu takes care of her with a R400 grant, which doesn’t even cover the R250 pack of nappies and R220 box of milk for the month.
With the support of Girl Pride, Vuyolwethu returned to school last year to improve on the matric subjects she failed while pregnant. She had to leave her baby behind in Masiphumelele to study at St Francis Adult Education Centre in Mandalay, Mitchells Plain.
“I was very happy to go back to school,” she said. “Every night I cried thinking about my baby, but I was making a future for her and me, so I had to be there at school.”
When matric results came out earlier this month, Vuyolwethu found that she passed all her subjects. In June she plans to begin studying finance at False Bay College.
Sisipho Magosa, 21, also discovered her pregnancy in the middle of matric exams, and it wreaked havoc on her studies. She hid the pregnancy from her parents for two months.
“By that time, it was January and the results were already out. I didn’t know how I was going to break the news that I failed matric and I’m pregnant. But my family supported me,” she said.
Girl Pride Africa helped Sisipho recover her strength and optimism.
“Before I joined the organisation, I had no hope at all,” Sisipho said. “But then they boosted my self-esteem. They told me to go back to school, so I did. Last year I went back to school to rewrite two subjects that I failed. My results just came back and I passed. Next year I want to study teaching at CPUT.”
Her daughter Onikwa is 2 years old now.
“Whenever I’m not feeling okay, she’s always there to put a smile on my face,” she said. “Even when I don’t want to play, she plays with me and whatever is bothering me will just fade away.”
Sisipho and Vuyolwethu visit schools around Masiphumelele to speak to children about the realities of being a teenage mother and a single parent.
“First we went to primary schools because it all starts there,” Sisipho said. “We were telling them about our stories, saying they should first focus on school before getting pregnant. I don’t wish for anyone to go through what we went through.”
Combating the judgment and stigma that teenage mothers face is one of the main aims of Girl Pride, according to Nosindisa Madinga, who helps run the NGO.
“Some of them are hurting, because it’s not their choice to have a child,” Madinga said. “Some of them, the situation forces them to have children. Maybe their parents are poor, or they’re hungry, or they cannot afford an expensive phone. The only way that they can provide is to go to sleep with an older man.”
Madinga teaches the mothers in her care how to sew beanies and she feeds their children when they can’t afford to.
“We want to help, but we don’t have money, so we’re looking for donations,” she said. “We’re looking for people who would love to come to help teach them skills, like hairdressing, baking, sewing.”
The WCED has many programmes in place to try to prevent pupil pregnancies, including running educational courses on teen sexuality and how to avoid teen pregnancy (targeted at boys and girls) and setting up wellness centres at two high schools in a community with a notoriously high number of pregnant pupils.
“We hope that these courses and projects will empower our learners to make responsible choices,” Shelver said.
Once a pupil is pregnant, the department’s policy is aimed at keeping her in school.
“The department treats pregnant learners sensitively as learners with special needs, with access to counselling by social workers and psychologists based in our district offices,” Shelver said. “We must work together to ensure that our young girls complete their education with the necessary support.”
To get in touch with Girl Pride, see www.girlsprideafrica.com.