It was a day like any other. Mrs Cecelia Mtambo, a standard 8 teacher at Changamile primary school heard a knock on her door. Standing outside was a young girl, her face held down, a sign of respect. After a greeting, the girl did not waste any time in telling Mtambo the reason of her coming…
Meeting SaidaIt was a day like any other. Mrs Cecelia Mtambo, a standard 8 teacher at Changamile primary school heard a knock on her door. Standing outside was a young girl, her face held down, a sign of respect. After a greeting, the girl did not waste any time in telling Mtambo the reason of her coming…Every day is a busy day for Saida. When she wakes up, she cleans the house, helps her mother make breakfast, bathes her 1 year old son, feeds the baby, and then lets him play around the house as she continues helping her mother with household chores.But Saida can hardly provide for her son. She is 19 years old, out of school, jobless with parents who rely on farming and a baby daddy who wants nothing to do with his son. On this day, she left the son with her mother to go job hunting as a maid in one of the houses around her village. And guess which first house she went to?Saida returns to schoolWhen Saida told Mtambo that she is looking for a job as a maid Mtambo wondered why this beautiful young girl was not in school. This is what Saida explained:“I was impregnated while is STD 8 by a boy who is now in secondary school. After two months I could no longer stand the stares and insults from friends. To make it worse, soon after birth the father was nowhere to be seen.”With encouragement from Mtambo, Saida returned to school.Mtambo shared that teenage pregnancies are a huge problem in the district. Students start getting pregnant as early as in STD 5, most of whom are around 14 years. But she remains hopeful especially that this year there was an increase in enrolments- from 23 to 30 students in STD 8.“Most teenage problems in the area are related to cultural beliefs. It is believed that when a girl comes of age, she is immediately ready to have children. With that freedom, girls think they can do whatever they want. However, if these children are encouraged to go to school then something will change,” said MtamboMamaYe clubs are to be established at Changamile Primary School in Mangochi.The evidenceAdolescent pregnancies comprise 26 percent of all births and account for 20 percent of the high maternal mortality rate. Very young, rural uneducated girls are most at risk of early pregnancy and often suffer from conditions related to their very physiological immaturity such as obstetric fistulae (UNICEF 2010).Early marriage, and inevitably early pregnancy, is a huge problem especially in the rural areas, with 50 percent of women married before they are eighteen and an estimated 10 percent married before 15 years of age. There are some rare reports of traditional practices which result in girls as young as twelve being married to much older men (MDHS 2010).Teenage pregnancy not only potentially affects the teenage mother’s health but can have a serious impact on other aspects of her life. Stigmatization of teenage mothers leads to school dropout and decreased likelihood that they will resume schooling after her baby is born, reducing her chances of economic improvement.Mrs Mtambo thanked MamaYe for showing interest in establishing a Mamaye Club at the school because it will really help in decision making especially in girls to stay in school and not indulge in bad behaviours.Saida’s AdviceAn advice from saida to her fellow girls is that, they should not lose hope when they fall pregnant, they can go back to school. But the most important advice will be for the girls not to have intimate relationships at a tender age because in the process, they might get pregnant, and worse still be infected with sexually transmitted infections.She recommended MamaYe clubs as a way to educate girls on maternal and newborn health and other life-changing choices. She believes it will help not only girls but as a well as the community so that many Mtambos can be identified. She considers Mrs Mtambo her hero…