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The rise of "Baby mamas": a serious health issue
teenage pregnancy It all started innocently enough. Rebecca, a young 15 year old girl from a rural town in South Africa, met a young man on her way to school one day. Soon after, he was calling her everyday and asked her on a date. When she finally caved, and agreed to meet him in town, he convinced her to follow him to his house. At the time, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Jocelyne Sambira has the story:
REBECCA: "I didn't know how you get pregnant. I didn't know what was happening. I felt something moving in my body, and I saw my tummy was getting big. And I spoke to my sister and my sister said she will speak to my mother because I didn't know how to approach my mother."
NARR: It was close to nine months when a teacher at Rebecca's school finally noticed something was wrong. She then notified the family. From then on, Rebecca became a pariah at her school.
REBECCA: I felt like an outcast because even at school the other children did not want to relate with me. I was always sitting in class alone, even during break time, I didn't have anybody to talk to and after school I had to rush home and just sit indoors.
NARR: Mary is Rebecca's mom. She is 48 years old and mother of four children. She had no clue her daughter was pregnant. She was devastated when she got the news.
REBECCA MOM: I was so hurt. I couldn't manage to handle the situation that I went through but after that I have tried to do internal counseling because I have noticed that my daughter is so worried about the incident that is taking place between us here at home. I end up trying to forgive her about the incident because I have noticed that she is very worried about the incident.
NARR: Rebecca was scared to talk to her parents, and was embarrassed to even stand in their presence. The man who got her pregnant wanted nothing to do with her either. After school, she would stay in her room, away from their sight. Her mom's anger soon melted to be replaced by empathy for her daughter.
REBECCA MOM: My daughter was very scared. She cried a lot when we were talking about this situation. I end up telling myself that let me show signs that I am forgiving my daughter because I have noticed that she has not done this thing intentionally secondly, my daughter was still in school that time, and I have noticed that by doing this reaction, I am disturbing her with her studies. In order for me to make her be at ease, let me try to squeeze it down.
NARR: After the initial uproar, the young girl's family came together for the last bout of her pregnancy. Her older sister paid for the baby's clothes and accessories. Rebecca started to get excited about the baby. Then, the day finally arrived.
REBECCA MOM: It was Thursday morning when my daughter told me, Ma, last night around 2 am in the morning, I couldn't sleep well. Then, I advised my daughter to go to the clinic to the labor nurses as to assist her since she is pregnant. She went there, when they get to the clinic, the clinic said no, you are not ready now, come tomorrow we will take you to the hospital. Then the following day, I even advised her to go to the clinic, then the clinic transfers her to the hospital. Then when she gets there, the doctors and the nurses tell her to wait at the hospital. I didn't have money to go there and check my daughter's progress, but after some days, this is when I received a telephone call telling me that my daughter has not managed to get the child, she came up with a still born.
NARR: After 4 days of labor, Rebecca's pregnancy ended tragically. Getting professional health care in the early months greatly slashes the risks and complications, but often as in the case of Rebecca, the young girls are too scared or in denial. The UN Population Fund, UNFPA, is trying to tackle the taboo topic, through education and prevention programmes, says Mark Schreiner, the UN Population Fund's Country Representative in South Africa.
SCHREINER: We see quite high levels of teenage pregnancies in South Africa. In order to prevent adolescent pregnancy, there is really three key areas. First is to try and keep women and young girls in school to allow them to build their skills that will create opportunities for them. Secondly, it is to provide information and services around sexual reproductive health that are tailored for young people, and thirdly so that when young women do become pregnant that there are services for them that are specifically addressed and targeted to the needs of young people.
PRES: Mark Schrieiner, UNFPA South Africa Country Representative talking about the issue of teen pregnancies. I'm Jocelyne Sambira, UN Radio.
Duration: 5'05"
