Teenage Motherhood


NM-16 years 

My name is NM and I am 16 years old. I stopped in Primary six. Both my parents are alive though they separated. Right now I am staying with my Grandmother. I got pregnant when I was still staying with my father and I was still in school in Kiboga. I have spent one year here in Katanga. I was in a relationship with someone, got pregnant and the person responsible for my pregnancy denied it. As a teenage mother, I am facing a lot of challenges, for instance lack of food, my baby got burnt and the bills keep on multiplying daily and there is no money for the treatment. I lack  clothes, soap and so on. During my pregnancy, I did not encounter a lot of problems except severe flu and cough. I had a natural birth in Kasanda district. My baby right now is ONE  year and 4 months old. I couldn't live with my parents because my stepmother did not like me coming to my grandmother's place.  Katanga is a slum and here, teenage mothers are not given respect. We are laughed at but have nothing to do.  My grandmother takes care of the child and all my needs since I am not working. We have had some help from people, for example you people that are here today (Yohep team) trained us and also gave us some clothes. I am really very grateful for that. But I have not seen any leaders helping us. I would request the government to help us get some jobs because most of us are willing to work. I just request the public not to laugh at us because  we also didn't want to be in this situation. I would love to work for my future and my baby if given a chance. I wouldn't love to go back to school just to study but I would love to learn practical skills like catering  in order to invest in my future so that I can look after my child and myself.

TF-16 years

My name is TF, I am 16 years old and I stay with my parents here in Katanga and I am a Musoga by tribe. I have just finished my Primary Seven and all my parents are alive. I became a teenage mother as a result of Rape by our houseboy at home when my parents weren't around. I face a lot of challenges as a teenage mother. For instance I can't afford medical needs when my baby gets sick, then basic needs like soap, clothes. I also faced a lot of difficulty and hardships during my pregnancy since I was operated on [delivered the baby by C-Section]. For example buying the drugs and paying the medical workers that worked on me. I gave birth in Kawempe hospital. In this community, teenage mothers are abused and seen as a curse and failure by most of the people that live around. We have had some groups of people giving us help in any way they can e.g., training us as young teenage mothers, giving us advice on how to go about as young mothers and also giving us some needs like clothes etc for example for an organisation called Katanga Development Link. I also invested myself in learning some skills like making books but I do not have the capital to start doing different books for sale so that I can get money to take care of myself and the baby. 

One advice that I would give to teenagers and youth both here and across the country is that they should be careful with the decisions they make in life. And the parents should always have a third eye and protect their children from situations like pregnancies at an early age. I request people not to look at us as a curse but also give us respect. I also request anyone out there to provide me with capital so that I can invest in my skill of making books so that I can look after myself and baby. I have always dreamt of being a business woman.

AN-17 years

I live in Katanga with my mother and five siblings. During my S4 Vacation, November 2022, I engaged into a relationship with a guy and I conceived. When I told my mother about it, she advised me not to abort because it might result in death. Therefore, I kept my pregnancy and gave birth to a baby boy. Becoming a teenage mother came with various challenges ranging from stigmatisation from the neighbourhood. Motherhood journey has deprived me of my right to further my education and fulfil my dreams of becoming a teacher because I wish to use my teaching career to guide young girls from taking the same journey I took and those that are already victims, to encourage them that becoming a teenage mother doesn't have to be the limit to achieving your dreams. The absence of the baby’s father in our son’s life is also a big challenge because I have to play his part of providing essential needs to us such as medical care, clothes, food, among others which has affected my mother’s business because we are eating all her profits and capital. 

I wish YOHEP as an organisation can help in reducing the number of teen pregnancies in Katanga through teaching young girls how to use and embrace the different methods of family planning because most of us just hear about things like pills but we don't know how to use them. The young girls in Katanga also need to be equipped with useful skills such as catering,soap making, hair dressing, fashion among others to keep them busy. In addition, for those who are already teenage mothers, the government should put a special education fund to encourage young mothers to go back to school and achieve their goals. Teenage mothers should also be provided with free child care centres where they can leave their babies and attend to other duties like school and work. I humbly ask that the different organisations and government programs that are extended in such areas like Katanga to help needy people should also put in effort to monitor and make sure the program has reached its target audience because most programs in Katanga do not serve the target audience because the community leaders are very greedy and enrol people according to their relationships with them.

MO-16 Years Old

I stopped in Primary five because of the lack of school fees because my father died. In this community, I have lived there for one month. I come from Yumbe district. My sister has been staying here for a long time now and so I came to stay with her. The boy told me to go to visit him and through that I got pregnant. I don't even know where he comes from because he stays somewhere else. I told him that I don't want to become pregnant but then he did not listen. I don't know about the use of contraceptives like condoms and pills. I am currently 3 months pregnant. Some of the challenges that I am facing are stomach issues. I don't go to the hospital because I fear that they will chase me and so I have not gone there for any service. When I finish giving birth to this baby I think it will be better for me to take family planning. 

ET-17 year Old

When I was studying, I was being sponsored by an organisation and then when I got pregnant and aborted, they chased me away from their sponsorship. I became desperate during that time and then that is when I got pregnant again for this current baby that I have now. When I became pregnant. I had also wanted to remove this pregnancy and then when I told my mother, she advised me not to abort since I was not going to attend school again. My mother supported me because when the man learnt that I was pregnant, he refused to support me. This had also traumatised me at first because I had started speaking badly to my parents due to the lack of support from the father of my child. My mother had chased me saying that I should go to the father of my baby because I used to speak badly to them. Later on, after going to my boyfriend's place, I found other women there and then he lied to me that they were his sisters. I then repented in my heart and decided to go back to my mother. That is where I am even staying now because I also gave birth from this small house and not hospital. After birth, I then went on to struggle and work in Jam so that I am able to get some money to care for my child since even my mother is not in a good financial state. I also do work like washing clothes for other people because the father doesn't care at all and we have even spent a year now without seeing each other. I am doing all that I can to help my baby, with support from my mother. While I was pregnant, I also worked in a chips business where fire would even make me uncomfortable but then I had nothing to do because men just stop at making us pregnant and then they run away. There is when the baby got very sick and then when I told the father, he still ignored me. 

In this community we have spent many years there because I was born here and so have spent many years. The baby can get sick and yet there is no money at all to care for him. There are really many problems that I face. The community members speak really bad about us because they abuse us saying that why did we get pregnant at such a young age and even our very parents reach a time and then start speaking to us badly that we ruined our futures for the worst. I really got used to their words and so I just leave them to speak what they want because I am not the first teen to give birth. There are many teen mothers in this community. There are some pregnancies which refuse to be aborted and so we have to struggle with raising the babies. There is a certain organisation in this community which supports teenage mothers with food, clothes and shoes. We rely on donations because we have no sources of income. 


WK-19 Years

I came to this community when I was like 6 years old. I stay with my mother because she also works from here. I had finished S4, but when i was in vacation, i got pregnant. I knew that I would not be going to school and so that's when I got pregnant. The father cares for the child somehow. When I got pregnant, my mother became so angry with me and then she abused me that why did I do that. I knew that I had already become pregnant and wouldn't abort though she had really insisted that I wasted her school fees. The challenges that I face as a young mother are like when my child becomes sick, it is  expensive to pay hospital bills. What I do is help my mother with her small business that she operates. What I am concerned about and what I wish for my child is for him to get an education. The people in the community stigmatise us saying that we became wasteful of our lives. Such stigmatisation really lets us down because even our pregnancies came by mistake. What I do sometimes is that I try my best to care for my child. There is an organisation called Kemi-Cares which helps teenage mothers with distribution of items like clothes, shoes but it really is not an everyday thing. The government doesn't do anything to help. The school fees amount should really be reduced so that we can all attain school and then also if we could have guidance and counselling services. Personally I would love to be taught skills like catering so that I am able to get a job. I had studied this course before but then I didn't complete it. I don't want to go back to school, all that I want is to get a job which can help me to take care of my child. This will help change my life for the better. 

MI-17 years

About the teen mother 

MI is a 17-years-old, young mother of a one-year-old baby boy, born in 2023. She gave birth to the baby while at 16 years old. She is a Mutooro from Fort portal, Western Uganda. She has both parents but left her home 5 years ago (2019) and settled in Kalerwe slum where she has been participating in informal small-scale business with fellow teen friends. After conception, MI left Kalerwe market and relocated to Katanga, in search of a new, un bothering environment after delivering the baby.

I left my parents in Fort Portal because I was not going to school, I was tired of staying home. I joined friends in Kalerwe and started staying together. I met a boy whom we were friends – just friends. I loved him but not so much. He also did not love me that much, then he made me pregnant. He was renting in the same slum. When I got pregnant, I told him I was pregnant, he advised that I abort but I could not. I thought about aborting, which is killing a person and could not accept. I have grown up hearing my parents say that killing a person is bad because their blood will be on your hands. So, I decided to keep the pregnancy. I said let me keep it and suffer with it, God knows what will happen. 

 Becoming Pregnant

I did not get pregnant consensually, but he also did not force me. Twali tweyagala just, and before I could realise, I was pregnant. Naye ssalufuna nga ndwagala.  

Challenge since conception.

From Kalerwe to Katanga – coping!

There was a friend in Kalerwe, when I told her my story, she told me there were many girls like me who were working and selling goods in the traffic Jam. She told me she would connect me to those who were selling apples and enable me to earn something and I look after my baby. I joined her here and we started taking fruits and selling them in the traffic jam. I would leave someone with the baby at home and take fruits from 12 noon to 9pm. When I return, I pay her for staying with the baby. This is what I have been doing to look after my baby and get money for accommodation. We usually sell apples, oranges, yellow bananas. That’s how we survive.

Community perception. 

Intervention

The kind of interventions would you want to see as a teen mother.

How does a changed future look like? 

Where my child is able to go to school and I am able to have a business to support him in school. 

NR-17 years 

NR  is a 17-year-old teen mother of one boy. Muganda, from Butambala District. Her baby is Mukasa Taliq. The child’s father is moslem while the mother is catholic. Before pregnancy, Ruth had moved into relationship with the man at 15 years of age. Ruth became pregnant in 2020 during Covid-19 lockdown but the man did not support her. Has been staying in Katanga, now for two years.

I have both parents in Butambala.

I have been supported by my mother-in-law who called me and rented where to stay in Katanga. She also stays in Katanga. She has been supportive even when her son refused to take responsibility. 

Getting pregnant 

Challenges

I attended antenatal care in a private hospital in Butambala. The medical people did not blame me. They told me that as a child who is pregnant, I did not need stress. They took care whenever I went to the clinic and ensured I was not scared. 

Intervention:

Community perception: 

At first, they speak and accuse you but as time goes, you keep quiet. They will say, but this is a young girl, why did she get pregnant? But you ignore them. 

Intervention: Usually there is no help the government is giving to the girls. They will just arrest the boy and take him to prison. If his family is able, they will get him out. Otherwise there is nothing serious the government is doing. 

The issue of teen pregnancy is very serious because there are so many girls who are pregnant. There are those who drop out in senior 1 or 2 and give birth. You will find a 19-year-old and she has 2 children. They are many. Others abort and you will find foetuses thrown in the channel there. There was a girl who had an abortion, and the baby had grown. When it was aborted, it did not die quickly so the woman used a hammer to kill the baby. In the morning, they found a dead baby and the hammer besides. There are many cases of abortion. 

The problem is parents who no-longer care, dropping out of school, parents who bring different sexual partners in these one-room residences. If a mother is sleeping with a man in the same room with teen girls, what do you expect? 

Preventing Teen pregnancy 


MS-15 year Old 

MS  is a 15-year-old mother of a 3-months-baby. Mariam will turn 18-years-old on Nov 16th. She dropped out of school in senior two, due to lack of school fees. Mariam stays with her mother and one sister and has been staying in the slum all her life. “Mu Katanga Tuluddemu”. 

I had a boyfriend, as you know, whom we had been together for a while, as I was schooling. He is the one who made me pregnant. But he did not force me. He was 25 years old. When I became pregnant and asked him for assistance, it was not there. He has not been there for me. So, I started to wash people’s clothes, and braiding their hair. That is how I managed to look after the pregnancy and now the child. My mother was looking after us, paying school fees for us through selling items in the traffic jam. She would sell yellow bananas. She also would sell goats head meat in town. But as time went on she fell sick. She got a backache and swollen feet and legs. [possibly as a result of carrying heavy loads and walking long distances selling in traffic jam]


Challenge

The challenge is, when you get pregnant as a child “abantu bogera bbubi”. They will blame you for getting pregnant while still in school; while at your mother’s place. They look at it as shameful. I was supposed to do antenatal care but it was expensive for me. I did not have transport. I ended up attending it from Kawaala health Center because there was a friend of mine who was going there. For her, her boyfriend had a boda-boda and was supportive. So, she called me to be going with her, At Kawaala, there was no problem. We had a section of the teenagers (12-24 years old) and the corner for the adult ones. The teen section was very helpful because they specifically worked with only young girls. 


Magnitude/ interventions? There are many teen mothers I know – very many in this community. Not many think about the consequences of sexual relations they are in. For most of them, it is just byakweyagara bweyagazi, (Sexuality education not there!). 

There is an organisation called “Katanga Ghetto Development Link (KGDL)”. Most of the NGOs that come here and would like to meet pregnant girls go through KGDL. Some have been coming and delivering items like baby clothes and plastic sheets. There is an organisation called Kyussa from Kalerwe, they have been helpful. 

How to address these social challenges: 

Changed future! Keeping girls in school