From Childhood to Motherhood - Understanding Teenage Pregnancy in Uganda
Essay from Jeremiah Lucas Opira Memorial Contest 2023
Apollo Alice Merinda
5th runner up, Category 2
According to the Ugandan Constitution (Children Act, chapter 59), a child is a person below 18 years of age. However, any person ranging from 13 to 19 years is a teenager. Teenage pregnancy is a condition when a female person of age 13 to 19 conceives, she therefore ceases from being a girl and slowly grow up into becoming a mother. Currently, 25% of the Ugandan population are victims and this was made worse with the president’s declaration of lockdown on 28th March 2020 leaving hundreds of girls, especially those in remote places, greatly affected. Teenage pregnancy is on the rise and still ongoing due to various factors of which some are social, political and others economic. I will elaborate on this below.
Uganda is a third world country with 111 districts of which some are poverty stricken, for example Abim and Kaberamaido and others. On February 22nd, 2021, UNICEF and partners supported students from Karamojong to make reusable sanitary towels. This was because they could not afford the money to buy them. Based on the African saying that “a cow that has milk will never lack of anything”, many teenage girls engage in intimate relationships with men since they view them as Jesus who can pull them out of their hard and low conditions of life.
Unlike the 18th century, the world has today reached its climax of civilization in science and technology. According to the media, the only active social media was MySpace and then later Facebook, whereas currently different social media platforms have risen, for example WhatsApp, Google, Twitter and YouTube. All these social media platforms provide teenagers with false information since they tend to rely mostly on their phones rather than their parents for information. They quite often consult the internet for social issues, for example, girls use Google to search for information on having safe sex and different parenting methods which gives them confidence to enter early sexual relationships where they end up conceiving a child, thus making social media the sparkling factor for teenage pregnancy.
As proverbs 13:24 says: “Spare the rod and spoil the child”, permissiveness in the society greatly contribute to teenage pregnancy in Uganda. Due to urbanization and high population rate, most victims of teenage pregnancy are from less-law governing places, for instance Kabalagala and William Street in Kampala. Prostitution is the order of the day and as the Bible states in the book of Ezekiel 32:67: “Like mother, like daughter”, the teenage girls engage in the same lifestyle as that of their elders, well knowing that they will face the wrath of the law since this lifestyle leaves them vulnerable to pregnancy.
Ignorance of teenagers today has led to teenage pregnancy. As once stated by a Turkish citizen during the Syrian refugee crisis: “A drowning man clutches at a serpent”, most teenage girls are living without information on sex education, usually because of strict parents who limit their daughters from accessing their phones, leaving them to associate with peers and with the fear of them being misled, this leaves the girl child naive about social life issues of which sex education is inclusive, this messing up when given the chance.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Despite the trending rate of teenage pregnancy in Uganda, there are strategies that can be used to curb teenage pregnancy. I will explain below.
Just like Educate! founded by Eric Glustrom in 2002 with the aim of empowering youths in Africa with skills, the government and financially stable citizens should sponsor life skill giving clubs. For example, Uganda Girls Association should equip teenage girls with creative skills. However, this should be done at different levels in schools and on municipal, district, sub-county and county levels. Vocational institutes should be established in all parts of the country, for example, Ugandan Technical College in Lira and Elgon U.T.C, at the eve of the training, teenage girls are capable of being financially independent.
As history has it, 23 years ago, the 1990 government passed a policy of giving female students 1.5 points extra at the universities. This has been adapted and is still held by some universities in Uganda, of which Makerere University gives scholarships to girls from ages 27 and below who passed their A-levels. This should come along with privileges such as free accommodation and upkeep fees. For example, Gloria Naamuganya, according to the New Vision 2000, got an international scholarship to Canada. All of this should inspire teenage girls to look at education as their only source of survival.
To a broader perspective, sex education should be taught in schools. This should be at both junior and senior level, and national and village level since children today still are their own teachers. By providing educations in areas such as social and ethical issues, of which sex is a topic itself, teenagers will learn about how to protect themselves against unsafe intercourse. At the end of it all, teenagers will be equipped with knowledge on how to get along with life.
As the proverbs states: “Set a thief to catch a thief”, the government should award any citizen with strong evidence of teenagers caught in sexual activities, especially since today, nobody wants to give but everyone wants to take. This will yield fruit since people yearn for free things during this hard economy. For example, the Daily Montor reported on August 25th, 2000, that the IGP general Kale Kaihura gave out 200,000 to each prostitute to help spy and reveal secrets of complex cases. Doing this will help curb the rate of teenage pregnancy.
It’s worth noting that social media and the press can be used as a steppingstone to control teenage pregnancy. Even though it is being misused by teenagers, mostly for indecent things like watching porn, social media can also be used to sensitize the teenagers, for example by posting highlighting successful women in the nation. This will inspire the teenagers to work hard.
It would also be good to form more associations to improve girls’ standard of living and modernization since success begins with a positive mindset. These associations encourage teenage girls, for example, Dream Girl initiative which was sponsored by USAID in 2022.
Hilary Rodham once said an African proverb: “It takes the whole village to raise a child”. The citizens together with the government can contribute to solving the tragedy of the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy. Based on the Prime Minister Robina Nabanja’s words that “To educate girl child is to educate a nation”, we must together join in hands and promote teenage education rather than teenage pregnancy. So, if I and you do this, together we can send the beasty teenage pregnancy rolling to its early grave.