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Nabyonga Shakirah, 19, a resident of Kyebando-Nsooba in Kampala city was deceived with just sh20,000 by a man who later impregnated her and fled. She told her story to New Vision Online

Nabyonga’s dream was to be a businesswoman. While in Senior 3, a man employed at another school approached her and started making sexual advances towards her. By then, Nanyonga was staying with her grandmother as she was commuting to school.

One day the man gave her sh20,000, which tempted her to sleep with him.

After a few months, Nabyonga, who was 16 years of age at the time, was discovered by her guardians to be pregnant. Her grandmother advised her not to abort the baby and promised to support her throughout.

“He would often give me sh1,000 and 2,000 but this time around, he gave me 20,000. This was a lot of money for me. I ended up getting pregnant. When he got to know that I had conceived, he fled and I have not seen him since. He never supported me since,” Nabyonga explained.

The journey of pregnancy

The experience of carrying a baby for every woman is different. Almost all women say it’s a very hard and difficult time. However, Nabyonga’s nine months were not easy.

“Many hardships accompanied this pregnancy. I could feel a lot of pain, I was scared of people seeing me pregnant at my age; scared because I knew my family was unhappy with me for what had happened; and scared because the person responsible was nowhere to be seen. I did not know what to do next about my future and that of my baby inside.” Nabyonga says.

After eight months and two weeks, Nabyonga gave birth from Kawempe Referral Hospital to a bouncing baby girl. Doctors told her she was lucky because many of the people who get pregnant while young either die giving birth or give birth in a complicated way like a C-section.

Nabyonga plans

Unfortunately, Nabyonga’s grandmother, who according to her was her everything, passed on in December 2023. Now, her daughter is supposed to join school but has no money.

“However, I regret having this child, I regret getting pregnant at an early age. I do not know how my child will go to school because even the Government schools are very far away from here," she says.

"My grandmother was running a roadside vegetable kiosk but it also lacks capital. Currently, its capital is less than sh20,000 but if someone can help me with sh500,000 or sh1,000,000, I can continue selling things because she taught me how to run the business. I want to get school fees, and sponsor for my child's education because I can not afford it,” Nabyonga adds.

Nabyonga dreams of her daughter having a brighter future than hers. 

If you wish to help her, come to Vision Group and ask for John Musenze to connect you to her because she currently has no mobile phone.

Uganda’s Teenage pregnancy burden a time bomb

Uganda’s teenage pregnancy burden is still high. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics UBOS (2018), almost a quarter (one in four or 25%) of Ugandan women have given birth by 18.

The youngest grandmother is believed to be 24 years from the Mayuge district who gave birth at 12 years and then her child also gave birth at 12 years.

Districts that are highly burdened with teenage mothers are Mayuge, Kamuli, Dokollo, Lango, Budaka, Bukedi Kaberamaido, and Manafwa and urban center slums.

Teenage pregnancy is mostly attributed to poverty where many of these girls are lied to with money, culture, and not being in school the COVID-19 pandemic also left Uganda with many teenage mothers

Anne Alan Sizomu, a programme specialist — Adolescent & Youth SRH at the United Nations Population Fund, advised parents to make sure they keep their children in school because many teenage mothers are always dropouts. She also asked parents to talk to their child children about sex education.

“Sex education is not teaching children about how to do it; it is about telling them about their health and what can happen to them at every stage. We can do this according to their age in stages because the reality is some of these children are having sex and we need to tell them its dangers. whenever you see a hundred girls, four of them are pregnant or already have a child. For over 20 years, we have still failed to bring real definite teenage pregnancy levels down as a country. The task is upon everyone from parents, to Police, religious leaders, and all ministries,” he said.

Important to note

The Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS) 2022/2023 outlined the cost of teenage pregnancy in Uganda.

Teenage pregnancy is responsible for nearly one-fifth (18%) of the annual births in Uganda. Nearly half (46%) of the births by teenagers were unwanted pregnancies.

Teenage pregnancy contributes to 20% of Infant deaths in Uganda and on the other hand, contributes to 28% of the maternal deaths. If no action is taken to reduce teenage pregnancy, teenage mothers may continue to suffer the most from death.

If the current teenage pregnancy rate is reduced from 25% to 10% as targeted in the current Health Sector Development Plan, then each year, about half of the health care expenditure for teenage mothers will be saved equivalent to shillings 592 billion and, the per capita health care expenditure will reduce exponentially.

The resultant education cost for children born by teenage mothers of over sh53b will be saved.

• About half of the teenage mothers are peasants in subsistence agriculture.
• 18% of the annual births in Uganda are as a result of teenage pregnancy.
• 20% of Infant mortality and 28% of maternal deaths result from teenage pregnancy.
• 43% estimated health facility expenditure on teenage mothers of the Ministry of Health 2019/20.