Teenage pregnancies a monster ruining girls’ future in Kalangala

________________

Uganda’s biggest island suffers high cases of teenage pregnancies. Kalangala is made of 84 small islands, but only 64 are inhabited.

The main economic activity is fishing and growing palm oil. Such activities have attracted people from different walks of life.

Some girls on the island have been impregnated at a young age. According to the locals, a large number of women in the area gave birth while in their teens.

About 25 mothers New Vision spoke to confessed that they gave birth when they were around 15 to 17 years old. This would be the time when they were supposed to be in school pushing for their dreams, but the ill-advised young boys and reckless men ruined their futures.

Dressed in a brick red blouse, carrying her baby of four years, is Robina Natukunda, who confessed that at 14 years she got her first pregnancy from a man whose whereabouts she cannot tell. She was in Primary Six.

A 27-year-old Natukunda works as a hairdresser at the Senero landing site, where most of the teenage mothers are found. Their stories are nerve-wracking and not a good ordeal for a weak-hearted fellow to listen to.

Phiona Namubiru is also among the hundreds of teenagers who got pregnant in 2021. She was only 16 when she gave birth. She wouldn’t want to recall the day she was sexually harassed by a gang of boys.

Her story is closely related to that of Jovans Karungi Tusingwire, who at one time was sacrificed by her boss to a strange man.

“My boss knew this man because he used to come to our restaurant. One day they planned, and on that very night my boss locked me outside, and it’s the time this man came and asked me to go with him in his house,” she claimed.

On that night, Karungi recalls that it was trouble in paradise when a man turned into a monster and forced himself onto her. She will never forget that fateful night. While sharing the ordeal, tears rolled down her cheeks as she struggled to speak.

She was only 15 years old when it happened, and today her baby is four years old. Karungi is optimistic that her dream of becoming a doctor is still alive and valid.

She is now committed to seeking any well-wisher who could sponsor her studies. She says by this time she would have been very far had it not been for the uncertainties that befell her.

Civil society and community-based organizations (CSOs and CBOs) are much more interested in such revived girls as Natukunda and Karungi. They believe the survivors can be good examples to tell and describe the dangers of getting pregnant at an early age.

According to the statistics from Kalangala district, since the outbreak of COVID-19 to date, 496 young women of 15–19 years reported for antenatal care in 2020, 449 in 2021, 359 in 2022, and 273 in 2023.

Sam Labu, the youth and community enagegment officer working with the African Medical Research and Foundation (AMREF), says cases are dropping, but there is much that needs to be done if they are to make zero cases.

How can it be achieved?

Labu believes engaging parents more so that they get to know their roles is crucial if the goal is to be achieved.

Labu also recommended the use of seminars to sensitize children to improve their life and social survival skills.

According to Labu, the use of media that can reach the entire district will be used to teach both teenagers and parents how to avoid early pregnancies.

Passy Namukasa, a teacher at Kibanga Primary School church of Uganda notes that from the time she observed increasing cases, she immediately adopted the journey’s plus: it’s a curriculum that is practically taught and it only focuses on sexual education. The curriculum, with 22 activities, was approved by the Ministry of Health.

“The girls that have gone through my hands are so brave, no man can just lie to them. They are outspoken and can disclose in case something wrong happens to them."

Namukasa says that for at least hundreds of young girls and boys, after learning the journeys plus curriculum, their future seems to be protected. She believes that if all parents joined the activism, cases would drastically fall to zero.

To eliminate teenage pregnancy in Kalangala, AMREF organized a caravan for three days as one of the activities under 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The caravan included different stopovers to sensitize communities about GBV and interpret the laws and policies for the locals on how to manage the vice.

Also, the AMREF sensitized the duty bearers and stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities in ensuring women and girls enjoy their human and SRH rights, as well as attracting commitment from duty bearers to end the violence.

The caravan was held in five of the nine Heroes districts: Kalangala, Bugiri, Budaka, Namayingo, and Mbale. According to the national survey of teenage pregnancies, these are the districts with the highest figures.