CARE-Uganda in aggressive battle against teenage pregnancies
Sep 17, 2006
GRACE Kabugho is 18. She gave birth two years ago when she was 16. The father of her baby was also a teenager and a school drop out. With only a mat and school uniform, Grace was lucky that her girlfriend’s parents agreed to accommodate her when her angry parents threw her out of home.
By Alice Emasu
GRACE Kabugho is 18. She gave birth two years ago when she was 16. The father of her baby was also a teenager and a school drop out. With only a mat and school uniform, Grace was lucky that her girlfriend’s parents agreed to accommodate her when her angry parents threw her out of home.
“My parents kept threatening to kill me if I did not introduce the man who impregnated me,†Grace says.
Susan Kabugho, also 18 gave birth at 15. She was told to leave home so as not to “be a bad example to her younger siblings.â€
The man who had impregnated her, also a teenager, rejected her saying she was too young to be his wife. She says although she was aware that having sex would expose her to pregnancy, the feeling of trying it out forced her to do it.
The phenomenon of child mothers is common in Uganda. Attention should be brought to the fact that parents and the communities violate the rights of most adolescent mothers. Despite the stern laws protecting children and women in the country, Kasese and Kabarole have alarming tales of teenage mothers suffering.
Robert Rwamuhokya, the project officer of Tooro Kingdom Population and Health project, says a survey conducted in Bukuku County Kabarole, indicated that the number of child mothers is alarming.
The survey identified two minors who produced when they were barely 13 years and 84 young mothers who had had their first babies between ages of 12 and 22 years with a bigger percentage of them giving birth before 18. Meanwhile, in Karambi sub-county, Kasese district, the majority of the 80 young mothers identified, had given birth before 18 years.
Lillian Mpabulungi, the project manager for CARE–Uganda in Kampala, says child mothers in Kabarole, Kasese and Kabale conceived their first pregnancies as a result of defilement.
Harriet Katusime, 14, of Bukuku in Kabaarole, gave birth at 13 years while in P.6 at Bugoya Primary School. Unlike Grace and Susan, Harriet found help at CARE-Uganda, a development agency that designed Sexual and Reproductive Health programmes to assist child mothers.
Since 2004, CARE-Uganda has partnered with Young And Powerful Initiative (YAPI), an NGO based in Kasese, Tooro Kingdom and Association of Human Rights Organisations (AHURIO) in Kabarole, to challenge the community to prioritise the issue of sexual reproduction and early pregnancies. CARE-Uganda mobilises and counsels young mothers, their parents and communities to give support to the young mothers. It also sensitises them about their rights.
Warren Tukwasibwe, the project coordinator of CARE’s project for Promoting Safer Choices for the Adolescence being piloted in Kasese, Kabarole and Kabaale, says they focussed on sexual reproductive health of adolescents after realising that nobody cared to understand the plight of the young mothers.
He says given the cultural belief that it is a taboo for a girl to conceive before marriage, many parents were forcing their pregnant teenage unmarried daughters into marriage. Others were forcing them onto the street where most were vulnerable to committing crimes and engaging in prostitution.
Rev. Samson Bihanikare of the YAPI project under the Southern Rwenzori Diocese in Kasese says through the project, 80 adolescent mothers have been mobilised and supported since last year in Karambi and Kasese Town Council sub-counties. Out of these, 10 mothers above 18 years who confessed to be truly in love with the fathers of their babies, were encouraged to get married to them. he says five mothers were reconciled with their parents and have since returned to school.
According to the findings of the AHURIO study on implementation of existing laws protecting children in Uganda, many cases of defilement and child marriages are not reported because of lack of confidence in the law-enforcement officers like the police. The report also says many victims of defilement are advised by law enforcers to drop the cases or settle them out of court.
Vincent Kandobe, the LC3 chairman for Karambi, says the law on defilement is inadequate. “It is biased against the boy-child Kandobe says the girls consent to have sex with their male partners and they do it ignorant of the possibility of conceiving.â€
“When the girls get pregnant, the boys responsible for the pregnancies take off and deny responsibility because they know they will to be arrested and charged with defilement. Then the parents of the girl come up to report to the LCs that their daughter was defiled,†he says.
He regretted that most policy makers are not doing enough to consult with constituencies and implementers of the law to find out if the laws they have passed are effective.
Mpabulungi says the concern of CARE-Uganda and its local partners is that the respective district officials come up with by-laws to address the problem rather than sit back and wait for policy makers to amend the law.
GRACE Kabugho is 18. She gave birth two years ago when she was 16. The father of her baby was also a teenager and a school drop out. With only a mat and school uniform, Grace was lucky that her girlfriend’s parents agreed to accommodate her when her angry parents threw her out of home.
“My parents kept threatening to kill me if I did not introduce the man who impregnated me,†Grace says.
Susan Kabugho, also 18 gave birth at 15. She was told to leave home so as not to “be a bad example to her younger siblings.â€
The man who had impregnated her, also a teenager, rejected her saying she was too young to be his wife. She says although she was aware that having sex would expose her to pregnancy, the feeling of trying it out forced her to do it.
The phenomenon of child mothers is common in Uganda. Attention should be brought to the fact that parents and the communities violate the rights of most adolescent mothers. Despite the stern laws protecting children and women in the country, Kasese and Kabarole have alarming tales of teenage mothers suffering.
Robert Rwamuhokya, the project officer of Tooro Kingdom Population and Health project, says a survey conducted in Bukuku County Kabarole, indicated that the number of child mothers is alarming.
The survey identified two minors who produced when they were barely 13 years and 84 young mothers who had had their first babies between ages of 12 and 22 years with a bigger percentage of them giving birth before 18. Meanwhile, in Karambi sub-county, Kasese district, the majority of the 80 young mothers identified, had given birth before 18 years.
Lillian Mpabulungi, the project manager for CARE–Uganda in Kampala, says child mothers in Kabarole, Kasese and Kabale conceived their first pregnancies as a result of defilement.
Harriet Katusime, 14, of Bukuku in Kabaarole, gave birth at 13 years while in P.6 at Bugoya Primary School. Unlike Grace and Susan, Harriet found help at CARE-Uganda, a development agency that designed Sexual and Reproductive Health programmes to assist child mothers.
Since 2004, CARE-Uganda has partnered with Young And Powerful Initiative (YAPI), an NGO based in Kasese, Tooro Kingdom and Association of Human Rights Organisations (AHURIO) in Kabarole, to challenge the community to prioritise the issue of sexual reproduction and early pregnancies. CARE-Uganda mobilises and counsels young mothers, their parents and communities to give support to the young mothers. It also sensitises them about their rights.
Warren Tukwasibwe, the project coordinator of CARE’s project for Promoting Safer Choices for the Adolescence being piloted in Kasese, Kabarole and Kabaale, says they focussed on sexual reproductive health of adolescents after realising that nobody cared to understand the plight of the young mothers.
He says given the cultural belief that it is a taboo for a girl to conceive before marriage, many parents were forcing their pregnant teenage unmarried daughters into marriage. Others were forcing them onto the street where most were vulnerable to committing crimes and engaging in prostitution.
Rev. Samson Bihanikare of the YAPI project under the Southern Rwenzori Diocese in Kasese says through the project, 80 adolescent mothers have been mobilised and supported since last year in Karambi and Kasese Town Council sub-counties. Out of these, 10 mothers above 18 years who confessed to be truly in love with the fathers of their babies, were encouraged to get married to them. he says five mothers were reconciled with their parents and have since returned to school.
According to the findings of the AHURIO study on implementation of existing laws protecting children in Uganda, many cases of defilement and child marriages are not reported because of lack of confidence in the law-enforcement officers like the police. The report also says many victims of defilement are advised by law enforcers to drop the cases or settle them out of court.
Vincent Kandobe, the LC3 chairman for Karambi, says the law on defilement is inadequate. “It is biased against the boy-child Kandobe says the girls consent to have sex with their male partners and they do it ignorant of the possibility of conceiving.â€
“When the girls get pregnant, the boys responsible for the pregnancies take off and deny responsibility because they know they will to be arrested and charged with defilement. Then the parents of the girl come up to report to the LCs that their daughter was defiled,†he says.
He regretted that most policy makers are not doing enough to consult with constituencies and implementers of the law to find out if the laws they have passed are effective.
Mpabulungi says the concern of CARE-Uganda and its local partners is that the respective district officials come up with by-laws to address the problem rather than sit back and wait for policy makers to amend the law.