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Poverty, desperation: Pain of teen mothers
Parenteen - By
Audrey Masitsa | January 18th 2021 at 10:49:38 GMT +0300
There has been a notable increase in teen pregnancies (Photo: Shutterstock)
Period poverty has seen many women and girls suffer economic and social disadvantages. During their menses, some women and girls are forced to stay at home instead of going to work or school for lack of sanitary products which many cannot afford.
In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the world. Apart from the health impact the virus has had, economies and livelihoods have suffered tremendously. Many were forced to leave their jobs and shut down their business. Children stayed home as schools were closed in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The closure of schools not only set pupils back nine months in terms of their education but it also resulted in an escalation of teen pregnancies.
THE STANDARD
What does Sh100 mean to you? May be just enough to buy groceries from mama mboga. For others, it barely registers in their daily expenditure.
For teenage girls in the slums of Nairobi, it is the amount they need to buy sanitary pads, and when they cannot raise it, they go looking for cash from men. And the result is unplanned pregnancy.
Desperate and choked by poverty, these girls become mothers at a tender age because of the struggle to ensure dignity while receiving their monthly period.
In informal settlements, teenage mothers drop out of school and look for menial jobs to cater for the babies. They wake up every day to look for casual jobs. But because they have no skills, certificates or government identification, they rarely earn more than Sh200.
December 20, 2020 Nyasa Times Reporter 19 Comments
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has expressed dismay with persistent power outages at the Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc), when various events are in session, branding it lack of seriousness.
The Vice-President called out the Bicc management in relation to a five-minute blackout that occurred as he graced the African Institute for Development Policy (Afidep) dinner Friday to commemorate 10 years of their existence.
In his address, Chilima said the Bicc is a facility which should be run professionally.
Said Chilima: “My message comes in two parts, firstly, do not lead us into temptation. Secondly, this is an international convention centre, if you don’t know how to manage an international convention centre, please go home and let others come and operate it.”
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