Going back to school after becoming a mother still sticky issue

March 26, 2015

VIOLET MENGO
Mansa

THIS year, Elizabeth Musonda, 16, of Chinanda village in Mansa, should have completed her secondary school and preparing to get to university. Instead, she is preparing for her grade nine examinations in November.

“I was in grade nine when I got pregnant and the man responsible abandoned me. My parents were too disappointed to send me back to school after the birth of my baby,” Elizabeth said.

She had to wait three years before going back to school at Chakopo Primary School after moving from Chinanda village one of the areas with a high dropout rate due to pregnancies.

A number of young pregnant girls are seen in the village while others with babies strapped to their back carrying water from the shallow wells to their various homes. However, not many girls are as lucky as Elizabeth; most of them are unable to go back to school.

This is because they do not have enough money to pay school fees, while others do not believe in educating girls, especially after they fall pregnant.

There is still a strongly held belief in many areas of the country that girls are a source of wealth to their parents, who should be given away in marriage as soon as they reach puberty.

However, Chakopo Primary School stands out as an example in its efforts to address pregnancies and dropouts.

Through career guidance teachers, a day has been set aside where pupils learn and are able to exchange ideas among themselves and their teachers on how they wish certain issues should be handled, including sexual reproductive health lessons.

These efforts are slowly yielding results through the reduced number of girls falling pregnant and dropping out of school.

The school, which is situated about a kilometre from Mansa Post Office, is making an impact in the district by advocating for the protection of girls.

Through the Agents for Change programme that helps girls to understand their sexuality and other reproductive health issues, the school is recording a decline in the number of pregnancies each year.

The programme is being implemented in partnership with parents and career guidance teachers and has been doing well for the past few years.

Children are counselled on how they can delay their sexual debut. Girls are sensitised to understand their sexual reproductive health fully.

School headteacher Morgan Kasanda is an advocate against early pregnancies. He explained that the school was losing an average of three girls every year through pregnancies and urgent action was needed.

During a PTA meeting, it was decided to establish a joint action plan to ensure that girls had access to reproductive health information for them to make informed decisions.

With a number of activities that address the welfare of the girl child in relation with reproductive health and access to information, Mr Kasanda is pleased to note that female teachers have been instrumental in assisting girls grow up responsibly and focus on their education.

“We have also set up sub-committees where the school head boy and head girl have been incorporated. They participate in coming up with solutions that help girls,” he said.

With the involvement of young people it is amazing to see that some of the best solutions originate from them, the children are given topics which they are asked to research and later give an insight into the topic.

The guiding principle for the action plan has been the Child Protection Policy and the re-entry policy which was introduced by Government in 1997 with the aim of ensuring that girls who fell pregnant can go back to school to complete their education.

The policy is also aimed at ensuring each child is cherished and affirmed as a gift from God with an inherent right to dignity of life and bodily integrity to be respected, nurtured and protected by all.

Mr Kasanda, however, said there was need to review the re-entry policy because of some gaps that should be addressed.

And Jessy Chifunda, a teacher at the school, said teachers have challenges teaching girls on reproductive health because most of them are already aware of issues of sex due to technology.
Technological advancement has allowed girls to find out certain issues about reproductive health and sex activities on their own.

“The syllabus has well explained reproductive health sex and as teachers, we try to also simplify it to the level of children so that they understand it properly,” Ms Chifunda said.

Girls are also engaged in drama, poetry and songs to avoid them engaging or indulging in sexual activities.

Ms Chifunda said before a teacher embarks on any topic, children are taught life skills that involve discussing realities such as HIV and AIDS, sex and sexuality, abortion, defilement and hygiene.

And Ministry of Health spokesperson Reuben Mbewe says teenage pregnancies could be fatal because the girls’ bodies are not well-developed and are susceptible to complications at delivery.

“What is worrying is that most of these girls give birth at home under the care of traditional birth attendants who cannot provide specialised healthcare, they risk suffering from fistula, raptured uterus or unsafe abortion,” Dr Mbewe said.

Dr Mbewe who has encountered cases where a baby was too big for normal delivery said it is important that girls are sensitised about reproductive health and how to access information.

Early pregnancies are a rapidly growing social challenge that paints a gloomy picture to the realisation of the girl’s right to education.

When a young girl is educated, she is likely to earn a higher income, get married much later, delay child-bearing and have healthier children.

Drought prone Ndemena get water aiid

VIOLET MENGO

 Lusaka
 

 

“DIRTY water causes needless suffering,” reads a brochure developed to sensitise people on the need to access clean and safe water.

This is because every day in rural communities and poor urban centres, people suffer lack of access to clean, safe water.

Women and girls especially bear the burden of walking long distances to gather water from infested streams and ponds. 

This results into consumers of such water suffering from waterborne diseases.
This hallenge is particularly true to many of Zambia’s rural communities where people walk about five to10 kilometres to fetch water.

In Kazungula district is a young girl named Faustina who lives with her family in a small village of Mabole in Sekute ward.

Kazungula district lies in the ecological zone where rainfall averages below 600mm per annum, and the district is generally arid coupled with tropical climate.

Most rainy seasons, this part of the country receives very little rainfall, making it difficult for residents to have sustained water supply.

During the dry spells, Faustina, her family and residents of Mabole village rely on the one borehole located near Simukombo Primary School, a distance averaging 3 km to 5km.
The only borehole also tends to dry up in the hot season, and villagers are forced to look for water elsewhere.

It is Faustina’s responsibility to fetch water for her family’s daily needs.

Each day, she spends about three hours on her rounds to the stream, just to collect enough water for her family. Faustina is a hard-working girl, but her daily duty of drawing water for the family tends to take a toll on her education as she often missing class.

“The lack of water is an often insurmountable obstacle to helping oneself. We can’t grow food, we can’t build houses and it is difficult to stay healthy,” Faustina says.

Without water, children cannot stay in school and people cannot work.

Access to safe water is key to the development and well-being of any community, therefore Mabole community’s potential remains unlocked because of limited access to water.

Children and women spend much of their time fetching water, and thus unable to commit themselves fully to education and economic activities that could help sustain their lives.

It was against this backdrop that Pilot Programme for Climate Resilient (PPCR) initiated the Ndemena Water Supply Community Project to enhance the provision of water to residents in the drought-prone areas of Ndemena and Mabole.

Ndemena and Mabole communities in Kazungula district have an estimated human population of 250, 200, respectively.

The communities also boast of about 2,000 head of cattle, and therefore access to water is essential.
With the current drought being experienced in many parts of the country, Kazungula is also severely affected.

Apart from the borehole at Simukombo Primary School, some members of the community fetch water from neighbouring communities about 7km away, and others still survive on the Zambezi River.

It is expected that with the provision of water to residents of Ndemena and Mabole, their livelihood would be improved.

Climate Change Secretariat communication expert Chama Nambeye said the impact of the first two solar-powered boreholes in Ndemena and Mabole villages include positive change among the beneficiaries.

Ms Nambeye said the communities now have access to clean water at considerable distances, unlike in the past when they could move more than 5km, and in some cases, further on to the Zambezi River in search of water.

“When students are freed from fetching water, they return to class, the provision of water reduces school absenteeism,” Ms Nambeye said.

She said with the availability of water, the local people will be encouraged to do gardening and this is expected to improve their nutritional status.

Ms Nambeya said access to safe and clean water also tends to promote public health and reduces the disease burden owing to poor sanitation.

With sustained water supply, people can find time to engage in income-generating activities, and therefore lift themselves out of poverty.

“When people have access to water, there is food security because they will engage in income-generating activities such as gardening and will be able to sell their produce and earn some income,” Ms Nambeya said.

And Kazungula district planner Kelyson Mang’ola said the two boreholes are solar-powered because they are multi-purpose. He said a relatively large number of people are benefiting from the borehole.
Mr Mang’ola said the solar- powered boreholes are not only inexpensive to operate, but also require low maintenance costs, and are therefore ideal for rural communities.

The provision of water to Ndemena and Mabole communities, and Kazungula district as a whole, will improve the quality of life for people like Faustina and her family.