Teenage Pregnancy

Early Pregnancy is one issue that has affected both young girls to day; with consent or not it has been a major issue in our Countries. We have witnessed a generation, where girls at tender age are engaged in risky sexual behaviors with all of us in the community watching. Statistics have shown that most of these girls are engaged in sex with much older men, risking their chances of being infected with HIV/AIDS.

As a young women advocate, the issue of girls engaging into sex early have been my areas of focus.

Ignorance has contributed a lot to girls engaging into sex. A large proportion of adolescent girls and boys have no access to sexual reproductive health information and services. Their important Live Teachers i.e. parents and school teachers offer little or no information at all. Most of the adolescents are left at mercies of their peers and media, who/which magnify sex and belittling the consequences or effects of the Act (sex).

Poverty is another cause of early pregnancy that we cannot ignore. This year I have got an opportunity to work in two slum areas (Mukuru and Mathare)

Before our sessions we always talk of our experience during the week. I asked one 16 year old and this what she said (Hey! last night it was horror! there is this neighbor of mine who brings girls to his room ALL times. I’m USED of him having sex, but last night it was too much) that’s how far I can go with this story for today.

The look in her eyes, I couldn't help but sympathies with her. Most Families in Slum areas live in iron sheet house or cartoons depending with how rich they are. All are partitioned with cartoons or iron sheets, in that you can see (peep) or hear everything that happens in the neighbors house.

The question is how can we successfully promote abstinence in this environment where sex is seen and heard by our young ones?

Where in a single room, Parents sleep on the bed while the kids sleep under the bed?

Where rape I the older of the day?

Where there is no dignity of sex?

There is need to safe guard the lives of our girls. We need to deliver our citizens from esteem poverty, construct descent houses and uphold family morals and values for us to reduce teenage pregnancy.

Institutions of education need to integrate sexual and reproductive health education in school syllabus so that Young people can be equipped with SRH, livelihood and life skills at tender age, grow up knowing the right and wrong and be able to make informed choices .

The government need to reinforce all those bills that protect adolescent girls form sexual abuse and exploitation

As a community, our role is clear, let teach our young boys and girls SEX. If we don't a bad guy will.

Change starts with us. Me and You.

Forgotten Child

Up to 40,000 street children live in Kenya today, with over half of their population concentrated in the capital, Nairobi. Despite numerous support initiatives by the Government and Non-governmental organizations, this number is increasing in an alarming rate. Quite a large population of our innocent sweet children living on the street.

Why is it an issue to us as Kenyans?

This children face life threatening challenges on the street, health and social threatening live in very poor conditions which force them in to drug and substance abuse. Apart form it having health problem it exposes them to child prostitution, crime and in extreme cases death. Life has no meaning to this kids who we all ignore and brush them off in our day to day living. The conditions they stay in are so worrying and threaten the development of our society. They conditioning shapes them to future merciless criminals and society deviants who come to haunt us in future.

Like any other growing child, they are in need of social, economical and emotional support from their adults. They view them as care givers, hope and their refuge. How lucky we are! To be viewed this way! Many are times we brush them off and wish they never existed. Let stop burying our heads in the sand as if street children never exists. it is our collective responsibility to support them.
We all should feel obliged to support them live a meaningful life. Let give them a smile, let cherish them, let be there for them. We are all development partners in eradicating poverty, reducing spread of HIV/AIDS, ensuring equal distribution of resources and fighting ignorance .Let not point figures at each other, and blame someone; remember four of them are pointing at you. YOU are to blame. WAKE up, let support street children with basic needs (food, shelter, cloths, health and education), encourage family unions and community co-existence. Let not put blame on any one. We all are guilty.

This is a call for collective responsibility. Join hands and be part of the sustainable change. Yes we can

Empowered ?

Thanks to Fahamu Kenya and blogs for African Women(BAWo) for giving me this opportunity to go Blog.

Is this what we call empowering and empowered women?

Watch out>Adolsecent girls through Fortress of Hope Africa, a organization working with adolsecnt girls ,will all be going Blog.

This a place to watch .

Your views are welcome.

Thanks alot

Planning today for a better tomorrow

Planning is an art of thinking through,identifying and coming up with a good,appropriate and adoptable plan of action.Planning for adolescent girls empowerment is one art that requires a holistic strategy for successful and sustainable impact.

Why should we plan today for a better tomorrow of our girls ?
Girls are our upcoming mothers and women of any particular nation,they are the leaders we all are looking upon.In Africa today,girls are the most marginalized members of any given society or community.All existing cultural and religious norms,values and believes affect our women and girls negatively ,talk about female genital mutilation,early marriages,gender based discrimination and inequality.

We need to join hands and eradicate all this ideologies,practices,norms and believes that pull back our women.For any country to brag of development,women and girls have to be empowerment and involved in all stages of development.

All stakeholder in development world!let listen and hear they cry of our mothers,sisters and aunt.Let act.

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INTRODUCTION

A you an adolescent girl or are you working with adolescent girls !Have been looking for a place in the world you wanna be real?this is the place.This site allows you to open up to what is affecting adolescent girls in your environment or community social,political and economical.
Where you can talk about your or their worries,things that make you or them happy,happy moments and sad moments
Where you can share idea on how to cultivate your or their potentials,how to strengthen them emotionally,socially and politically.