By Michael Gwarisa in Chiweshe
She is Forget Nyamukandenga (19) from Chiweshe, Mashonaland Central. At age 17, in 2022, she was impregnated by a 24-year-old man, a development she says completely changed the course of her life.
When she fell pregnant, she was doing her Upper Sixth studies in Mt Darwin and was due to write her examinations in November of the same year. Left with no option, her parents had to send her away to stay with the man responsible for her pregnancy. This period marked the genesis of her woes.
My husband would come home drunk every day and would beat me up. He would even have sex with me outside my will. He took my mobile phone’s SIM card and destroyed it so that I could not communicate with anyone,” she says.
She stopped going to school for a whole term and missed out on her studies. She went back to school during the third term and she would walk long distances to and from school.
“By then I was Six months pregnant. At times I would vomit in class, and my peers would laugh at me and call me names. The first week of November, one day, I was in class. I started experiencing labour pains. I was rushed to the hospital and delivered on arrival.”
After giving birth she went and left her baby with her mother and returned to sit for her exams.
She has since left her husband. She came out with seven points at the “A” level and wishes to pursue her dream of becoming a mining engineer. However, she is stuck right now and relies on a small vending business to fend for her child. Forget represents millions of girls in Zimbabwe whose dreams have been shuttered due to teen pregnancies and early marriages. She regrets not having programs such as the Not in My Village when she was still in school.
“I look at myself now and I can only wish I had had the opportunity to learn from programs such as the Not In My Village campaign. Some of the things we do as young girls are because we lack the guidance and the knowledge,” said a teary Forget.
The Not-In-My-Village Campaign is a drive aimed at ending teenage pregnancies amid a growing concern of many young girls falling pregnant. The “Not-in-My-Village” takes a unique approach by engaging traditional leaders and key opinion figures as champions for positive change.
Chief Chiweshe Muzezeuru, from Mazowe said he was committed to joining forces with chiefs and traditional leaders in his area to end child marriage and teen pregnancies.
“The issues of child marriages and teen pregnancies is giving us sleepless nights here in Chiweshe. As traditional leaders, this is something we have taken upon ourselves to ensure we play our part in reducing early marriages and teen pregnancies. Let it be known that it is a crime to marry a girl before she reaches the legal majority, it is a crime to marry off your child before she becomes of age,” said Chief Cheweshe.
Data from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development shows that in 2023, Mashonaland Central recorded nearly 3000 teen pregnancies and 490 early marriages.
Speaking at the 2024 World Population Day (WPD) Commemorations which coincided with the official launch of the Not In My Village Campaign at Nzvimbo High School in Mazowe District, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Mashonland Central, Honourable Christopher Magomo said teen pregnancies and early marriages were counterproductive.
“Data shows that there is a growing burden of maternal and child health care problems exacerbated by the increase in teenage and child pregnancies and early and child marriages in the province. These avoidable challenges have the potential to slow down development due to avoidable loss and productive time as well as preventable loss of lives,” said Hon Magomo.
He added that Mash Central had begun taking action against early marriages through collaborative approaches between various arms of government. They include the One-Stop Centre at Bindura Hospitals, and the Not In My Village Campaign amongst other interventions.
Meanwhile, the National Assessment on Adolescent Pregnancies in Zimbabwe (June 2023) conducted by the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe under the leadership of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare with technical and financial support from UNESCO, UNFPA and UNICEF shows that teen pregnancies were on the rise nationally.
A key finding of the Assessment is that 21% of antenatal care bookings were among adolescents aged 10-19 years, translating to 358,458 pregnant adolescents from an estimated 1,706,946 bookings made in 1,560 health care facilities between 2019 and 2022. The study also shows that 1,532 maternal deaths were recorded over the same period, with around 25% of them being among adolescent and young women under 24 years.
It was also established that the national prevalence rate of teenage pregnancy had increased to 22% from 9% in 2016 when compared to the findings from the National Fertility Study. Evidence is showing that COVID-19 had a huge impact in driving the burden upwards.
To address this challenge, the Government of Zimbabwe, with the support of UNFPA, has launched the “Not-In-My-Village” campaign. Led by adolescents and young people themselves, through the Young People’s Network on Sexual and Reproductive Health, HIV and AIDS, working with the National AIDS Council and spearheaded by Chiefs in their respective communities, the campaign seeks to mobilize joint community efforts to tackle adolescent teenage pregnancies.
In a keynote address delivered on his behalf by the Minister of Health and Child Care Hon. Dr. Douglas Mombeshora, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, His Excellency, Cde. Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa said:
“As we look ahead, it is clear that to address teenage pregnancies and all population related issues while ensuring no one and no place is left behind we require sustained partnerships and collaboration. We must work together—government, civil society, development partners, traditional leaders, and communities—to create an environment where every young person can thrive, free from violence, with access to quality education, healthcare, and the opportunities they need to realize their full potential.”
Through programmes such as the Health Resilience Fund (HRF) supported by the Governments of Britain, Ireland and the European Union; the Safeguard Young People (SYP) Programme supported by the Government of Netherlands and Switzerland and the 2Gether4SRHR funded by the Government of Sweden a number of interventions targeted at ending adolescent pregnancy are already ongoing.
“The United Nations is firmly committed to working with your Government to address this population issue and we already have various programmes and projects that we are implementing. Through these programmes critical investments to improve the education, health and wellbeing of young people including young girls are being made that will contribute to preventing teenage pregnancy and ensuring girls reach their full potential,” stressed Mr Edward Kallon, the United Nations and Humanitarian Coordinator.
Speaking at the event, Ms Miranda Tabifor, UNFPA Representative underscored the criticality of data to inform policy and programming.
“Data is important for decision-makers as it helps shape policies, direct actions and advise on development options in a way that reflects the needs of everyone. Evidence-based actions are needed to address teenage pregnancies” she added.
Various development partners attended the commemorations and launch including the Government of Ireland (representing the Health Resilience Fund funding partners, the Government of Britain and the European Union), the Governments of Sweden and Australia also expressed support to efforts to ensure young people, especially girls reach their full potential.
