I WISH I HAD KNOWLEDGE ABOUT AND ACCESS TO BIRTH CONTROL METHODS, MY EDUCATION WOULDN’T BE AT A STANDSTILL NOW
“Am Nakigudde Daphine a resident of Mabale village Luwero district, I have one child who is two years old. I was 14 years when I got pregnant and by that time I was in primary seven and I didn’t know anything about family planning or the use of contraceptives. In my primary six, I got a boyfriend who was in senior three, I used to meet him whenever we were going home in the evening after school time and we do sex without using condoms because I was told by my friends at school that condoms cause cervical cancer. Even when I insisted my boyfriend told me that he did not have money to buy the condoms, he went on to tell me that having sex without a condom is a sign of true love. When I reached primary seven, I started feeling sick every morning. I was vomiting a lot which made my teachers suspect that I was pregnant and took me for a pregnancy test. It was discovered that I was pregnant, they called my parents to school and I was expelled from school.
Life became difficult for me, my mum started to beat me every day and asked me about the boy who was responsible for my pregnancy, my father also chased me away from home after giving birth. I went to look for my boyfriend’s house but he also ran away from the village and I don’t know where he is up to now, I think he feared imprisonment or the responsibility of taking care of me and my child. I went to my aunt but she has been abusing me verbally since day one when I came to her home, and I find it hard to get basic needs for my child. my Aunt also told me that I would be sleeping in the kitchen because I had been cursed by my parents.
One morning around March 2022, our village VHT came to our home with peer educators and other staff from an Organization called Teen Mothers and Reproductive Health Program. I narrated my story to them, although I was afraid my Aunt would not hear me and chase me from home. They took me to my parents and convinced them to allow me back home with my kid and they promised to give me some basic needs, they also enrolled me in hairdressing training.
I had a dream of becoming a Nurse but my parents refused to take me back to school saying that I “am now a fellow parent like them” I received a call from the Teen Mothers organization and invited me to their offices at Kasana Luwero one day, I found there other young girls with their babies, they taught us about sex education and shared with us knowledge on family planning. They taught us how to use a condom and the importance of preventing unwanted pregnancies and contracting STIs such as HIV, I can’t now take chances, I make informed decisions.
I encourage young people to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS and early pregnancies. They should seek available family planning services, especially the use of condoms, testing for HIV, and abstinence to live a responsible and dignified life.”