Ngilu shocked by poverty and underage pregnancies

from The Standard

By Philip Mwakio

Health minister, Mrs Charity Ngilu, came face to face with the realities of grim poverty that is fuelling teenage pregnancy.

At the same time Ngilu and Maendeleo Ya Wanawake leaders in Bahari constituency, Kilifi, rescued four children in Majivuni village who had been abandoned after being infected with jiggers.

The children, aged between six and 10, have been under the care of their great grandmother.

At Mtondia trading centre, Ngilu met a group of young mothers, among them a 16-year-old mother of two.

The young mother said that she gave birth to her firstborn, four, at the age of 9 while in nursery school.

The girl (whose name we have withheld for legal reasons) told the minister that she was first raped by a person known to her. A few years later, she said, a boy promised to marry her but took off after impregnating her.

She now lives with her grandmother and relies on handouts from wellwishers.

Another young mother (name withheld) is married to an 18-year-old man, who was her classmate at Majaoni Primary School.

Ngilu wondered why the provincial administration was lax in enforcing laws that protect children.

"When we talk of empowerment for women, these are the kind of issues we need to tackle," she said.

Ngilu praised Ms Joyce Chamli, 22, who is the only girl in the area to have attained college education.

And in Mtondia, the jigger-infested children were wailing in pain when the Minister arrived on Monday.

Their 90-year-great grandmother, Fatuma Said, said the children were sent home from Mikingirini Primary School when their condition worsened.

Pus was oozing from their swollen feet and fingers.

Ngilu directed the Kilifi District Hospital medical superintendent, Dr Davies Kimanga, to admit them.

"This is a very sad scenario in the 21st century," she said.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake Bahari chairperson, Ms Zena Salim, said poverty was to blame for early pregnancies.

"Our people are poor and illiterate and this has been used against them, especially women," she said.