Keep your 50 bob, I'd rather be a doctor – Kilifi girl

Halima, 16, is the fourth child in a family of eight children—four boys and four girls. 

She comes from a poor family. Her father is jobless and her mother, the sole breadwinner, works as a casual labourer in sisal plantations in Kilifi county.

Like many girls in her situation, that is poor, she is an easy target for men seeking sex—from her agemates at school to boda boda operators and any man with some spare cash. 

But the Standard 7 pupil is determined not to "fall into temptation". She has chosen to abstain from sex so she can focus on her dream of becoming a doctor.

Halima arrived at this decision after taking part in a two-year programme initiated by the German Foundation for World Population (DSW). The international NGO deals with sexual and reproductive health, and population dynamics. 

The Young Adolescent Programme was implemented in Kadzinuni and the larger Kilifi South. Halima was one of at least 100 teenagers who enrolled for the programme at Kadzinuni Primary School.

I caught up with the teenager at Kadzinuni Kendrick Dispensary on the last Saturday of September 2019. 

YOUNG ADOLESCENT PROGRAMME

Halima learnt about the YAP from one of her teachers in 2016 and immediately enrolled. They would meet every Tuesday and Thursday to learn how to overcome challenges in boy-girl relationships.

"The project has helped me to say no to temptations and to live a peaceful life. I am now teaching other teenagers what I learnt from YAP," she says.

She narrates an instance where she stood up to a boy demanding a sexual relationship. It was during the August school holidays and, together with friends, she had attended a wedding at night.

Halima says a boy approached her and started seducing her, asking for sex. "I dismissed the boy and told him I did not want anything to do with sex. I chased him from where we were," she says.

This was not the first time a boy had approached her for sex, but Halima says thanks to the skills she has acquired at the YAP training she is able to turn them down.

"I normally tell them the truth: 'If you make me pregnant what will you feed me yet you still depend on your parents?'," she says.

Halima says boys and men lure girls with Sh50 or Sh100 for sexual favours. Her advice to fellow girls is to work hard and always stand firm to defend their rights for a bright future.

SURVIVAL SKILLS

Apart from abstaining, she has also learnt about self-esteem. 

Halima is of the opinion that teen girls who get pregnant just don't listen to their parents. She says some girls go to disco matangas (night discos), even after their parents forbid it. 

During the training, the participants are taught about  HIV-Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases. 

"The YAP project has helped me overcome the challenges of boy-girl relationships. I would like to tell all girls to respect their parents and avoid sexual relationships," Halima says.

The YAP project has ended and beneficiaries are carrying out sensitisation. Halima, however, has appealed to the donors to resume the programme to reach more teenagers. "I really thank DSW for the training, but we still need the project," she says.

Karisa Kazungu, a former teacher at Kadzinuni Primary School, was instrumental in running the programme. 

He was posted to Kadzinuni Primary in August 2016 from Kaloleni, where he was in charge of the children's government.

"When I came to the school I found out that cases of sexual relations between young boys and girls were high. Some girls even had affairs with outsiders," he says.

Residents, it seemed to him, were turning a blind eye to these happenings and even considered them normal.

Kazungu found out the girls were sleeping with boda boda operators in sisal plantations, nicknamed 'green lodge', during the day. The sisal plantations cover thousands of acres and it's hard to trace anyone who goes inside. 

"The girls and boys would disappear during games time to the sisal plantations. I began to follow up and found that others went to houses of men who were living nearby to engage in sex in exchange for money," he says.

Poverty levels in the community are high. Majority of the men are jobless and spend their days drinking local palm wine popularly known as mnazi.

Kilifi county hit the headlines late last year after reports that more than 17,000 girls were pregnant. 

GIRLS LACKED SANITARY TOWELS

Kazungu also found out that despite the high teen pregnancy rates, the culprits were walking scot-free.

He began engaging the school management to reverse the situation. His first mission was to rewrite the rules to ensure the children remained in school the whole day.  

"It was hard because the community was used to resolving the issues of teenage pregnancies at home in Kangaroo court," Kazungu adds.

His efforts got a major boost when DSW came in with the YAP project. He says they trained teachers about sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and how to teach children about them.

"We underwent one-week training. Then DSW recruited young adolescents aged between 10 to 14 years. The maximum number targeted was 60 but the demand was high and they had to add others as supplementary," Kazungu says.

The sessions were open to both boys and girls. The children would be encouraged to open up about the issues affecting them. 

A big issue that came up was lack of sanitary towels. It was established that the majority of the girls would miss school during their period.

"During menstruation boda boda operators used to buy for them pads in return for sex. Parents never wanted to hear about pads," Kazungu says.

The teacher, who has since been transferred, says it was difficult for girls to ask their father for sanitary towels. There is no government provisions for sanitary towels. Many girls are, thus, forced to use rags or matresses.

The training was also extended to parents, who were taught about their responsibilities.

In this community women go to work while men drink mnazi. Most of the women work in the sisal plantations. With both parents away, children are left to their own devices.

During that YAP period a girl who had dropped out midway fell pregnant. 

"When the [children's government] president suspected and drew my attention we began investigation. The president suggested pregnancy tests so I instructed her to go with the girl to the dispensary secretly and the tests turned out positive," Kazungu says.

The girl lived with her married brother. The teacher decided to set an example of the culprit but was met with resistance from many quarters. The culprit's family hid him and bribed the officer handling the case, Kazungu says. 

"I did everything possible for him to be found. I told the [girl's] family members to lay a trap and tell them [the culprit's family] that they were ready to discuss the matter and solve it locally," he says.

On the day of the kangaroo court sitting Kazungu got police officers from Kilifi and Kijipwa, and they raided the venue.

That was the day he learnt that the kangaroo court is nicknamed 'supreme court'. The court handles teenage pregnancy cases and family members are given a goat.

All those in attendance were arrested and taken to Kijipwa. The culprit, who was 20 years old, was taken to court.

Kazungu says parents of girls who fall pregnant usually do not want to follow up such cases, while village elders opt for kangaroo courts.

Kazungu is happy with his achievements. He says even though DSW has left, the youth club still exists and has brought great improvement.

In 2016 there were eight cases of teen pregnancies in Kadzinuni primary but now only one case has been reported, that was last year.

Like Halima, he says the community still needs DSW's service.

The project also roped in health workers. Ziporah Mwanzau, the nursing officer in charge of Kendrick Kadzinuni Dispensary, says before the YAP project they would register four to five cases of teenage pregnancies but only one was recorded last year.

"This quarter we are organising a young adolescent forum. We will call youth between 10 to 24 years to talk to them about menstrual health," she adds.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya