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| Liseli Nyambe, 17 |
“THEY all look innocent as they walk to school from Monday to Friday, but surprisingly, a few months later we discover that two or three in that group are pregnant.” These words of Sesheke district commissioner Mihupulo Yumei came following increased cases of schoolgirl pregnancies and abortions.
As if that is not enough, when schoolgirls discover they are pregnant, they either consult a friend on how to get rid of the pregnancy or they go to elderly women in the communities to help them abort.
Mr Yumei blames the truckers who spend more days than is necessary at Katima Mulilo Border post even after being cleared by immigration to proceed.
“If you look at statistics from the district education office, you will discover that teenage pregnancies are a common feature and these girls always find a way of getting rid of a pregnancy in order to go back to school. Unfortunately, most of these girls go unnoticed once they are pregnant because they have become professionals in procuring abortions,” Mr Yumei said.
Although abortion in Zambia is legal on medical and social grounds, most schoolgirls in Sesheke resort to illegal means because legal services are inaccessible and unacceptable.
The main reason girls resort to abortion is for fear of being expelled from school and their unwillingness to reveal a secret relationship.
For Kezia Sililo of McKillop township in Sesheke, getting pregnant whilst in school was the most humiliating experience she would not wish on anyone else.
Ms Sililo says she had aborted three pregnancies before and she did this because she wanted to continue with school.
“I got pregnant four times and I managed to successfully terminate the three but for this one, I was afraid whether I would be successful or not; I ended up keeping it after I had tried two times to terminate it,” Ms Sililo said.
Her decision to abort was primarily determined by the reaction of the boyfriend and his unwillingness to accept paternity and the associated financial implications.
Asked on how she managed to abort the three pregnancies, Ms Sililo said she used a combination of herbs she bought from one of the women in a village.
“This is the woman who was instrumental in the three abortions I undertook. She would prepare two types of traditional medicines; one type I would insert in my private part while I would drink the other one. After drinking the medicine, I begin bleeding and that is how all the three pregnancies were terminated,” Ms Sililo said.
And a mother of one, Liseli Nyambe, 17, a former pupil of Katima Mulilo Primary School, says she got pregnant after writing her grade 9 examinations.
Asked whether she attempted to abort, Ms Nyambe answered in the affirmative.
“I tried to abort several times and I failed. I used several methods, among them is the most popular method of self-induced abortion by overdosing on chloroquine, I also used some traditional medicines such as various types of roots, as well as more modern methods such as ingesting washing powder,” Ms Nyambe said.
For Ms Nyambe, she tried all possible methods but she failed to terminate the pregnancy.
She says abortion is so emotive but the decision to do so is necessitated by various reasons like denial of the responsibility by the boyfriend, fear of being out of school, and how the family would take the news.
One recommendation that Ms Nyambe would want to see is for policy-makers to concentrate on the improvement of formal, ‘youth friendly’ health services and the development of appropriate outreach education methods which address specific concerns widely held by young women.
And Sesheke district education board secretary Mubonda Katukula says the district records more than 10 cases of pregnancies each term.
He noted that the idea of most girls renting rooms while attending school has contributed to increased cases of teenage pregnancies.
“We have a challenge here, there is an ever increasing cases of teenage pregnancies and the girls resort to abortions so that they can go back to school,” he said.
Mr Katukula said in spite of the challenges mentioned above, the education system should continue with its vision of instilling discipline, upright moral values, and genuine patriotism in children for the good of the nation.
According to health experts, adolescents face higher reproductive risks than older women. Pregnancy is the leading cause of death for young women aged 15-19 worldwide, with complications at childbirth and unsafe abortion being the major risk factors.
Teenage girls who are not physically mature are at greater risk of obstructed labour, pregnancy-induced hypertension and obstetric fistula (the creation of a hole between the birth canal and anal area during prolonged labour).
Young people rank sexual health as their primary issue, because sexual behaviour is integrally-linked to other aspects of their lives.
In Zambia, pregnancies are deemed to be a common occurrence amongst the adolescents, with an estimated two-thirds of unwanted pregnancies ending in unsafe abortions.PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON APRIL 30, 2015
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