Early Pregnancy and Education

The new school year began early in January and TEMBO Trust staff successfully enrolled 18 new girls in Secondary School. If I close my eyes it is so easy to see their faces even though I was not in Tanzania when they were selected. Physically the girls are very small, in so many ways still children with their whole lives ahead of them. Since they passed the mandatory Standard Seven Leaving Exam at the end of Primary School, and have qualified to receive sponsorship by TEMBO, the girls now have the opportunity to continue their education. The challenges they will face on this new journey are going to be enormous and the girls deserve all the help we can give them.

Some of the TEMBO sponsored girls.

One of the greatest challenges they will face is avoiding early pregnancy. In Tanzania, if a girl becomes pregnant she will not be admitted to Secondary School. It's an old law that many, both within and outside the education system are trying to change, including TEMBO Trust staff and trustees. To understand the difficulty the girls face you need to understand African culture and, in particular, the Maasai culture. Among the Maasai, sexual activity at a young age is seen to be normal and even welcome. This is especially so in families where parents have received little or no education.

Most of the girls TEMBO sponsors belong to the Maasai tribe that populates the northern part of the country including Longido and Kimokouwa. Like many other African tribes, the Maasai depend upon extended families to sustain their lifestyles. There is a lot of hard work to do. Multiple wives with many children and large cattle herds has been typical until recently. The new reality of continual drought is prompting many Maasai to now switch to herding goats. Nonetheless, the children participate in caring for the animals. While the young boys are with the herds the young girls are helping run the households – walking long distances each day to fetch firewood and water, caring for the young, cooking and keeping the boma tidy. Add in the reality of early death - often in the mid 40's - and it's clear that large families are a way of ensuring there is always a ready workforce.

There is an alternative to girls simply following in the footsteps of their mothers and remaining traditional Maasai. It is formal education. In fact, many women want their daughters to be educated and have lives different than theirs. More and more, Maasai men are allowing their daughters to attend secondary school. Common practice is if a girl receives sponsorship she will be allowed to go to school, and if a girl is in school she will not be given in marriage to a man. For the most part this works and girls are protected from early marriages – at least until they finish Form 4 or Grade 12. But not always.

Sponsorship includes providing everything for living at boarding school

At the beginning of January 2012, the new school year, three of the girls TEMBO has been sponsoring have been turned away from school because of pregnancy. The girls returned to their bomas to give birth. For most girls in this situation, the next step will be marriage to an older man in exchange for cattle given to the father of the girl. Guess what? These girls are not some small exception. Consider these statistics from the website The Elders:

• Every day, it is estimated that more than 25,000 girls under the age of 18 are married. 
• 100 million more girls – around 10 million each year – will become child brides over the next decade.
•  In the developing world, one in three girls is married before she is 18; one in seven before she is 15.
•  A girl under the age of 15 is five times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in her twenties.

These numbers are staggering! They also have names and faces. If at all possible, TEMBO will look for a private school to send the girls to to continue their education. This will depend upon whether or not money is available since private school sponsorships are a much more expensive option. 

Girls are learning to speak for themselves.

There is hope for change and in the next post you will hear about small actions that are making a big difference.