Pruning 2 Perfection hosts event to empower teen moms
The Pruning 2 Perfection Foundation (P2PF) held a Mother's Day celebration seminar at Albermale, with the theme Teen Mom Arise on May 11.
The programme's goals were to support, empower, and promote the well-being of young girls and mothers.
The audience could share their personal stories.
Florence Wanjiru, the founder of the P2P foundation, said every Mother's Day celebration emphasises elderly or mature women.
ALSO READ: City hosts seminar to address the increase in teenage pregnancy
'We held this seminar to sit down with young and adolescent/teen mothers and learn about their experiences.
'As a society, we have normalised that a mother can support, care for, and give independently. This is not possible for the younger woman, especially the teen mom.
'We wanted to teach the young people in the audience to navigate their lives, as well as celebrate their resilience and courage to hold things together.
'Because they often have no source of support to give, we rarely recognise their strength and power.
'To us, they have nothing to offer. It all stems from: how can a child raise a child? This factor prevents them from being regarded as mothers. As P2PF, we want to see a shift to this narrative.
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'Accountability begins with the acknowledgement of something. They gave birth, so they are qualified to take on the role of motherhood.
'The programme aims to empower teen moms as a driving force in reducing teenage pregnancy.
'We had teen parents share their experiences, which should shed light on the difficulty of parenting as a young mother. You do not want your peer to choose the same way,' said Wanjiru.
She stated they had to address stereotypes and discrimination because there are multiple factors contributing to teen pregnancy.
'As a culture, we see only one category of promiscuous girls. Where is the father? Some of these pregnancies are the consequence of sexual abuse.
'This demonstrates how a teen mother has to bear the burden alone.
'We have to create a comfortable environment that educates and breaks down cultural boundaries by having conversations with our children so that they may develop self-awareness,' said Wanjiru.
Wanjiru said young people should focus on what is most important.
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Relationships come and go. Sexual practices bring with them diseases including STIs, HIV/AIDS, and unwanted pregnancies, but education is impactful.'
'It changes circumstances for the better. If you are a young person, build your legacy through education.
'Teen Moms who shared their stories came in by word of mouth.
'They had children while in high school and were fortunate to receive support from home, which gave them the courage to change their situation by returning to school, finishing matric and pursuing further careers.
'This might not be the case with others. One challenge in the education system is the rate of dropouts because of teenage pregnancy,' said Wanjiru.
'Some challenges of teen mothers are social stigma and discrimination from families, peers and the community.
'The lack of home support makes the already complex balance of school and parenting worse for them.
'These teens do not have the knowledge and skills for parenting. By addressing these issues, we need to focus on a holistic, multi-sectoral approach, involving families, communities, schools and the health system to develop supportive educational programmes specifically for this target group.
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'In the worldview, abstinence is not a reality. And this implication has silenced the Christian community. That is why in the government policies, we have abstinence and safe sex concurrently.
'As an organisation, we also understand the dilemma of such interventions, but we do not want to rule out the possibility of young people who want to take a stand becoming the ambassadors of abstinence. That choice should be embraced and nurtured.'This event was an eye-opener to the gap in our society for nurturing and empowering teen mothers. We hope to engage with families, communities, and stakeholders to broaden the scope of reaching out to more teen moms,' said Wanjiru.
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