A community-based organisation in Kilifi County has launched an aggressive campaign to fight against pregnancies among school girls during the coronavirus pandemic period.
The Kudzacha Women Initiative noted with concern that idleness among adolescents following the indefinite closure of schools to contain the spread of Covid-19 had made many youngsters to engage in anti-social activities that had led to the rise in teenage pregnancies in the county.
Speaking to journalists in Malindi Town Tuesday, the organisation’s chairperson Saida Famau, said the group was targeting mothers of teenage girls to sensitise them on how to counsel their daughters to avoid falling pregnant in spite of the challenges posed by the pandemic.
The chairperson said apart from sensitization programme, the group was also distributing sanitary towels, face masks and food rations so that girls do not fall prey to predators who capitalise on the challenges to take advantage of the young and naive girls.
“Following the pandemic, the government and private learning institutions introduced online studies, which have proved to be out of the reach of students from poor families and those in rural areas who cannot access the internet,” said Famau.
She however encouraged those who can access online studies to do so instead of staying idle and engaging in immoral activities.
“We encourage the students who can access online studies to continue studying at home. Those who do not have internet access should revise using their text books and notes so they do not forget what they were taught in school,” she said.
Famau said each of the members of the group was donating Sh5, 000 every month towards a kitty started to help fight teenage pregnancies as well as the needy in the society.
Famau counselled young girls not to fall prey to pedophiles by maintaining their integrity despite the harsh economic conditions in their homes.
“I advise teenage girls to take charge of their lives by refusing to yield to temptations that can destroy them,” she said, while encouraging parents of teenage girls to understand their daughters’ and provide necessities such as sanitary towels and panties.
