By Coletta Wanjohi
During an unusually warm morning in Nairobi with the mercury hovering around the 26° Celsius mark, deep in her own thoughts, Esther Gaceke is unmindful of the heat and dust.
She walks briskly along the narrow lane separating the small houses in Kibagare village, an informal settlement on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital.
Esther wraps the jacket tightly around her, trying to hide the growing swell of her belly – the first visible signs of her pregnancy.
The 15-year-old is among thousands of adolescent girls in Kenya seeking to move beyond their early pregnancies and take control of their lives.
An estimated 330,000 adolescent girls become pregnant each year in Kenya, data from the United Nations Population Fund show.
Most of these cases are reported from low-income settings such as informal settlements where girls become vulnerable partly because of extreme poverty, failure to get enough essential services and amenities and lack of access to quality schools. Sexual and gender-based violence, too, plays its part in the vicious cycle.
Journey of hope
Last year, the Kenyan government launched a country-wide campaign to “end the triple threat” of teen pregnancy, HIV infection and sexual and gender-based violence among adolescents aged 10-19.
Individuals and organisations are also supporting teen mothers to get back on with their lives.
In western Kenya, for instance, the wife of the governor of Kakamega county has launched an initiative to take teen mothers back to schools. So far, 60 have benefited.
Esther, for one, knows exactly what she wants to do. Fond of baking from an early age, she wants to study catering and open a pastry shop in Nairobi in the future.
“I know I have disappointed you, but after six months, I will deliver a healthy baby, go back to school and make you proud… please be patient with me,” she tells her mother, who sits stoically at their modest two-bedroom dwelling made of iron sheets.
Esther says she was disappointed when she had to drop out of school due to her pregnancy. With her ailing father unable to work, it fell on her mother to provide for the family.
“Sleeping hungry is not new for my two brothers and me. It is very tough for my mother to feed the three of us. She depends on odd jobs that are not available every day. And now I am bringing another life to this world,” Esther tells TRT Afrika.
“But I live one day at a time with hope for a good tomorrow.”
“Be strong”
“Hodiii hapa, nani yuko? (Hello, who is home?),” a voice calls out in the Kiswahili language from outside. Seconds later, a tall teenage girl enters, smiling from ear to ear.
Grace Wambui, 16, sits next to Esther and wipes off her friend’s tears.
Even without anybody telling, she knows the reason for Esther’s pain. A teenage mother herself, she knows the burden of unwed pregnancy.
But one-and-a-half years after giving birth, Grace is ready for the next big step of her life.
“Mama Esther, I have come to bid Esther farewell. I’m going back to school,” she tells Esther’s mother, then turns to her friend.
“Don’t worry, Esther. I know how hard it is…but don’t be scared, be strong and stay focused as we always talk, ok?”
New beginnings
Grace walks with pride, head held high.
She is no longer bothered by the taunts and jeers of some people in the village.
She waves at people she knows along the way, some wishing her well on her return to school. For those who don’t seem to know, she makes sure to tell them she is going back to school.
Along the streets of Kibagare village, the back-to-school euphoria at the start of a new academic season is high. Children from different secondary schools move around, some heading to school while others hurry to complete last-minute family errands.
Grace meets some of her classmates, and they joke and laugh loudly, reminding each other that they must report by 3 pm.
Back home, she finds her mother has already helped her pack her bag.
“When my daughter became pregnant, I was so disappointed,” she tells TRT Afrika. “I am slowly getting to terms with it, but it is very tough for me.”
Grace’s mother became a widow six years ago and is now the sole breadwinner for six siblings. The toddler is the new addition to the family.
“I decided to go back to school, and I am glad I made that decision. I want to show my mother that I can still go back to the right path she showed me,” Grace says.
Daring dream
She sat for her grade 8 examinations while pregnant and passed with good marks. A year later, she was admitted to a boarding secondary school near her home.
“Mother and her son are both babies,” Grace’s mother says. “She has excellent grades, she does extremely well in Biology. I keep telling her to remember that she must excel for herself and her son.”
When ready, Grace holds her son for a while and tells him that she will bring back success for him.
“My dream is to be a lecturer at the Kenyatta University here in Kenya. I know I am a success story,” she says as she hands the baby to her mother.
As she picks up her bag, her mother reminds her that education is the only way out of the slums, and she must keep looking ahead and working hard.
As Grace takes her first confident steps back to school, her story seems to have come full circle – the story of a young woman daring to dream again.
Her story is also the story of many other young mothers who are now the masters of their own destinies.
