'Pregnancy made me more interested in school'

Dear diary,

I AM 16 years old and the mother of a two-year-old boy. He is the love of my life and, because of him, I am now more committed to school.

It was in the year 2009, about February, that I received a call from my mom saying she heard I was pregnant. Of course, I told her 'no'. She then asked my sister and she also said 'no'. A few days later, my sister woke me up early saying my mother told her to take me to the doctor. The doctor wasn't at the clinic, so the next day she decided she was taking me to a private doctor. All that time, I was fretting and hoping that she would not get through at the doctor, she didn't.

My mother decided to send me to buy a pregnancy test kit. I took the pregnancy test, but my mother didn't understand how to read it and so I told her the test was negative. She then sent me to the pharmacy to ask. I never did. I just told her there was too much urine in it.

She was very persistent though, and went and bought one more and sent me to my sister. She did the test and she confirmed that I was pregnant. I denied it and my mom cursed me the whole day. She became very supportive after that.

I had heard about HIV, but had no idea I was at risk of contracting it. I was using protection because I always hear adults saying 'use a condom'. I was happy when they told me at the clinic that I was not HIV positive.

God will help

When my tummy began to grow, it was like the talk of the town. At first, I felt down and so ashamed, but after a while, I realised it was not the end of the world. Many days when I was at home and seeing some of my friends going to school, I just cried. My dad turned his back on me. It was my mother and my baby's father who took care of me and made me feel happy. I was not stressed or depressed because I knew my God was an awesome God. I had my baby the same year in October. It was a safe delivery and I never felt any pain.

Teen parenthood is different than I thought, because I thought that my mother would wake up when my baby woke up at nights to put him back to bed. But she didn't. I had to get up to change him and feed him myself. Having my son has changed my life because I was not interested in school at all and, now that I have him, I realise I need to pay more attention to my schoolwork for his sake.

I am now back in high school and I am working hard to get my subjects to qualify to be a registered nurse.

I wish I had known the consequences that I would have to face as a teen mother. I would just want to say to other teens that are having sex: use a condom or abstain. Abstinence makes sense, and for other teen moms like myself, believe in yourself no matter what you are going through. God is going to see you through.

Important Fact:

Adolescents aged 10-19 years account for 11 per cent of all births worldwide and 23 per cent of the overall burden of disease (disability-adjusted life years) as a result of pregnancy and childbirth.