Africa has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the world according to FN. There are a lot of young single mothers struggling and the problem has increased a lot during the Covid pandemic. In most cases the girls drop out of school because they often struggle to provide for both school fees and their baby. This means that the girls lose their opportunity to get an education which can lead to
big consequences in their future. I was volunteering at a orphan home in Kimilili, Kenya in Feb/March 2022. It was during my time spent in Kenya that the project's idea started. I noticed the big problem with teenage pregnancies and felt like I really wanted to do something about it. They need someone to do something about it. I have interviewed 10 young single mothers in Kimilili, Kenya. I found out that all of them have very similar stories. The reason to why there are too many teenage pregnancies is simply a lack of s*x education. They barely have s*x education in school and they do not talk about s*x with parents nor with friends because it appears to be very shameful and taboo. There are even rumours that if you have s*x in a certain position you can not get pregnant. So most of these girls do not even know that they can get pregnant when they decide to have s*x, and those who do know are too ashamed to ask about protection for s*x. I haven’t been able to talk to any of the fathers, since they all left as soon as they found out about the pregnancies. Without any support from the father of the baby, these girls face big challenges every day. They struggle to pay for school fees, clothes, medicine, and in some cases even food. Most of them do not live in good conditions and sleep on the floor with the baby. I have started this project with an association group in Kimilili called KISEA (Kimilili Special Education Association) and a Swedish organisation called SMEA (Svenska Mount Elgonföreningen). KISEA and SMEA have done a lot of different projects together throughout the years to help the less fortunate in Kenya. To put an end to this problem, we need to educate the youth about s*x. We want to make it normal and not taboo to talk about. KISEA will do a program about s*x education. They will go to schools and churches to educate the youth. They will also attend to community meetings with their program and have seminarys for village leaders in Kimilili. In that way we will be able to reach out to as many as possible. We also want to support and help these young single mothers that I’ve interviewed. We will help them to either pay their school fees so that they can finish their education or train a certain skill, such as hairdressing, welding, carpenting, tailoring, so that they later can get a job and provide for their child. In return the young mothers will help us by sharing their stories and be a part of our s*x education program. We have to start somewhere and it will be in Kimilili, Kenya. With the help of your donations we can make this happen. Together we can make a difference. And remember that no amount is too small, everything helps. To donate from outside Sweden:
IBAN: SE94 8000 0815 8800 4654 6248
SWIFT/BIC: SWEDSESS # # #
Name: Majlis Johansson
Adress: Länsmansvägen 11, 590 38 KISA
Transfer reference: “Young mothers”
To donate from Sweden:
Swish: 1230985374
Bankgiro: 798-4941
Märk med “Young mothers”
