Teen mothers are not specifically more prone to obstetric fistulas, but they can be at risk if they experience complications during childbirth and do not receive timely and adequate medical care. Fistulas can lead to severe and long-lasting health problems, including urinary or faecal incontinence, and they can have a significant impact on a young mother's physical and emotional well-being. When it comes to the teen moms, these pregnancies are mainly a result of rape and these girls are not fully developed. When they are delivering their babies, they rupture parts of their internal organs which results in fistula which is the inability to control urine or stools. Sometimes this can cause infections and most of them go untreated, with the women living in agony.
I would like you to elaborate on this work that you're doing around teen moms and boys that have been sodomised. I recently received a global award as a humanitarian activist because of what I do, and that is what you're asking about because you find that the girl child has suffered a lot. And everybody is focusing on the Girl Scouts, how to empower the girl child, how to take the girl child to school, and how to provide for the girl child, but there is another gender crying. There is another gender that is also struggling.
The rehabilitation centre is meant to rescue these girls where they can receive corrective surgery and medical attention. This also applies to the boys that are sodomised. It is difficult for boys to talk about the ordeal so with this intervention we hope to encourage help- seeking behaviour. Without any interventions in place to help the victims, unfortunately we will continue an escalation of violence as it compounds generationally. This also fosters a fertile ground for substance abuse, other forms of abuse and the spread of diseases like HIV/AIDS.
This dilemma is not unique to Kenya and we see this in many communities in Africa. A lot more needs to be done to save our teenage girls and young boys. We are currently in talks with Nana Wanjau, the Vice President and Chief Gender Officer at the Pan- African Chamber of Commerce, about scaling up in collaboration with King, Dr BJ Langa of the Zwide Kingdom, South Africa, with particular attention to the abuse of boys
November 2023 | Collective Action Magazine
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