Latest update February 25th, 2025 10:18 AM
Latest News
- Five dead in road accidents
- 25 helicopter trips required weekly for preparatory work on 7th oil project—Exxon says in EIA
- Israel deploys tanks as assault on occupied West Bank intensifies
- Govt. seeking contractors for $1.9B Parika to Goshen Road project
- GHRA urges Gov’t to follow laws in dealing with US deportation issue
35 adolescent/ teen mothers benefit from skills training
Thanks to the Comprehensive Empowerment Programme, 35 adolescent/ teenage mothers were given a chance to enhance their lives through access to social and economic resources. They are the fourth batch of young mothers to graduate from the programme.
Women Across Differences (WAD) in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) hosted the graduation ceremony for the young mothers at Umana Yana, yesterday, under the theme, “Reducing Unplanned Pregnancies among Adolescent/ Teenage Mothers and Enhancing their life skills and competencies”.
Graduates at the ceremony yesterday.
The programme executed by WAD, a non-governmental organization, was funded exclusively by UNFPA. The various areas of training provided between April and December 2013, included Entrepreneurial/ Craft Development; Family planning; Small Business Management; and Skills for Life.
According to Clonel Samuels-Boston, Coordinator of WAD, the programme targeted adolescent and teenage mothers between 12 and 19 years of age. The programme aimed at enhancing the lives of young mothers and reducing second and third pregnancies.
Providing an update for 2013, Boston enlightened that seven adolescent/ teenage mothers wrote the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate and were successful. They attained Grades One to Three passes, with only one student obtaining a Grade Four.
Further, three mothers are now students of the University of Guyana. One of them joined tertiary institution this year.
She related that 90 percent of the mothers are attending family planning clinics. In addition, 90 percent of them did not experience second and third pregnancies.
The benefits of the programme were related by the mothers through their art and craft work displayed at Umana Yana; poetry, dancing and singing. As part of the graduation ceremony, four graduates in a “Conversation Piece” emphasized the loneliness, sorrow and depression associated with unplanned adolescent/ teenage pregnancy.
Paulette Josiah entertains the gathering with her poetry and drama skills.
Fortunately, the young mothers became part of WAD. The training received allowed them to think, love, accept their responsibilities of motherhood, dream again, and express themselves through dance and poetry.
While Indra Austin performed a beautiful Indian dance, her colleague, Paulette Josiah, recited a powerful poem. Josiah portrayed the dilemma of a teenage girl who wanted to be “regular” instead of focusing on her studies. The result of her sexual encounter with a bus conductor left her pregnant. Attempts to inform the bus conductor of her three-month pregnancy failed and she was left with the baby.
According to Patricia Bisnauth of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association, the poem told by Josiah relates the story of many young mothers in Guyana.
She said the graduation ceremony is celebratory and signifies success of young mothers who fight to resist what life has handed them. The ceremony celebrates their lives and the journey took to overcome the odds.
The teachings of the programme will enable them to earn a living and learn more about their sexual reproductive health. She linked the Christmas season of perpetual hope to the young mothers fighting to break the cycle of poverty and limited access to fully living.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The PPP/C’s rotten return
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) ought to have treated its loss in the... more
Why the U.S. Should Strengthen Trade Ties with the Caribbean
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- A rules-based international trading system has long been a foundation of global commerce,... more
Weekend Cartoon
