According to the Kenya Ministry of Health report, over 45,000 cases of pregnant girls aged between 10–18 years were handled in various hospitals countrywide in the months of January to February 2022. The same report also claims that 98 children are infected with HIV every week due to Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

Why are these statistics shocking? If in a period of 2 months, over 45,000 girls have visited a health centre for ante-natal care, how many more are out there in our villages and informal settlements, popularly known as slums, are dealing with unwanted pregnancies likely conceived from defilement? Have their defilers been arrested and jailed? Has any justice been rendered for the survivors of these sexual abuses?

By Kenyan law, a child is anyone below the age of 18. This therefore means that they are unable to legally have consensual sex. Even with the consideration that some teens may choose to ‘experiment’ and in the process a child is conceived, it has become evident from our day to day interventions for child survivors of sexual violence that majority of the cases we handle are of adults defiling minors.

In 2015, Kenya hit the headlines world wide with the youngest mother ever recorded in Africa giving birth at the age of 10. She was allegedly defiled by her 60 year old caregiver. Just this year, I shared in one of our previous newsletters about a 12 year old girl who birthed twins after being defiled by an adult. He is currently serving a 20 year long sentence for the offence. The young girl is at her grandmother’s home in the village, raising her twins and doing manual labour to sustain herself and her babies.

So why do I state that paedophilia promotes the cycle of poverty that will likely send the lives of these young mothers and their children spiralling out of control? It is because almost all of these children, who are forced to become mothers against their will never get a second chance at a meaningful life by going back to school once their children arrive. Many survivors are forced to stay home to take care of their babies and since majority come from impoverished backgrounds, there is hardly any support system for them to lean on that would encourage them to continue pursuing their education. And for a FACT, many of these children want to go back to school.

In many communities in Kenya, once a female gives birth, regardless of age, one is expected to conform to what parenting entails. There are not many available options for young mothers once their babies arrive. It is because of this that the poverty most of these girls grew up in becomes generational. An education is their main outlet out of poverty and in most cases, no one in their lives is willing to give them a second shot at going back to school because they have become mothers.

As a Human Rights Defender who works on the many cases of sexual violence against children, both boys and girls, that come my way daily, it is a struggle to accept that after the defilers of these children are arrested and jailed, the children are usually left alone and desperate to reclaim their lives as it was before they were abused. It is especially hard for the girls who conceive from the defilement because their lives have to stop moving forward to deal with parenting responsibilities, including HIV related complications for those unfortunately infected by their abusers.

For many of these young mothers, their only hope of going back to school is well-wishers coming to their rescue by sponsoring them to go back to school even as they get justice from their abusers being jailed. An education or some form of formal training is the only vehicle out of the bondage that is poverty. A second shot at living a decent life for them and their children can only be achieved by ensuring these girls do not become victims of their abuse but survivors who can still conquer the world by pursuing various careers even as they raise their babies.

Hopefully, with the support of the ISHR family, many of these girls will be able to go back to school.

Wanjeri Nderu
ISHR President Kenya