Teenage Pregnancies on the raise, What are we doing?

Teenage pregnancy is one of the leading causes of school dropouts in Uganda and this is very common in the northern region eastern and lately, it’s taking up the suburbs of the central region and the greater Masaka. One of the causes of Teenage pregnancies in Uganda is poverty where very many families cannot afford to support their own children and the only way to see them survive is to let them hang around men who convince them with gifts and end up having unprotected sex with them and this is how they end up getting pregnant. The pandemic also worsened the situation and it all started with the lockdown that was imposed by the government where very many school-going children were forced to stay home and since they were very idle some of these habits would come in and parents didn’t have full control their kids. Some of these teenage mothers are not sure who the fathers of their children are since they interact with very many different men, this also exposes them to other risks like contracting sexually transmitted diseases which is a real-life threat in this current generation. Many become helpless and resort to other bad habits like drug abuse and many times end up committing suicide being the last option left to live. Sapphire Women under Sapphire Africa foundation has done quite an awesome job in trying to curb the rising cases of teenage motherhood. Sapphire women have come up with numerous programs to help change the behaviors attitudes and knowledge of these children and their parents so that they can adopt healthy lifestyles for better life choices. The programs that sapphire Women has come up with include; health educating teenage mothers about the dangers of early pregnancies and this has helped change their way of conduct towards such issues since they’re aware of the consequences that may arise. It has also come up with mentorship programs where these individuals gather and are taught how best to go about certain life situations. Its has also started vocational Skilling programs that are meant to equip them with the skills like tailoring, soap making, and weaving of baskets which in turn will help them earn a living to sustain themselves and provide a few of their needs at disposure. Among other programs, this was started last year in one of the central districts that is Nakaseke district where very many teenagers and teenage mothers were helped with different items like food soap clothes and many were supported emotionally to rediscover their potential and give life a second chance. However, the Sapphire Africa foundation provided the support we could at that time. There’s almost of the work that needs to be done since many of these children need to go back to school and can barely afford school fees and provide for other necessities. To all our donors we would like to thank you for your continued support and we, therefore, ask you not to get tired of supporting us, together with you we shall change the lives of so many people. Thank you and God bless you!