Reflection on Mothers Day. My second cousin got pregnant @ a time I had plans to ask her join me on the Plateau once she finishes her WASC... I felt this one is worth saving and can make her mothers heart glad @ last. When I later heard that this teenager got pregnant in S.S.S 2,anger welled in me.I was miffed and I decided to let her face her fate. Last year,I started having a serious rethink. It became a burden in my heart and I had to face reality. Okay.Fine.Shes a mother now. An unprepared mother. But must she suffer for her foolishness for life? Is that the end of her formal education? This is the fate of many teenagers who get pregnant like my cousin. Beating them,insulting them,being estranged from them,ridiculing them wont change the situation. They are already pregnant. Our society isnt helping matters @ all. In most secondary schools,the boy that puts her in the family way continues his education.Infact,as much as I like Mainframe Productions(Opomulero),that act in the movie Yellow Card remains a no-no for me.The boy was even made a senior prefect boy of the school. Is that a reward for impregnating his schoolmate? And he even got a pretty girl to date while the mother of his son just went off like that. That is society putting the blame on the girl alone. I hate that word mistake. How can you impregnate a girl by mistake? Seriously? Was it water you poured into her? You missed Biology class? The last time I checked,Integrated Science is yet to suffer the same fate as History,Yoruba,Igbo or Hausa in our Secondary Schools. Theres no mistake when you put a girl in the family way. When you lift your skirt,pull down your pants,exposes your belly,open your legs wide for a boy or a man to gain access into your pride,dont tell me its a mistake. You didnt miss Integrated Science class. Infact you laughed when the topic Reproduction came up. What can society do? There are genuine couples,singles that are financially independent,emotional stable,living in decent homes who can adopt these babies if the girls family cant take on the burden of an extra mouth.If the girls family is too shamed to come to terms with her pregnancy. Society can help! Im not talking about the racketeering adoption hell homes that abound. Theres a process on how these things can be properly done. The adoption of a child doesnt get finalised immediately. There are follow-ups in a working system. It takes time before a baby can be available for you to adopt after being screened and proper background investigation must have been carried out on prospective parent(s). Even at that,taking a baby home doesnt finalise the adoption yet.-In a working system. That way,the issue of using a child for ritual purposes or any other inhumane and wicked purposes will be highly curtailed. Adoption isnt a curse. Theres nothing wrong in adopting a child. I know some people are incapable of loving anyone who doesnt come from their loins. We know them. From the way they employ underage as house-helps and treat them like 2nd class humans. These are some of the things the women in the Senate,House of Representatives etc should be discussing. Not just forming yeye activities. The women in power today in Nigeria are mostly annointed candidate of one political godfather I remember during the last election,one was thrown up in my town. In what ways shes impacted Badagrians,I dont know. Even when you see her and you greet her,she keeps you at arms length.Anyway she didnt win.Thanking God for little mercies. Those are mostly the kind of women you see in politics. Decorated dolls. They are busy looting the economy in connivance with their male counterparts. Floating yeye and nonsensical NGOs all about. To pass bills that addresses prevalent issues,you wont hear them. They are bereft of ideas. You wonder if they think through issues at all. We can save the futures of these teenagers. Their future shouldnt be in jeopardy because they ignorantly choose to be reckless. Their cases shouldnt be hopeless. There are many ingenous solutions to help them. If only we can move past the initial disappointments. Ive called my cousin to come see me. She promised to,but I havent seen her. Probably she still feels shame or believes I want to lambast her. Having a child isnt a sickness. May God help us. G.S Agbaosi (C),2014.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 18:34:09 +0000