The Overthinker's Opinion

Child Marriages: A Set Back To Gender Equality in Africa

Join the fight

In the past, parents get husbands for their girl children even before they are born.

Child marriage is a formal or informal union entered by an individual before reaching the age of 18.

For as long as we can remember, Child Marriages has been a major problem in many countries and the world at large.

Reviewing the statistics for sub-Saharan Africa, about 125milion girls get married before their 18th birthday.

In Africa, Niger having the highest Prevalence of 76%, while Algeria being among the least with 3%.

While many countries have put up laws to check child marriages, conditions like poverty, insecurity, tradition and culture; as marrying a virgin is regarded as prestigious, push underage children into marriages.

These children most of the times go ignorantly, not knowing what awaits them,

10yrs old marries 28yrs oldIn Kano Nigeria

While others are forcefully taken to their new homes with threads of being disowned if they dare to leave their homes.

Gender inequality, Broken marriages, Infant mortality, Abuse of rights and depression, to name the few, are some of the effects or consequences of child marriages in Africa.

On Oct 24th 2007, Political leaders, activist, local chiefs and religious representatives from 27 countries in the Central and West African regions came together in Dakar, Senegal’s capital to discuss ways on ending child marriages in their respective countries. In a similar gathering, world leaders pledged to end Child marriages by 2030 but it seems to be an impossible mission as the rate of child marriages keep rising and it’s predicted that it would take about 100 years for it to be stopped at the current rate.

Edited By: Kongnso Joyce F

To get latest updates from The African Teenager ,

Subscribe⚠️

Do you have a question(s) which you need an answer(s) to?

Contact the African teenager or

TEENAGE PREGNANCIES

Little Gladys Chelagat with her baby

On June 27, 2005 Africa had her youngest mother; Gladys Chelagat, a young Kenyan lady, who became the youngest mother in Africa at that time to give birth at age 10.

Everyone was shocked with some saying its a lie.

Now, that was 13years ago and the number of kids under 13 years old who are becoming mothers have risen since then.

These kids are Most of the times victims of rape and in some cases, they are just caught up in adventure as they try to explore their bodies as it developes. These are all as a result of lack of Sex Education in our homes and schools which leads to poor emotional management and poor among teenagers and even adults as some of the kids are abused by their parents.

“World wide about 16million teenage girls give birth every year” says the U.N Population Fund. And most of these teenagers are from Africa and Asia.. .

Studies show that, in many African countries, by the age of 18, about 20-40% of teenage girls are married and when they get pregnant at their early ages, their body relative to their sizes may not be ready for the changes that comes with pregnancies thus they are vulnerable to infections or Abstetric Fistula; which is a hole between the rectum and the vagina caused by prolonged obstructed labour.

With the stigma attached to teen pregnancies, teenagers turn to start taking hard drugs and going to unqualified practitioners to carry out the abortion processes in fear of what their parents would do them and what friends would say when they find out about it. These processes end the lifes of many teens and in some cases render them infertile due to the destruction of the womb.

Being a continent with high rate of teen pregnancies, only a few African countries have legalised abortion like South Africa and Tunisia. In other countries abortion is undertaken when the life of the mother is in danger.

As it stands, African remains the continent with the highest teen pregnancies and in a bit to check teen pregnancies, the government could integrate Sex education into the school curicolum and the parents inclusive should talk to their kids about sex(abstinence and safe sex).

Why Sex Education is Failing in Africa

I remember those awkward moments when my family and I are watching Nollywood movies and suddenly a sex scene pop up on tv. Every discussion seizes and total silence is observed as if in memory of a dead relative while the elderly persons scrambles to find the remote. This is a common phenomenon in most African homes. Parents change channels or send their children away whenever a sex scene comes up on TV or seem to be coming up soon.

After so many years I came to understand that the silence as mentioned earlier, was in memory of the departed soul of Sex Education. Africans know nothing about sex education and just the word sex, even some parents can’t say it to their children. Sex in some homes is a forbiden word.

As a test, if I ask you to define sex Education I bet you won’t be able to define it but don’t be scared I will do it for you. Sex education is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual reproduction, age of consent, safe sex, birth control and sexual abstinence.

Sex is a natural part of life that happens with or without education.

This topic which in most cases is left untouched by a majority of parents and school institutions in Africa is very important. The reasons for it not being taught in schools or discussed at homes are raised that the:

• parents look at it to be a taboo talking about sex to their children,

• some also say talking about sex to their children will encourage them to go into sexual activities,

• both teachers and parents say they are just shy of the discussion topic.

That is why like my parents, they won’t want to watch a sex scene on TV with the children around. (Just to Point this out, I’m not saying it is good to watch sex scenes with children)

For this reason, children just like I did, sneak in their absence and watch the movies and thus learning the dark side of what they were supposed to have learned from their parente.

In every educational institution, Mathematics is a compulsory subject because we need maths in our day-to-day lifes but sex education have not been incorporated into school programs which is also as important as the mathematics itself .

This is either because the authorities that be are ignorant of or neglect the importance of sex education in the community.

In Cameroon where I’m from, there is a lil bit of sex education in Religious studies which is taught as a topic but not regard as a subject of importance when Most exams are launched. One would often hear of 2 or 4 subjects excluding Religious studies. As a result, they don’t come up with programs Which would aid in the training of sex educators.

With the parents and teachers absent in the education of the teenagers about their body, sex, time and rights, this leads to the wide spread of STDs and an exponential rise in the number of teen pregnancies.

Parents should not allow the generational differences which they have with their children to stand in the way of them building the future of their children. It’s said “prevention is better than cure”

AFRICA IN DYING NEED OF SEX EDUCATION

Yesterday I sent a link about sex education to my big sister, expecting her to browse the link and thank me later but to my greatest surprise I woke up to her message in the morning which stated that what I sent to here was “nonsense”. Her reason being that, she saw the word SEX in the link.

Though being a mother of two, she is still uncomfortable with the word “SEX”. This is a common phenomenon in Africa which is the outcome of lack of sex education in our homes and schools.

Why sex education?

During adolescence, the developmental hormones don’t only work overtime but they also bring changes to the body especially the sex organs.

and teenagers being lovers of adventure, might be curious to explore the changes. Thus the absence of an appropriate sex education would result to Teen Pregnancies, spread of STDs and poor mind sets.

Sex being a natural aspect of life which happens with or without education, should be incorporated appropriately into school curriculum of all educational institutions.

It should be mandatory, comprehensive, medically accurate and taught through out school years just like Mathematics because Sex Education is a Human Right and has shown to help and not hurt students.

We need SE X EDUCATION

You might not have known the importance of this spoke about Sex Education. So I’m going too bring out some of the high rated importance of sex education. That way, you will have it at the back of your mind at all times. These points apply to all genders.

•It protects them from Unwanted Pregnancies, STDs, Miscarriagies, Abortions…

•It teaches them personal hygiene.

•It also prepare them for Puberty; that way they won’t be taken off-guard and thus prevent embarrassments.

•Sex education expose them to their gender identity, body images, sexual expression, intimacy and marriage this prevent them from being lured into homosexuality.

•It also teaches them to channel their energy into more important things like studies and work.

Our children risk their lives when they remain unaware of sex and sex education will expose them to what they need to know and at the right time. Due to the absence of sex education, puberty take our children by surprise leaving them in shock and confusion which means looking for solutions which might land them in the wrong hands.

For the sake of Africa’s future which lives in our children, sex education should be taken serious and taught through out both at home and in schools.

Note that the sex educators should be well trained to prevent the teaching of unethical sexual information.

The time is now or never.

Follow me on Facebook

@afriteen or The African Teenager

Pope Francis Ruled against relaxing Celibacy law.

pope delivering a speech from his window

According to the Catholic Church’s code of canon Celibacy is a special gift from God. They consider it as a discipline and not a doctrine as they believe it’s a way of following Christ and also that the church is the family. Those who are happy with the law say it allows the priest time and energy to focus completely on their flock and emulate Jesus who was unmarried and more faithful in his service. For decades, the Catholic Church has been known to having priests and sisters live their whole life without a partner but in recent years, a huge number of sex abuses have surfaced within the catholic church which have caused lot of people question the faith of the catholic church and also to put a question mark on the legitimacy of the celibacy.

From his window, Pope Francis on this day Wednesday the 12^th 2020 backed away from a huge anticipated decision on allowing married priests in the amazon. He urged bishops to encourage missionaries in the amazon as a way of addressing the shortage of priests instead. In Response, “Francis was scared of splitting the church” says Marco Politi a veteran Vatican watcher who authored “The Loneliness of Francis” while many feel very not satisfied, they have no other choice but to stay with the law.

subscribe to my blog for more on developing stories that might or will affect the lives of The African Teenager.

I’M SORRY YOU ARE UNDERAGE: the ultimate dream killer

Declaration!!!! (t?=my age)

Three years ago, a friend in the UK introduced me to Drop-shipping; an online retail business but I was unable to start up as soon as she did because of finances and the start-up requirements. To cut the long story short, I went to UBa Bank today to get a prepaid card with which my paypal account could be linked to in other to be able to boast my blog posts on my Facebook page and Instagram and Dropshipping too has been on my mind. Got a photocopy of my id card 12,500 frs and a passport size photograph as listed in the requirements to get a prepaid card, then I got to the lady who gave me a form to fill up the required information just to hear her ask me if I am t? years and of course I said yes with a broad smile but she said “I am sorry but you are underage we will need your parents to sign…(I could not understand what ever she said afterwards)”. That phrase hit me like a Tsunami, going through my plans and wishes. I realized I was failing in my endeavors and it also brought to my attention that in Africa, the law makers who are very old as we all know, make sure that they make everyone to grow old before succeeding in whatever they want to do. If that is not the case, how do you explain the fact that 16 year olds are enrolling into the universities, with some graduating at age 19 but one has to reach 21 years of age before having the right to a prepaid bank card and obviously a bank account? It is like saying, “Africa is a continent of and for the old and if you are not old you cannot do anything but for those who must do something, you need to be permitted by the old people in charge”.

But then, how can Africa grow; how can the change which we all cry out for come if the laws that we all are bounded by are not changed? Our youths are unable to build up businesses because they are not yet grandfathers or mothers and are ready for retirement. Just imagine a young lady with a brilliant business idea rushes to a bank to create an account to facilitate her business venture and she’s turned off because she is not yet 21 years of age. Our laws have made it impossible for the young people to start life while they still have the energy to work and not sleep or collapse in meetings. In other countries, 18 years is a legal age but Africans make theirs up to 21 that way fraud, corruption and bribery might step in to play, all to the benefit of those in office while we all suffer.

Now I have only one question left unanswered which is: How do I get my account connected?? I might have to fly out of this retirement home.

CORONAVIRUS: What you should know

The new virus out break which was first discovered in china called the CORONAVIRUS has claimed a lot of lives around the globe. This virus has put the whole planet in fear with some people saying the next outbreak might be the “Zombievirus” because the world keeps degrading but nothing seems to care. We use trillions to invest out of our planet while the planet is dying as the minutes pass. Back to the topic of our discussion, what is this coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are common among animals. In rare cases but now common, they are what scientist call zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans. The virus can make people sick usually with mild to moderate upper respiratory track illness similar to a common cold.

Symptoms of this deathly virus include but not limited to the following listed below:

Human Coronaviruses are most commonly spread from an infected person to another or others. And it is spread and contracted through:

And for those with weak immune systems like the elderly and the young, there’s a high chance that the virus could cause a lower and a lot more serious respiratory track illness like Pneumonia or Bronchitis.

The air by coughing and sneezing most especially in public.
Close contact such as hugging, kissing, sexual intercourse and shaking of hands.
Touching of objects or surfaces with the virus on it and the touching your mouth or any other openings to your system before washing your hands.
Rarely, fecal contamination.

Currently there are no vaccines available or if available in limited supply to protect everyone from the virus. But it’s been said that drinking much garlic sauce will help as a prevention. But o to be on the safe side;

Clean your hands with soap and water or an alcoholic based hand rubs. It is advised to wash your hands
- After sneezing
  - When caring for the sick
  - Before, during and after you prepare food
  - Before and after eating
  - After using the toilet
  - When you feel your hands are dirty
  - After handling animals
Cover your nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing with a tissue of flexed elbow. This is to keep a y contamination away from your hands which can easily enter the mouth eyes or nostrils.
Avoid close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms. In general, avoid anyone with the symptoms listed above.
Educate the public; tell as much people as you can , raise awareness of the virus because the more people know about it, the less likely it spreads.

If you are mildly sick, keep yourself hydrated, stay at home and if you are concern about the symptoms, visit the nearest hospital as soon as possible.

subscribe to our blog for more on coronavirus

visit us on faceboook @ The African Teenager