Teen Pregnancy: The Story of How It Feels to be Pregnant at 16

Fredrick Mugira

July 03, 2013

A typical day for a female student in secondary school in Uganda consists of attending class, hanging out with colleagues and maybe waking up early for morning preps. But for a senior two student Annet (not real name), every day has been unpredictable.

Annet, aged 16, is six months pregnant. She got pregnant on her first day of having sex.  The father of her kid is her classmate. They have both been studying at a secondary school in Isingiro district until Annet went into hiding.

I met Annet at Ruti Health Center III in Nyamitanga Mbarara municipality. She was among the people attending a sensitization meeting on reproductive health by FABS Production- a community based organization in Mbarara.

A sensitization meeting on reproductive health by FABS Production- a community based organization in Mbarara. Speaking is the Organization’s Director Innocent Nabasa.

Annet sat on the bench quietly. She did not interfere in her neighbors affairs. Her stomach protruded a bit. She had put on a little weight and her cheeks filled. To a casual observer, Annet seemed just fat, but what a wrong impression that was. 

She sat on the dusty bench with a plea in her eyes, but seemed not to have enough breathe to translate this plea into words.

I developed interests in Annet a few minutes before she sat down. She passed by a group of three seemingly rural women who all turned and looked at her. She also turned and glowered at them sullenly.

It was not until the end of the sensitization meeting that I came to talk to Annet.

I was about to read the message on a poster in the health center’s waiting room when the door of the counseling room opened and Annet came out.  

As I created rapport with her, a curious numbness began to spread over her.  It took the intervention of Nabasa Innocent, the Director of FABS Productions for Annet to tell me her story. As Nabasa tried to pick up the trend of our conversation, Annet felt more relaxed but her arms remained folded across her chest. She had already narrated her story to Nabasa in the counseling room.

Innocent Nabasa, the Director FABS Production addressing the participants

 “The first thing I thought about when I found out I was pregnant was to kill myself,” she said

As Annet further narrated to me in the local language Runyankole, I came to learn that she was coming from school when her schoolmate approached her and convinced her to start a love affair. The boy, a teenager too, did not offer her anything but she was easily swayed by her good behaviors and the caring attitude. That was close to the end of last year.

A few months later, she was pregnant. When her boyfriend (she refused to name him) realized that he was in danger of being arrested by police to face defilement charges, he tried to deny the pregnancy.

The more the pregnancy grew, the more she found it hard to wake up early in the morning to read. She couldn’t hang out with colleagues. Her class attendance deteriorated. She would be sick on some days. And for the fear of her parents noticing, she decided turn to turn to a lonely life.

As the stomach continued to protrude, she decided to drop out of school and hide from parents.  She is now hiding at her sister’s home in Ruti Mbarara. It is from her hiding place in Ruti where she learnt about the FABS Production’s sensitization meeting on reproductive health.

Participants, including girls of Annet's age attending the sensitization meeting

 As Annet continued to narrate to me with her face showing signs of pain, Nabasa listened carefully.

Nabasa told me Annet was heartened by a movie she had just watched during the sensitization exercise.

 “She narrated to us this same story while crying, we have referred her to our partners,” Nabasa told me.

Her referral letter indicated she was referred to Marie Stopes Uganda.

I gazed at Annet as she walked homewards confused. We bade no good bye. She held her referral letter in her left hand as the surrounding buildings and trees swallowed her.  

I wonder where Annet is now.  But I know she is one out of four teenage girls in Uganda that gets pregnant annually.