13 year old girl impregnated by teacher and he walks free- right or wrong?
A girl gives birth at 13.
It happens all the time in Kenya.
A caesarean section was needed.
I don’t know how often girls this young are able to give birth naturally.
Need to look into it.
A girl is not an adult before she is 18 according to the law.
She is not ready to give birth either.
A high percentage of girls die due to complications while delivering a child below 15.
And 18.
A girl is not ready emotionally either.
Not ready for the enormous amount of pain that flows through a woman’s body while giving birth.
A Swedish female comedian once tried to make men relate to the pain while sitting in talk- show-sofa on TV: “It is like shitting this 6-seater sofa and adding three big armchairs”.
And this experience a girl of 13 years went through last month.
On February 17th 2021 a baby girl was born somewhere in Kenya.
A child giving birth to another child.
Covid and the loss of normal daily activities contributed.
The 13 year old was impregnated by her teacher in English.
She wasn’t raped, she was rather tricked by sweet words and gifts, but behind it all is the obvious power men and, in this case a teacher has over innocent girls and their students.
The family noticed only when she was 6 months pregnant.
They brought the issue to the Elders.
It was decided that the man would take financial responsibility for the child, as in jail he would loose his income, and consequently the young mother would be without financial support.
The punishment for statutory rape in Kenya is 14 years.
The teacher who is unmarried is now free and still teaching.
He is paying an allowance to the girl’s family.
This will allow the 13 year old to continue her Primary schooling and end 8th grade.
A former Executive director for Unicef – Carol Bellamy – once said; “if we fail our girls we fail their children, we fail their communities and we fail the very idea of human progress”.
What is your take? Right or wrong?
Strategic Communications | Technical Writer and Editor | Speechwriter | Team Building and Leadership Development
3 年I take the side against patriarchy. Patriarchy has never worked for anyone, and it never will. As long as we continue to look the other way from patriarchal systems, or accept them, we will never have peace or justice in this world.
High energy pharma commercial leader | 25 years track record of delivering tangible business results | Europe, USA, China, Africa | Expertise in Brand strategy and Commercial excellence & execution
3 年Wow Camilla, you are really asking one of the hardest questions of humankind as it rattles on the Trade offs between ethics, morale and plain survival, which we so often face. In this case there is also the Trade off between the short and long term. While the Elders may have taken the ?right“ decision in the short term, but in the long term I think 2 other things may be more important, and the right decision: 1. punish the teacher’s behavior as a crime and make him face the consequences. It must be a signal to the community clearly indicating right from wrong. 2. educate the community about these kind of issues, educate the children early about sexual and reproductive health, and as early as culturally feasible, about sex and family planning. Thank you Camilla, as a side effect you remind me (and us) about the importance of the work we do.
Co-Founder Augusta Nordic | Founder Lunette | Interim | Consulting | Mentoring
3 年Education is the key, and also the only way to change. First of all people need to understand that this isn't right (adult and a child, especially his student which means that there is power structure), but it might still happen (teenagers are curious and vulnerable to seduction), and overall there should not be shame related to sex, pregnancy and rapes etc. so people would talk more. Knowledge is power. No easy answers but if there would have been more education and knowledge, this might not happened. Elders probably thought that this is the best solution for all; now the question is can he do this again?
Data Strategy & Governance | Data Foundation | Customer Insights | Ph.D in Chemistry | EMBA Graduate, The University of Chicago Booth, School of Business | Master in Informatics & Data Science, UC Berkeley
3 年Camilla Wirseen, thank you for your posting. I read, and I need to take a moment to take in not only what you wrote, but all emotions that have surfaced during my read and afterwards. My take: as I child when I did not like one thing, I set my mind on to it and changed it. I ask myself: if I were that 13 years old, and I knew more fortunate people would have the chance to turn this situation around but failed to do so because they just aknwoleded or lived by it just because there were not me, what would I do? I haven't figured out a way to change this, not yet.
International Development Professional|Regenerative Agroforestry Specialist|Consultant|Translator
3 年These issues are very common in Tanzania too.