June 9, 2021
By: Aruna Kamara in Tonkolili
Adolescent girls in Tonkolili district have vowed to say no to sexual and Gender Base violence and Teenage Pregnancy. They have conceded that the two issues have the potential of derailing education to become useful citizens.
They made the statement at a one day awareness raising training on Gender Based Violence and Teenage Pregnancy Prevention for Youth Groups, and District Youth Councils in Tonkolili District, which took place at the District Youth Center in Magburaka.
According to them “ the training has provided us with safe spaces for we the adolescent with a strong focus on issues relating to teenage pregnancy and sexual and reproductive health, which has empowered us to say no abuse against us’’.
“If any man calls me for sexual reason, I will tell my mother to take action against that uncontrollable man,’’ Juliet Kamara from Papana High School said, adding that “if we do that they men or boys will not come around us to sexually abuse us that will lead to teenage Pregnant’’.
Tenneh Sesay from Mathora Secondary School in Magburaka said that “we need to be content with what our parents give to us as lunch so that we can say no to the men with sexual advances”.
Juliet Kamara from the Children Forum Network said that he will engage his colleagues in the schools to abstain from sex and those who have experienced teenage pregnancy to learn from their mistakes and not to allow a repeat of it in their lives.
The Youth Officer attached to the Tonkolili District Council, Michael F. Kolleh said that Teenage Pregnancy is one of the most pervasive problems affecting the health, social, economic and political progress and empowerment of young women and girls in Sierra Leone, adding that teenage pregnancy is alarming in the country and should be reduced.
He said it is their responsibility to protect the girls from any forms of abuse and therefore thanked UNDFPA for supporting the Ministry of youth affairs to scale up awareness to curb the menace in the society.
A representative from the National Secretariat for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy, Marian Sam-Mboma said that all teenage pregnancies, irrespective of the outcome, have serious long-term and wide-ranging consequences, ranging from health complications both for the young mother and the baby to broader economic concern and cautioned the adolescent girls to abstain from sex.
She said that government is committed to reducing teenage pregnancy in the country and called on them to disseminate the message of the prevention of Teenage Pregnancy and Gender Based Violence.
Madam Marian Sam-Mboma stated that community parents will also help reduce teenage pregnancy, noting that “if you see a girl child going the wrong way, call her and advise her to be focused on her education’’
She said that she is happy when the adolescent girls in Tonkolili have expressed their commitment to say no to abuse against them.
Isata Kamara , who is the Chairperson of the Youth Committee in Ward 170 in the Tonkolili District said that teenage pregnancy is on the increase in her ward and the council has engaged the bike riders whom according to statistics are re responsible and they must desist from impregnating the girls.
Hassan Dumbuya from the Ministry of Youth Affairs encouraged the adolescent girls to stick to their commitment of saying no to teenage pregnancy, adding that UNFPA which supported the Ministry wants to see the youths protected against abuses of Teenage Pregnancy and Sexual and Gender based violence.
She called on the girls to treat their academic work with the seriousness it deserves in order to contribute meaningfully towards the development of Tonkolili.