At least 100 school going girls have benefited from a mentorship programme spearheaded by the Homa Bay County Governor’s wife Rosila Awiti towards fighting teenage pregnancies in Ndhiwa Sub County.
Homa Bay County is number two in the country with 38 per cent teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence cases after Narok County while Ndhiwa is leading in the region.
Speaking during the launch of mentorship programme in Pala Ward, Kabuoch Sub- Location Rosilla Awiti said that they have partnered with other Non-Governmental Organizations in the county to run the programme so as to curb the menace in the area.
Mrs. Awiti said that sexual reproductive health is a very important topic that girls should be taught at an early stage to fight the vice.
“We talked to girls on the consequences of early pregnancies and how they should carry themselves during the normal monthly period,” said Awiti.
She said apart from the mentorship programme, they also gave the girls dignity bags containing sanitary towels, bar soaps, toothpaste and toilet paper donated by
United Nation Fund Population Activities (UNFPA) through Kenya Red Cross.She urged parents to be close to their girls so that they could tell them their problems to avoid the cases where girls go to seek help from people who take advantage of their situations and later impregnate them.
“Let parents have a good relationship with their girls so that the girls can be free to share their problems,” she further said.
At the same time, Awiti warned parents against colluding with the culprits of defilement saying that the victims would be affected for the rest of their lives.
“Even if the parents compromise with the perpetrators, the victim is the one who will suffer because that thing will forever remain in her mind forever,” she noted.
On his part, the area Chief George Awuoche applauded the programme saying that it would help a lot in the fight against the vice in the region.
Awuoche said some parents have been colluding with those people who have been defiling their girls hence giving them hard times in the fight the vice in the region.
“Parents normally challenge us when taking the culprit to the court. Most of them transfer their children to their far off relatives to weaken the evidence,” Awuoche added
Some of the beneficiaries of the mentorship programme welcomed the move saying they have been facing the challenges in purchasing the materials since their parents could not afford them.
By Dan Oduor/Davis Langat
