THE PROOF IS IN THE NUMBERS

Over seven billion people walk the earth, 37,873,253 of them are Ugandans. Two million of these, minors lured into marriage every year according to a report compiled by UNFPA, UNICEF,WHO and The World Bank.
Anyone below the age of eighteen in Uganda is a minor but majority of the girls in her rural areas are married off before their fourteenth birthday. It goes without saying then that the rate of teenage pregnancies in this country is sky high and the causes though several pale in comparison to the main one, "Early marriage". I need not remind you that this is a human rights violation but to aid your better understanding of this evil, let me put things in perspective for you.
            The girl child has had to battle with a lot the world over, its no mistake that women are considered a minority group even to activists but the plight of the girl child in developing countries is far worse than that of girls elsewhere in the world and sad though it makes me, Uganda is such a place.
Girls here are thought of as property, good only for dowry to their guardians, educating them is more an inconvenience than an investment and sold in to marriage by the very people that are meant to protect them, these girls are robbed of not only their childhood but of their right to choose whom and when to marry, a right to study and have a fair chance at getting a decent job.
             Five years ago today, I had the fortune of volunteering with a christian N.G.O (Arise Africa International) that specialises in planting churches in Busogas rural areas and sensitises women in the part they can play towards development and it was there that I met Fatima,a mother to two and fifteen. She like many of the girls had come seeking free medical attention for their children and themselves for they could not afford the services, sadly though for some of them and Fatima, it was already too late, she married off by her uncle at twelve bore her first son shortly after she turned thirteen , a year later came her daughter. She was forced to dig and sell her produce, there after she was to hand over all her earnings to her husband who would give her a meagre portion to cater to family welfare and with the rest, he married two other girls who in turn joined Fatima's cycle. All six of them are HIV positive, they earn not more than a dollar a day and for them all hope of survival is none existent but Fatima and her co-wives are the lucky ones, thousands of teenagers in Uganda's rural areas die while giving birth for one, they are too young to deal with this and there are no amenities to facilitate safe delivery for them.
So death, disease, poverty and oppression awaits most of the girls living in rural areas because early arranged marriages are a cultural practice even the urban living teenager indulges in sexual activity quite early and often a time it's unsafe, blame this on the media that parents them and the total lack of sex education.
With this in mind, how do we rectify the gross error of teenage pregnancy?
            Relief can only come if the girl child is deliberately educated for this will delay any form of early marriages but also increase her chances of making better choices as pertains her spouse,health plan, career and growth also if schools,religious institutions and Development partners took the initiative to sensitise communities about the dangers of teenage pregnancy and the benefits of delaying it and parents/guardians made sure they gave their children proper sex education, then there might be a glimmer of hope for the Ugandan girl