NOEL IYOMBWA writes
AN 18-YEAR-OLD mother of Mwembeshi area in Shibuyunji District has advised other girls to stay away from premarital sex and concentrate on studies.
In an interview with the Sun newspaper in Mwembeshi Prudence Burton said young girls should stay away from vices such as casual sex and alcohol because they were a threat to their future.
Prudence said she regretted becoming pregnant as her life had come to “a standstill”.
She said after falling pregnant in 2017 her life became hard as she was young and had no idea about motherhood.
The pregnancy forced her to drop out of school.
Prudent narrated that she was impregnated by a fellow pupil but that the father of her child managed to complete school while she was just at home.
She said she was looking forward to going back to school but did not have anyone to sponsor her.
Out of desperation, Prudence said, she started doing piece work at her former school so that she could raise money to enable her to go back to school.
She said her dream was to become a lawyer and that she would work hard and make it come true because she had learnt from her mistakes.
“I had my child when I was 17 years old, when I was in Grade Eight. So my school programme was disturbed.
“But after having a child I couldn’t go back to school due to lack of sponsorship. My mother is just a marketeer and my step-father has no capacity to sponsor me, though he has been good to me and my siblings,” the young mother said.
“I regret having fallen pregnant because my education came to a standstill, but now that my child has grown, I want to go back to school. That is why I do piece works at Mwembeshi Primary School, which is my former school, and I am saving the money I get paid,” she said.
Prudence is working as a shop keeper at her former school and has so far worked there for two months.
She appealed to well-wishers to help her go back to school.
Government has been implementing the ‘Back-to-School’ policy under which girls who fall pregnant while at school are allowed to go back after giving birth.
It is also implementing the ‘Keeping Girls in School’ programme to help girls from vulnerable families from dropping out of school as a result of economic hardships.
