International Day of the Girl Child

Today - October 11, 2012 - was the first International Day of the Girl Child!

In December 2011, the United Nations adopted October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child to "to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.”  The focus this year, of the inauguration day, is bring attention to and combat child marriages.

This is a reality that has become more real in my life since moving to Niger.   And admittedly, one of my hardest culture shocks/struggles since returning to Canada this summer for my year home assignment.

It has been a shock to see that in the 4.5 years I have been gone – the “novelty” of teenage pregnancy has seemed to have gone mainstream in the acceptance level of society.  Certainly, there will always be situations when this occurs (perhaps more so as our society moves continually away from “abstinence until marriage”) . . . but it appears to me that our society has moved from accepting this as a reality to instead aggrandizing teenage pregnancy.  I now read magazine articles and watch commercials promoting tv shows which follow the lives of teenage moms. 

And I wonder when this became so “normal” as to have a tv show which glorifies in our society something that is being fought against around the world.

Admittedly, I have not watched these tv shows, so I do not know if the message is one intended to promote or highlight the difficulties to counteract the growing population of teenage moms.  But whatever the intent – teenage pregnancy has become popularized.   In speaking with a former high school principle last week, I learned that the new craze in schools are groups of teenage girls making “pregnancy pacts”.

In what seems a world away – life in Niger is so very different: this is normal, but we fight against it – fight for the young girls to keep their childhood.  And efforts of development organizations around the world are focused on elevating the status of teenage girls and an effort towards education of girls and eliminating child brides.

In the villages where I work – I have surveyed families of mothers who were married in their teens.  One couple I surveyed, recently married, reported that the new bride was 14 years of age – the husband 17.

In Niger – the only development statistics that we score the highest in are those to the negative:

• highest adolescent fertility rate, due to teenage brides: 2.7 out of 10 women giving birth in their teens
• highest fertility rate in the world: women giving birth to an average of 6.9 children
• worst maternal mortality rate on the planet: at a 1:7 risk (compared to maternal mortality in developed nations at 1:4000)
• infant mortality rate second highest in the world: 116 deaths to 1000 live births

When a young teenage girl is married and gives birth in her teens, she is at risk for many problems:

• does not finish school (if she was in school) – illiterate
• increased chance of HIV/AIDS
• increased risk of fistula in giving birth
• isolation

In Niger, my team has started a school called Niger Vocational Training School.  The girls who attend this school are aged 12-18 – and their parents sign a contract that while their girls attend, they will not be married.  While a few girls of the original 60 have left the school to get married, this year marked the end of the first two-year session and a number of the girls graduated!!

What do they learn at the school?

The girls program is focused on training the girls in a marketable skill – sewing and learning to be a tailor. 

When the girls graduate, they will own their sewing machine and the have the knowledge to start their own business.

The girls also learn to do various other helpful skills in life:

1. knitting – so they can make clothes for their children in cold season

2. learning to plant a garden, for vegetables to cook healthy for a family

3.  and some of the girls participated in a micro-enterprise type project where they learned to bead necklaces, bracelets and earrings for sale.

          

They learn skills to help them with their business, such as learning to read and write, math and french:

           

And finally, the girls learn about health and nutrition topics so they can be healthy and raise their children in a healthier environment:

 Because of this program – these girls have a step up in life!  They can live a little longer as children and not wives and mothers at the ages 12-18.  They will graduate with a marketable skill.  They will graduate with knowledge and skills regarding health, nutrition, safety – so that when they are wives and mothers, their families will have a greater chance at breaking the Niger statistics in health and poverty.

Finally, because these girls have attended this program – they now have a sense of worth – as women, as individuals . . . one loved and cared for!

This school is now entering an optional third year for those girls who chose to return.  They will continue in their studies and learning to be tailors.

God has blessed the Niger team to be able to make a difference in the lives of these girls . . . . and a step towards making a more lasting change difference in the lives of future Nigeriens – one girl, one family at a time!