By ‘Majirata Latela
“I dropped out last year after I found out that I was pregnant, now my mother is forcing me to marry the father of my child.”
These are the words of Lineo Motsekuoa (not her real name), a 16-year old girl of Masemousu in the Mafeteng district. Lineo is eight months pregnant. She is one of many girls who fall prey to teenage pregnancy and end up in a loveless marriage as a result.
According to a 2021 Unicef case study on delaying adolescent pregnancy and child marriage, getting married as an adolescent is a longstanding practice in Lesotho, as it is in many societies across the Southern Africa region and globally.
The drivers of the practice have varied over time and across contexts. Traditionally, these unions were a means of formalising reciprocal relationships between families and solidifying social networks.
The social and cultural norms underlying marriage related decisions still inform the choices that girls, boys and their families make. Today, these norms work in concert with two main drivers: poverty and pregnancy.
Lineo narrates her story to theReporter newspaper on how she fell pregnant. And now, her mother is forcing her to get married to a teenage boyfriend who is 17 years of age. She now regrets falling for the boy and ultimately not using protective devices when sleeping around.
“My now soon-to-be my husband proposed love to me in December 2020 before I visited my relatives in Mohale’s hoek for Christmas holidays. When I came back in January we started seeing each other regularly. That is when I started falling in love with him. He would tell me how much he loves me and wanted to marry me after I finish school.
“I remember on vividly that it was a Saturday when we met and he took me to a hut where he used to sleep in not very far from his parents’ house. His parents had gone for a funeral that day. He took away my virginity.
“We did not use protection at all because he promised that I will not be pregnant since it was my first time having sex. I remember asking him if he was sure that I will never fall pregnant and he kept saying I was not going to concieve,” Lineo grunted.
With a shy face and looking down during the conversation, Lineo continued to say she only realised she was pregnant when one elderly woman from the village made uncomfortable remarks of her weight. She then became curious and started looking for her menstrual date which she learned it was supposed to be two weeks away.
“I started panicking and since I did not have money to buy pregnancy test, I kept my suspicions a secret while at the same time avoiding that elderly woman. I kept going to school but every time someone stared at me I felt like they were seeing my belly growing,
“I started wearing my jersey to school and staying indoors after school. I continued with the routine for two months, until one village health worker confronted me. I had no choice but to tell her the truth. I was scared for my life. I kept wishing that the village health worker could not tell my mother who works in South Africa as a domestic worker,” she narrated.
She added that when her mother came home in May, she had already heard that she was pregnant. Upon her arrival, she did not ask me a lot of questions but only wanted to know who the father of the child was.
“She met with some of our family members to let them know that I was pregnant. My uncles met with the family of my boyfriend about my pregnancy. After the meeting, when the mother came back, she told Lineo that the boy denied that he was the one who impregnated her.
Consequently, her mother was furious and kept shouting that the boy will marry her even if he might deny being the father the expected baby. She said her mother would shout that she would not stay with another woman in her house.
“I do not like the boy anymore because I feel betrayed by him. He lied to me that I was not going to be pregnant and now when the baby is here, he no longer wants to take responsibility. I understand that we are both still young and still want to go to school but my mother is insisting that I get married.
“I wish my mother could help me raise the baby so that I could go back to school because if I get married I will have to stay at home to raise the baby while my husband goes to school,” said Lineo with a frown face.
“After I found out I was pregnant, I only stayed in school for four months and no longer wanted to go to school because I couldn’t withstand being stared at by other pupils who constantly whispered about me,”Lineo said.
‘Mamoliehi Semousu who is working as a village health worker under ‘Masemousu health centre said health workers try their best to teach the community about the use of contraceptives. She said with the little resources at the disposal, she and others conduct campaigns to alert parents about the use of contraceptives
She suggested that most parents believed contraceptives would only make children sexually active. Some still believed that talking about contraceptives and sex was still a taboo that no children should be exposed to such.
“They thought their children are being taught about silly or private stuff when they are taught about contraceptives. Now those children are falling pregnant.
“Child pregnancy is getting out of control within our communities but parents still won’t let us talk to their children about contraceptives. These children need to use contraceptives because they are already sexually active.
“At times we are the ones that break the news about their children’s pregnancy because they still don’t believe their children as young as 12 are already involved in sexual activities. I don’t know if it is ignorance these parents don’t realise that not getting their children on contraceptives is ruining their future because after pregnancy most of them get married at a very young age and forced to leave school,” ‘Mamoliehi said.
She added that when they have seen a teenager who is pregnant they help them attend pre- natal check-ups so that they end up delivering in a hospital or clinic.
The ministry of social development which is tasked with making sure that parents and children know about the risks of falling pregnant and getting married at a young age says it is still continuing with educating different sectors of the society about child marriage.
Speaking to publication, information officer at the ministry of social development, Mpho Makhethe, said her ministry is conducting awareness campaigns that discourage child marriage.
“We have funding from Unicef and World Vision to help us with the campaigns. We are currently sensitising, village health workers, councillors, chiefs and school children. We do this with the hope to get more people to know the risks of child marriage and how they can help prevent it,
“The biggest challenge we have recognised within our communities is poverty that forces children to indulge in marriage at young age.
“Most of the children nowadays get married because they are now pregnant and for the families of the boy to help raise the child they believe marriage is the only solution,” Makhetha said.
Unicef case study on delaying adolescent pregnancy and child marriage continues to show that pregnancy is considered an undesirable condition for an unmarried girl in most communities in Lesotho.
Many pregnant girls leave school either because family investment in school fees is no longer considered a priority or affordable. In addition, stigma, discrimination and condemnation from peers and staff make going to school intolerable.
The personal and social consequences are also felt within families, which may ill-treat a girl in these circumstances. They experience some sense of shame, disgrace and loss of honour. Community members may also insult and verbally abuse pregnant unmarried girls or treat them in other demeaning ways. The economic penalties may include exacerbated levels of poverty and lower levels of employment and loss of income-earning opportunities.
“Lesotho has a plural legal system in which laws related to child marriage co-exist and contradicts each other,
“This lack of harmonization is evident in the Marriage Act (1974), which stipulates that a girl may marry at the age of 16 (and a boy at 18) provided there is parental consent, while the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (2011) states that marriage before the age of 18 is unlawful, and that a child who is being forced to marry is in need of urgent protection,
“International and regional conventions to which Lesotho is a signatory also fix 18 years as the minimum age of marriage. Customary law (Laws of Lerotholi), which governs family and community life in many parts of the country, allows a girl or boy to marry, as long as one has reached puberty,” the report reads.
By ‘Majirata Latela
“I dropped out last year after I found out that I was pregnant, now my mother is forcing me to marry the father of my child.”
These are the words of Lineo Motsekuoa (not her real name), a 16-year old girl of Masemousu in the Mafeteng district. Lineo is eight months pregnant. She is one of many girls who fall prey to teenage pregnancy and end up in a loveless marriage as a result.
According to a 2021 Unicef case study on delaying adolescent pregnancy and child marriage, getting married as an adolescent is a longstanding practice in Lesotho, as it is in many societies across the Southern Africa region and globally.
The drivers of the practice have varied over time and across contexts. Traditionally, these unions were a means of formalising reciprocal relationships between families and solidifying social networks.
The social and cultural norms underlying marriage related decisions still inform the choices that girls, boys and their families make. Today, these norms work in concert with two main drivers: poverty and pregnancy.
Lineo narrates her story to theReporter newspaper on how she fell pregnant. And now, her mother is forcing her to get married to a teenage boyfriend who is 17 years of age. She now regrets falling for the boy and ultimately not using protective devices when sleeping around.
“My now soon-to-be my husband proposed love to me in December 2020 before I visited my relatives in Mohale’s hoek for Christmas holidays. When I came back in January we started seeing each other regularly. That is when I started falling in love with him. He would tell me how much he loves me and wanted to marry me after I finish school.
“I remember on vividly that it was a Saturday when we met and he took me to a hut where he used to sleep in not very far from his parents’ house. His parents had gone for a funeral that day. He took away my virginity.
“We did not use protection at all because he promised that I will not be pregnant since it was my first time having sex. I remember asking him if he was sure that I will never fall pregnant and he kept saying I was not going to concieve,” Lineo grunted.
With a shy face and looking down during the conversation, Lineo continued to say she only realised she was pregnant when one elderly woman from the village made uncomfortable remarks of her weight. She then became curious and started looking for her menstrual date which she learned it was supposed to be two weeks away.
“I started panicking and since I did not have money to buy pregnancy test, I kept my suspicions a secret while at the same time avoiding that elderly woman. I kept going to school but every time someone stared at me I felt like they were seeing my belly growing,
“I started wearing my jersey to school and staying indoors after school. I continued with the routine for two months, until one village health worker confronted me. I had no choice but to tell her the truth. I was scared for my life. I kept wishing that the village health worker could not tell my mother who works in South Africa as a domestic worker,” she narrated.
She added that when her mother came home in May, she had already heard that she was pregnant. Upon her arrival, she did not ask me a lot of questions but only wanted to know who the father of the child was.
“She met with some of our family members to let them know that I was pregnant. My uncles met with the family of my boyfriend about my pregnancy. After the meeting, when the mother came back, she told Lineo that the boy denied that he was the one who impregnated her.
Consequently, her mother was furious and kept shouting that the boy will marry her even if he might deny being the father the expected baby. She said her mother would shout that she would not stay with another woman in her house.
“I do not like the boy anymore because I feel betrayed by him. He lied to me that I was not going to be pregnant and now when the baby is here, he no longer wants to take responsibility. I understand that we are both still young and still want to go to school but my mother is insisting that I get married.
“I wish my mother could help me raise the baby so that I could go back to school because if I get married I will have to stay at home to raise the baby while my husband goes to school,” said Lineo with a frown face.
“After I found out I was pregnant, I only stayed in school for four months and no longer wanted to go to school because I couldn’t withstand being stared at by other pupils who constantly whispered about me,”Lineo said.
‘Mamoliehi Semousu who is working as a village health worker under ‘Masemousu health centre said health workers try their best to teach the community about the use of contraceptives. She said with the little resources at the disposal, she and others conduct campaigns to alert parents about the use of contraceptives
She suggested that most parents believed contraceptives would only make children sexually active. Some still believed that talking about contraceptives and sex was still a taboo that no children should be exposed to such.
“They thought their children are being taught about silly or private stuff when they are taught about contraceptives. Now those children are falling pregnant.
“Child pregnancy is getting out of control within our communities but parents still won’t let us talk to their children about contraceptives. These children need to use contraceptives because they are already sexually active.
“At times we are the ones that break the news about their children’s pregnancy because they still don’t believe their children as young as 12 are already involved in sexual activities. I don’t know if it is ignorance these parents don’t realise that not getting their children on contraceptives is ruining their future because after pregnancy most of them get married at a very young age and forced to leave school,” ‘Mamoliehi said.
She added that when they have seen a teenager who is pregnant they help them attend pre- natal check-ups so that they end up delivering in a hospital or clinic.
The ministry of social development which is tasked with making sure that parents and children know about the risks of falling pregnant and getting married at a young age says it is still continuing with educating different sectors of the society about child marriage.
Speaking to publication, information officer at the ministry of social development, Mpho Makhethe, said her ministry is conducting awareness campaigns that discourage child marriage.
“We have funding from Unicef and World Vision to help us with the campaigns. We are currently sensitising, village health workers, councillors, chiefs and school children. We do this with the hope to get more people to know the risks of child marriage and how they can help prevent it,
“The biggest challenge we have recognised within our communities is poverty that forces children to indulge in marriage at young age.
“Most of the children nowadays get married because they are now pregnant and for the families of the boy to help raise the child they believe marriage is the only solution,” Makhetha said.
Unicef case study on delaying adolescent pregnancy and child marriage continues to show that pregnancy is considered an undesirable condition for an unmarried girl in most communities in Lesotho.
Many pregnant girls leave school either because family investment in school fees is no longer considered a priority or affordable. In addition, stigma, discrimination and condemnation from peers and staff make going to school intolerable.
The personal and social consequences are also felt within families, which may ill-treat a girl in these circumstances. They experience some sense of shame, disgrace and loss of honour. Community members may also insult and verbally abuse pregnant unmarried girls or treat them in other demeaning ways. The economic penalties may include exacerbated levels of poverty and lower levels of employment and loss of income-earning opportunities.
“Lesotho has a plural legal system in which laws related to child marriage co-exist and contradicts each other,
“This lack of harmonization is evident in the Marriage Act (1974), which stipulates that a girl may marry at the age of 16 (and a boy at 18) provided there is parental consent, while the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (2011) states that marriage before the age of 18 is unlawful, and that a child who is being forced to marry is in need of urgent protection,
“International and regional conventions to which Lesotho is a signatory also fix 18 years as the minimum age of marriage. Customary law (Laws of Lerotholi), which governs family and community life in many parts of the country, allows a girl or boy to marry, as long as one has reached puberty,” the report reads.
