Story by Jerold Sasa

ISSUES of child marriages and teen pregnancies continue to be a cause for concern in the Chihota communal area where children still in primary school are dropping out of school.

The community in Chihota, Mashonaland East is struggling to deal with cases of early child marriages and teenage pregnancies which have seen children dropping out of school.

One such case is that of 17-year-old Moreblessing who is already a mother of two after she got pregnant while doing her seventh year in Primary school.

Moreblessing, who now stays with her single mother was dumped by the father of her first child in 2021 before she got into an abusive marriage with the father of her second child, narrated her ordeal.

“I got pregnant when I was in grade seven and when I told the father he ran away to South Africa so I had to live with my mother. I later got married to the father of my second child who was very abusive and I had to go back home.

“All I want now is to go back to school so that I start my life again because I have to look after my children,” she said.

Shamwari Yemwana Sikana, an organisation that deals with the welfare of the girl child is very much concerned about early child marriages and has come up with awareness programmes in the area working with traditional leaders.

“Issues of child marriages and teen pregnancies are a cause for concern and this has led to many dropping out of school which is not good for society,” said Shamwari Yemwana Sikana’s director Ekenia Chifamba.

The organisation handed over dignity kits to girls from around the area.