Church Condom Restrictions In Rural Zimbabwe Linked To Rise In Teen Pregnancy Rate

Women dance at parliament demanding condoms in schools

By Ray Mwareya in Harare, Zimbabwe

"If ever I’m spotted walking into a beer hall to buy a pack of Durex condoms, my father will beat me with a rubber belt, my teachers would banish me from the classroom, our church pastor will expel me from the Sunday choir band.”

Nancy, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is a 17-year-old  biology student at a Baptist-run school in Chimanimani, a mostly rural part of eastern Zimbabwe.

“Condoms are a banned word in our church youth seminars,” she said. “On rare occasions our church pastor speaks, he shouts, ‘condoms are full of holes, beware! Condoms stick inside women! Abortion is Satan´s invention!”

“I, my family, would earn the scorn of the community if a teacher or pastor discovers a pack of condoms in your school bag,” says Nancy.

Between February and September of this year, Nancy says 10 of her classmates became pregnant and were kicked out of school despite directives from the Zimbabwe Education Ministry and constitutional court mandating that pregnant girls must not be excluded from finishing high school.

“I know for sure religious stigma towards condoms put girls in harm here,” Nancy said of her classmates. 

Teenage pregnancies fire and church condom apathy:

Rural eastern Zimbabwe, a bastion of church authority, is witnessing the country´s fastest growing rate of teenage pregnancies.

According to Zimbabwe’s Demographic Health Survey, the fertility rate among regional teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 increased from 99 per 1,000 to 115 per 1,000 between 2005 and 2015.

Observers and some experts attribute the rate rise to church restrictions and stigma around condoms and other forms of contraception.

With Zimbabwe´s government deep in debt, churches play a critical role in providing free or subsidized sexual health clinics, maternity homes, surgeries and schools in this region.

“And churches strictly discourage the debate on condoms within their assemblies,” said Bishop Fani Moyo, a sociologist and founder of The Progressive Churches Sexual Health Forum of Zimbabwe.

“It is seen as a profanity for Sunday school girls to introduce a sermon on condoms publicly.”

But authorities take a relaxed view. “Parents are free to drop in condoms when they pack food and books in their children´s schoolbags,” encourages Zimbabwe´s education minister, Mr. Lazarus Dokora.

At Rusitu Mission Hospital, a large institution run by United Baptists Church in Zimbabwe, nurses motion patients to participate in morning prayer sessions before giving out medication.

“If you ask for condoms when you get into a relationship, church nurses will report you to the church school principal. A beating follows. We girls endure sex without protection.”

Many businesses and tribal courts in the region also restrict the distribution of condoms to teenage girls.

“It is an offense punishable by a fine of two goats if a school girl is seen buying condoms in a beer tavern in my village,” explains Sam Chirandu, a tribal village head in east Zimbabwe. “School girls mustn’t do sex before marriage. It is against our social values.”

Unlike in neighboring South Africa where condoms are widely available, often for free, in rural Zimbabwe they are almost hidden.

“For fear of stigma and beating, I have to cleverly send my 18-year-old boyfriend to buy us condoms from supermarkets, and hope the pastor or his parents don’t see him with them. Each pack costs $1. The price is too much for teenage girls,” Nancy said.

Child marriages fueling churches:

Rural east Zimbabwe is home to the Johane Marine Apostolic Church denomination, a strictly Africanist church sect that draws tens of thousands of followers and is wildly popular among Zimbabwe´s influential government ministers, security chefs and diplomats.

The denomination is famous for its promotion of polygamy and child marriage and for its fiery dislike of condoms and other forms of contraception.

In the district where this church thrives, the majority of school girls, some as young as 10, have been married to older men from their church.

“Most marriages are arranged between adult church men and underage girls. Request for condoms can result in a teenage bride being divorced harshly,” said Edson Tsvakai, a community health project coordinator at The Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe-Africa (UDA-CIZA).

Zimbabwe´s Ministry of Education and Culture says only 1/3 of the 10,000 local girls who enroll in high school graduate after four years.

Tsvakai pins the high dropout rate on “runaway teenage pregnancies,”

“The police are the biggest let down in early forced child marriages and pregnancies, as they have continued to turn a blind eye to these religious crimes,” he said. “Prosecutions die down quickly. Church sect leaders are secretive, and in high favor with political elites."

The country´s Domestic Violence Act prohibits marriage under the age of 16 for both girls and boys, but enforcement is weak in rural districts where poverty incentivizes underreporting.

Noah Pashapa, a bishop of the Pentecostals Liberty Churches International, in Harare and one of Zimbabwe’s most famous preachers holds a pragmatic view on contraception.

“Condoms are a necessary evil. They save lives and marriages,” he said.

Pashapa keeps condoms in his office for needy couples and sexually active youth. He says Zimbabwe´s HIV/AIDS crisis, which contributed to 29,000 deaths in 2015 according to UNAIDS, is slowly breaking down the Church's high moral ground on sexual abstinence among youths. http://bit.ly/2gPe7WT

He would like to see a future in which “condoms should be distributed in churches – accompanied by information promoting abstinence and informed choices among the youth.”

About the writer: Ray Mwareya is the editor of the Women Taboos Radio. He tweets at @RMwareya

Copperbelt Activists Call For Criminalisation Of Child Marriages

A young mother in rural Zambia

By Paul Shalala

Stakeholders in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province have called for the criminalization of child marriages to protect school-going children from early marriages.

According to World Vision International, Zambia has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world with 42% of women aged 20-24 years married by the age of 18.

During a provincial experts meeting in Kitwe on Monday, Kitwe District Commissioner Chanda Kabwe called for the country to come up with stringent laws which would punish parents who marry off their school-going children.

Mr Chanda said it was sad that children were being married off at an early age and most of them were dropping out of school and becoming parents.

“Some parents, when they see their girl children, they see wealth. We need to start arresting and jailing such irresponsible people so that the girl child can finish school and seize all the opportunities the world has in store for them,” said Mr Kabwe who heads local government departments in the mining town of Kitwe.

He regretted that Zambia has few women in positions of decision making and child marriages were making the situation even worse as girls who were intelligent in school are having their education cut short by early marriages.

And Chileshe Soteli, the Chiefs Affairs Officer in Lufwanyama District called for the punishment of under age children who abandon school and insist on marrying.

Ms Soteli, who narrated how she has over the years dealt with numerous cases of juveniles who opt for early marriage, said there was need for the minors to be punished as a deterrent to would be child brides and child grooms.

Chanda Kabwe

“I come from a rural district where child marriages are common. We plead with these children to stick to school but they insist on marrying. I think we need a law which will prescribe a form of punishment for such children because the situation is getting out of hand,” said Ms Soteli.

And gender activist Sharon Chisanga says most school going children are forced into early marriage because of their parents’ failure to raise money to sustain their lives.

Ms Chisanga, who is also Provincial Coordinator for the Young Women Christian Association, told the meeting that there was need for society to curb this vice because it is depriving  the nation of potential female leaders.

“Parents are also to blame for this problem. When young girls sleep in cabins, they feel uncomfortable and they hope to get married and sleep in better homes,” she said.

Cabins are small houses which were built as temporal houses for single miners on the Copperbelt but over the decades, they have been transformed into family houses despite their small size.

The provincial stakeholders meeting on early marriages was organised by the Law Development Commission to find suggestions from stakeholders on whether to criminalise early marriages due to the escalating cases across the country.

The commission decided to start its countrywide tour and collection of views in the Copperbelt Province because according to the Central Statistical Office, the copper-rich region has the second highest cases of child marriages among the 10 provinces of Zambia.

“Zambia has two sources of law for marriage. Under statutory law, a person can marry at 21 years and we have no problem with that. But under customary law, a person can be married at any age as long as they reach puberty. This is where we have a problem and early marriages are increasing under customary law,” said Gilbert Mwanza, a lawyer and research officer at the Law Development Commission.

Mr Mwanza, who is leading the countrywide collection of the views, is among officer who are expected to draft a bill to criminalise child marriages and harmonise the marriage age.

The Law Development Commission is a statutory body under Zambia’s Ministry of Justice.

The commission is mandate is to continuously research on laws and propose bills to parliament.

How Africans Are Helping Refugees Settle In America

Habiba showing some of her teaching aides

By Paul Shalala in Syracuse, New York

Every year, the city of Syracuse in northern New York state receives dozens of African immigrants who run away from their countries for various reasons.

Some of these immigrants are refugees who run away from wars while some leave their countries for economic reasons.

Settling in the United States is a huge challenge especially for immigrants who do not speak English and those who have no relatives.

This challenge is even made worse by having no education qualification to help sustain your life.

But one immigrant had an idea which is now helping thousands of African immigrants to integrate in Syracuse.

Haji Adan, a Somali immigrant who came to the United States in 2006, came up with an idea to help fellow African immigrants settle well in wider society.

With the help of a few friends, they formed the Somali Bantu Community Association which has over the past decade helped African refugees find jobs and settle in society.

“When I came to the US, it was difficult to live here. Life was not easy because there was no one to help us,” said Mr Adan who is the association’s Executive Director.

Mr Adan says through volunteer work and the help of various donors, his association is now among the largest in terms of helping refugees settle in the city.

“We are doing all this without pay. We are actually paying back to the community,” said Mr Adan as he pointed at the newly refurbished classroom where English lessons are conducted for African immigrants.

He adds that though the association was formed to cater for African immigrants, the mandate has now changed and the association is rebranding itself to work with immigrants from around the world.

Haji Adan holding a certificate he earned for hard work

Free English lessons are offered to immigrants and children have the opportunity to also learn from Grades three to seven.

Through its after school program, the association also conducts graduations for those who are successful.

30 year Habiba Boru is one of the volunteer teachers at the Somali Bantu Community Association.

A resident of Syracuse for the past 16 years, Habiba says she grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya.

As this blogger interacted with her, she fluently spoke Somali and Swahili.

“Am a mother of four and I came here 16 years ago. Am now an American citizen but one day I wish to go back to Kenya because that’s where I grew up from,” she said.

Apart from teaching English lessons, she also connects some of the immigrants to companies were they can find jobs.

“We have a job readiness program here and we help immigrants find jobs. Sometimes it is easy to find them jobs but sometimes it is difficult if they do not speak English. But most employers tell us that African immigrants are hard working.”

One of the companies which the association partners with in finding employment for immigrants is Wal-Mart, the American large scale retailer.

The company has so far employed a number of immigrants who have been able to support their families financially.

However, not every immigrant finds it easy to get employed.

Habiba says there has been resentment with immigrants who wear Islamic attire at work.

Some of the association's graduands

She says some employers do not feel comfortable but Wal-Mart allows workers to wear its uniforms above Islamic attire.

As part of its rebranding exercise, the association is also helping immigrants acquire visas and drivers’ licences.

According to photos and postings on its Facebook page, the association conducts social events such as football tournaments and field trips to allow African immigrants interact and socialise.

Through various applications, the Somali Bantu Community Association has been able to sustain itself through grants from various institutions.

Poverty In America: Its Effect On High School Pass rate In Syracuse

Wayne O'Connor with some of the students at Hillside Center

By Paul Shalala in Syracuse, New York

The city of Syracuse in northern New York state has one of the poorest communities in the whole of the United States of America.

According to latest statistics from the US Census Bureau and the Onondaga County, Syracuse grapples with poverty which is mainly concentrated in the south of the city where African-Americans and Hispanics live.

This poverty has had a lot of impact especially in the number of criminal activities and gang related violence in the area.

Just in the past three weeks, three people have been shot dead and several injured, forcing the county officials and the City’s Police Department to hold a press conference to assure residents of their safety.

Poverty has also not spared the education sector.

According to the US Census Bureau’s 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Profiles, Syracuse has a high school pass rate of 80.1% which is lower than the national pass rate currently standing at 86.3%.

The civil society has joined county and state education departments in fighting the drop in the pass rate.

According to Wayne O’Connor, the Executive Director of the privately run Hillside College and Career Center, poverty has had a great impact on the lower pass rate among high school students in the city.

“Each year we enrol 1,000 high school students who we mentor and teach in various subjects in order for them to pass the exams. These are pupils who suffer poverty and have behavioural attitudes. They are brought here by their parents or they may come by themselves,” said Mr O’Connor.

He adds that apart from helping the students pass the examinations, his non profit which has been giving the service to students for over nine years, also helps the students get jobs and make rights career choices.

Several volunteer teachers and mentors operate from the center and help the students, mainly from poor families, prepare for exams.

The Hillside College and Career Center has an annual budget of $350 million and it works with students and parents to ensure that the students adequately prepare for the exams.

“Among the students who pass through our center, 98% progress to colleges and universities. We also offer scholarships to deserving students who come from poverty stricken homes.”

Mr O’Connor told a group of Syracuse-based 2016 Mandela Washington fellows that pupils usually come to the center in the afternoon after their regular classes in their respective schools and get coached by the youth advocates.

He said at the center, the students are given food so that they can concentrate on their studies and have a free mind.

“Our calendar year starts in September and ends in June. We also offer sports so that the students are kept busy physically,” said Mr O’Connor.

As part of the institution’s plan to motivate the learners, twice a year it organises events where parents come to celebrate the success of their children who are crowned as School Ambassadors based on their achievements.

According to Hillside College and Career Center records, 75% of the students are African-Americans, 12% Hispanics and the remainder is Caucasians.

The center plans to increase the enrolment to 2,000 in the coming years to help increase the pass rate in the city.

Some of the center's former students have even been engaged as mentors for the current students.

Part of the students at the center are sponsored by the Central New York Community Foundation through scholarships.

The foundation, which currently has assets worth $172 million, spends huge sums of money in literacy programs to help reduce the low pass rate in Syracuse.

"Half of the students in Syracuse do not graduate to college and this maybe because of poverty. So as the foundation, we give grants to non profits for literacy, we also fund institutions like Hillside to ensure that our students graduate and grab future opportunities," said Central New York Community Foundation Director of Research and Community Initiatives Frank Ridzi.

Speaking when he addressed Syracuse-based 2016 Mandela Washington fellows visited his office, Mr Ridzi said 14.1% of the foundation's annual grants goes for scholarships for poor students through programs like Say Yes To Education.

On other initiative the foundation has funded over the years to help poor black students is the Saturday Academy which brings together African-American students on Saturdays to be mentored by teachers and improve their literacy.

A civil society organisation called 100 Men of Syracuse won the $100,000 grant to execute the project which so far is proving beneficial to the learners.