November 9, 2004 - (New Era) Teenage pregnancies have become common in the small Lüderitz community. The town, which only has one secondary school, records an average of eight teenage pregnancy cases annually.

Agnes Pokolo, a nurse at the Lüderitz State Hospital, says the number so far this year has increased to 14 cases.

Grizelda Kennedy (15) has a six-month-old baby. She says she became pregnant from her first sexual encounter. "He is just a person I know from school," she says of the 17-year-old father, adding that she has no relationship with him.

Grizelda's mother Magdalena Kennedy recalls that the news of the pregnancy came as a shock. "I lost my mind and I wanted to do something to myself," Kennedy says.

Kennedy says she had spoken to her daughter about teenage pregnancies and HIV and AIDS, but during the week she had to go to work. This meant that Grizelda was alone at home after school.

"I trusted her," says Kennedy with a look of disappointment on her face.

A 17-year-old girl, who is five months pregnant, says her mother has talked to her about the dangers of teenage pregnancy. "I just do it when my mother goes out of town," she says, explaining how she became pregnant. She also believes it is normal for a girl to be pregnant at her age.

Hazel Louw is the mother of Priscilla Williams (17), who has a two-month-old baby. Louw says parents do talk to their children about the issue. "I spoke to her and I even disciplined her," says Louw. "Maybe it's the wrong friends." She adds her daughter only got involved with boys at the age of 16 when she started going to a nightclub.

Zelda Beyers (17), a Grade 12 learner at the Lüderitz Secondary School, says peer pressure is a major cause of the high teenage pregnancy rate in the town. "If you are a virgin, you belong to the Stone Age and in order to fit in you must have had that sexual experience," she says.

Some teenagers blame parents, accusing them of being over protective. "When the child gets the chance to go out, they will want to do all the things at once," says Cheldine Cloete (18), who is a Grade 12 learner at Lüderitz Secondary School.

A puzzled-looking Louw also adds, "Maybe it's because we were too over protective that it happened, we should have let her be exposed to the club earlier."

Many members of the community link the high teenage pregnancy rate with the sugar daddy issue.

A young man, who preferred anonymity, blames the high number of teenage pregnancies on irresponsible older men who have relationships with schoolgirls.

Delmaree Grever (18), a Grade 12 learner at the Lüderitz Secondary School, says the sugar daddies issue mostly affects poor families as these older men give financial support to the girls they get involved with.

"It is very frightening," says Lüderitz Secondary School principal Christel Jantjies. She adds that most of the girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy are alleged to have been involved with "the so-called sugar daddies".

Jantjies says that in addition to the Life Skills and My Future My Choice programmes, the school does invite nurses from the local clinic to educate the children on contraceptives and protection.

"I can't describe how I feel and I am not ready to look after a baby," says another 17-year-old girl, who is six months pregnant and lives with her grandmother. She says she is still keen on going back to school and building a future for herself.

Williams is already feeling the heat of being a teenage mother, as she is studying for her Grade 12 final exams. "I am definitely not ready to be a mother," she says, adding that she gives thanks for her mother who looks after the baby most of the time.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200411090365.html