11 Year-Old Masvingo girl EXCITED about becoming a mother!

Tarisai Mazvita

She is only eleven years old but a heavily pregnant Tarisai Mazvita from a village in Gutu district in Masvingo says she is “happy” and “excited” to be a mother.

Her grandmother has ‘promised’ to help her take care of her baby. According to NewZimbabwe Tarisai, is one of the expecting mothers housed at Chingombe Rural Hospital.

“I was in love with my old boyfriend and I fell pregnant and had to drop out of school, so I won’t sit for my Grade 7 end of year examination,” she told the reporter.

“I am happy to be a mother but I no longer love my boyfriend.”

Both the girl and the boy were staying with their parents during the romance. “My parents reported the matter to the police but my boyfriend was not arrested when the police discovered that he was also a young boy.”

The ‘ex-boyfriend’ is said to be only 14 years old.

The soon to be teenage-mother who was giggling throughout the brief interview and showing signs of being no more than a little girl, said they never used condoms during their “love” relationship. 

With the recent National Aids Council quarterly report showing that children as young as 10 are being infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STI), ordinary Zimbabweans are of the view that parents are to blame for their children’s waywardness.

Experts say some parents are not spending time with children with some shifting the blame to poverty and the influence of technology.

There have also been a debate in the country whether condoms should be distributed in school or not.

Safaids Head of Communication Tariro Makanga said stakeholders need to seriously start engaging young people on prevention.

“We need to go back to the drawing board and re-focus on prevention.”

Ordinary folk said the lack of recreational facilities for young people could be the main problem.

“When we were growing up we used to have community playing grounds, but these have since been turned into fields hence children now spend most of their time watching uncontrolled television programmes,” said one Harold Gezanah.

Martin Mutisakwa also agreed that most parents, especially in urban areas, have no control on what their children are watching on television as they are busy with their chores.

Others shifted the blame to child protection rights saying some parents feel powerless to discipline their children.

Source:New Zimbabwe