GirlZOffMute- A teen dad's tribulations

DW (English)

Amos Odhiambo became a dad at the age of 17. His girlfriend, who was a year younger, recently delivered a healthy baby boy. Amos talks to GirlZOffMute teen reporter Silvia Adhiambo in Kibera, kenya about the troubles and regrets that come with his early entry into fatherhood, and the plans he has for his young family.

Transcript

00:00 A lot has been said about teenage mothers, but there is a forgotten lot.

00:08 Teen dads, most of these young men are shunned by communities and feel neglected.

00:13 My name is Sylvaine Nairobi and on Girls of Newt today we focus on Amos.

00:17 His is a tale of being thrown into fatherhood at the age of 17 while still in school.

00:26 Amos had a high school sweet heart when he was in grade 11.

00:30 She was a grade below him so he used to help her with her homework.

00:34 Their parents were used to seeing them together.

00:40 You know we are human beings so I had feelings, she had feelings, but nobody has ever told

00:45 each other whether they are in love or not.

00:48 But it just came suddenly like that.

00:50 I just found myself and her in a relationship.

00:54 Amos and his sweetheart started having sex and she fell pregnant.

00:59 I was worried because you know she was a school girl and I was a school boy so we were both

01:06 learning and it just affected our education.

01:11 And what did you think?

01:12 Did you think of abortion?

01:15 Actually that never came in my mind because the way I have been raised, people do respect

01:20 life in our community so it was difficult for me to advise her to abort it.

01:26 And what was your next move?

01:28 As in what did you do next?

01:30 Ok since I was afraid because her parents were harsh it forced me to move from Kibira

01:36 to another town whereby I had to go missing for some few weeks and some days before I

01:44 came back after the story had been sorted out.

01:48 But when Amos returned he was arrested.

01:51 It's illegal for children here in Kenya to engage in sexual acts.

01:56 However, such offences involving minors are often handled differently to those involving

02:01 adults under a system called conversion.

02:04 The law usually applies to teens who engage in consensual sex.

02:09 The chief decided and advised me not to drop out of school and he advised me to be attending

02:15 the school each and every day.

02:18 So he called my parent who is my dad and he told him that he's the one who will be responsible

02:23 for my child and the girl and that's where I had the freedom to go back to school freely.

02:30 But despite that his dad hasn't offered the support needed.

02:34 Amos has now been forced to take on the responsibility of an adult to support his new family.

02:40 The girl is at the moment out of school and has already given birth to a baby boy.

02:46 Amos sometimes hires this motorbike taxi to make ends meet.

02:51 This work I'm doing it for survival because for now I'm an independent boy and in fact

02:55 I'm a dad.

02:56 So I love my family, I love the girl so I'm supposed to provide for them so I can't just

03:03 sit, I can't just get seated because they do depend on me.

03:07 So I just must wake up in the morning, come for my asshole and do all this for my survival

03:13 and because I love them and I must provide for them.

03:17 The hostility from the family of his baby's mother is still there but Amos says he's keen

03:23 to mend fences and win their hearts.

03:27 Now that you are a young dad, what can you say about some of the challenges that you

03:31 encounter?

03:32 Okay, as a young dad we've got a lot of challenges.

03:37 Sometimes we are not trusted in the society, like many people don't believe that we still

03:42 care and we still take the responsibility as fathers.

03:45 You can't get a decent job because of some documents you don't have, because you've not

03:51 finished your education then other people are using you too.

03:55 Because you'll get, okay somebody will employ you and he won't give you the money that covers

04:01 the work that you've done.

04:02 He knows you are in need of money and there's no way you can get the money so we are being

04:06 used as young fathers.

04:08 Amos says he would like the mum of his child to rejoin school after the baby has grown.

04:13 However, he declares a general lack of concern from the community towards adolescent dads.

04:18 To him, the absence of father figures is leading to many teen boys falling into early fatherhood

04:24 and out of school.

04:25 For Girls Off Mute in Nairobi, Kenya, I am Sylvia and thanks for watching.

04:29 [Music]

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