IN her parents' village home, Setaita (not her real name) breastfeeds her first-born, a son whose father hasn't actively participated in this child-bearing experience, although he was informed of the pregnancy from the outset.
"My options were to either hang (myself) or abort the baby," Setaita quietly said while sharing her experience with the United Nations Population Fund Sub-Regional Office.
Setaita and her boyfriend were both 18; she regrets her pregnancy for various reasons but that which really mattered was losing the opportunity to pursue her tertiary education because she had scored well in her final external examination.
On the night Setaita agreed to return with her boyfriend to his house, she said that he had been drinking.
"I didn't want to but then he started hitting my head so I went; two months later, I began feeling the changes in my body. I just knew I was pregnant.
"I called him to tell him and the reaction was not what I expected. A few months later his family moved to Suva and that was it."
Setaita's academic achievements meant her family had high hopes that she would complete her education and contribute to the family coffers. She eventually approached her father's sister for help.
"My aunty calmed me down and told me to come back home. A few days later, they (her aunty and uncle) presented kava to my parents and informed them of my pregnancy," Setaita said.
"There was a lot of anger of course and for me, I just felt so much regret for the pain my parents were going through. And my father was just retiring so … it would be great to return to school but I cannot go back to school now with the baby, I have to find work."
Implicit in Setaita's story is society's response to girls who get pregnant. Circumstances conspire to strip her of the choices which are otherwise her inherent human rights. Gender inequality which is one of the fundamental causes of violence against girls and women make them particularly vulnerable as they lose autonomy over their bodies and risk consequences like unplanned pregnancy.
Setaita has been a beneficiary of a counselling program specifically for adolescent and or single mothers offered by the Reproductive and Family Health Association of Fiji (RFHAF).
Based in Lautoka, RFHAF's Benito Sigaveivola offers these sessions on Tuesdays at the Lautoka health centre. Counselling also includes seeing a family planning nurse; if they want to, adolescent and or single mothers are provided the contraceptive method they choose.
Of late, Sigaveivola has observed that if 20 new mothers presented themselves at the centre, an alarming 10 to 15 cases would be adolescents. RFHAF also conducts village visits where sexual and reproductive health information and life skills training are conducted.
"Our programs are holistic; topics included in these sessions at villages include sexuality, values, self-concept and behaviour change," Sigaveivola said.
This holistic approach is also being encouraged in the 2013 State of World Population report Motherhood in Childhood: Facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy, which this year focuses on adolescent pregnancy. The report which will be launched on Friday this week will be accompanied by a regional report I am not a lost cause: Young Women's Empowerment and Teenage Pregnancy in the Pacific.
If there is one message the report wants to convey, it is the fact that adolescent pregnancy does not happen in a vacuum. Adolescent pregnancy is about the absence of choice, it questions the socialisation of both girls and boys and because of its multidimensional nature, the response to it will have to be holistic.
