I saw the reality of teenage motherhood today that you’ll never see on MTV. I went to a workshop at Shining Hope for teenage mothers living in the slum. They have nothing—but, they have so much love for their babies that they trekked to the clinic to sit in a hot room for 2 hours to learn how to be the best moms that they can be. There was discussion about child spacing and family planning, and even a demonstration of how to put on condoms—this was the first time most of the girls had seen this, and many just covered their faces in bashful laughter. There’s a lot of concern about the boyfriends/husbands infecting the women with HIV, and strategies were discussed about how to delicately talk about the issue. They learned a lot about breastfeeding, vaccinations, and how on earth they’re supposed to keep their babies healthy and safe while living in Africa’s largest slum (over one million people are crammed into Kibera…). Babies explore by putting things in their mouths, and this poses a serious issue when your community doesn’t have a running sewage system or any organized trash collection; the streets are filled with more garbage and God-knows-what than I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Bathing the babies is a challenge because there’s no running water and Kibera is currently in the midst of a serious typhoid outbreak. I consider myself someone who has been through a lot for my age (twenty seven surgeries will do that to a girl) but the eyes of these girls showed a depth that broke my heart. They know what life is going to throw at them; it’s already doing its worst. The strength that was reflected in those eyes gave me hope though—truly resilience at its finest.
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