“I love to play soccer, the championship begin last year. But I could not play, I was pregnant” says Daniela. She was 14 when she gave birth to her son.
Daniela lives in Ecuador, a country situated in South America’s west coast. This is not the story of Daniela alone. This is the story of thousands of girls across Latin America, where child marriage and teenage pregnancy are increasing on a high rate and forcing them to drop out of school.
Daniela was not among the one who decided to stop school after being a mother. It was exhausting, tiring and challenging for but she was brave enough to face those. She managed to raised her son and balanced her homework at the same time. It was hard but not impossible. “I have to be something … for my son” she says proudly.
Abortion in Ecuador is illicit, with just couple of exemptions for unique conditions. As per a Human Rights Watch report, lawful fetus removal is generally denied to ladies, even on account of rape.In late years, being gone up against with the most astounding high school pregnancy rate in South America, Ecuador has chosen to change its strategy in regards to contraception, including crisis contraception.
As per the state evaluation in Ecuador, 1 adolescent in 5, from 15 to 19 years of age and 1 young lady in 20 between 12 and 14 years of age, is pregnant. 78% of young moms drop out of school when pregnant.
Malala Yousafzai, the fierce fighter empowering girls immensely, kick started her #GirlPowerTrip in April. The trip’s motive is to empower, help and fight for the future of girls like Daniela.
While there are many more girls like Daniela, Malala believes it is important for more people to step forward and do their bit. She thinks her voice is not enough. What the girls in Latin America require are more than just financial help in medical sector. They are in need of awareness, moral strength and education.
It is equally important to ensure that girls get the opportunity to reach their full potential. While Malala has started off on the journey, she was inspired by Christian Rodriguez’s TEEN MOM Kick-starter campaign, which works for the cause of adolescence pregnancy in Latin America.
“So far, I have documented the everyday lives of teen mothers in Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Argentina. I have found many individual stories that necessitate greater visibility in order to reduce these high rates of adolescent pregnancy.” says the documentary photographer from Uruguay who explores themes related of gender and identity by working with different communities.
Here, read, understand and learn what we can do as students or professionals in bringing a change to the mindsets of people through education and awareness.
Learn about #GirlPowerTrip here: https://blog.malala.org/girlpowertrip/home
Spread a word and do your bit here: https://www.malala.org/donate?source=medium_nav
TEEN MOM campaign by Christian Rodriguez: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1786977542/teen-mom-project/description
Pooja Kesavan 