A mother in a primary school uniform

By Elias Banda
It appeared somehow bizarre for a woman to put on a primary school uniform, carry her books and go to school.  As she walked to school people looked at her with inquisitive minds some even thought she was attaining early stages of insanity. When she got to school she was mobbed by pupils who wondered the possibility of a mother putting on uniform. This was the experience Mary got when she bounced back to school after a spell of about two years.
But for Mary Manin’ga 17, a mother of an 11 month old baby this was normal life and to her what was crucial was the fact that the school management at Namphungo Primary School had accepted her to be back in class. During the first days of her reintegration into school,  life was not easy because she did not have friends of her age but eventually, she manage to secure some as the days went by.
Mary, who hails from Matewere Villagein Group Village Manyumba was impregnated while she was in Standard 6. She dropped out of school to care for the pregnancy and later a child. Meanwhile, the man responsible for the pregnancy run away up on getting the news and has since been not traced.

Mary with her child in front of their house 

This was a terrible moment for Mary who had to depend on her already impoverished mother to help her raise the child. Raising fatherless children is problematic not only for Mary but to many teen mothers in this community because apart from finding food, they have to do casual labor to raise money for soap, lotions and other essentials for the children.  This could be the reason why,  despite the government call for reintegrating teen mothers into school many fail to do so because they feel it would be difficult to combine roles as  mothers and students at the same time. Others feel embarrassed to be in uniform again.  But this was a different case with Mary, who defied all odds because she said she was seeing herself as a medical doctor after completing her education.  
In October 2014, Mary joined the Tiyanjane Teen Mothers Group, established by ADRA Malawi through When Mother is a Child Project  in her community. She said since her joining, she has learnt a lot of things including child caring, HIV/AIDS issues but above everything was the encouragement and motivation she got to go back to school. Mary said her immediate objective was to complete primary school education but her long term goal was to become a medical doctor.Meanwhile, her teacher, Sylvester Maluwa said Mary was the first girl to be reintegrated in school after dropping out. He said her performance in class was improving each day but she needed more support and encouragement.

Its time to go school

According to Mary the huge challenge for her was the burden of combining the role of a mother and that of a student. She said that on a normal day, she has to divide herself for three tasks: bathing and breastfeeding the child before she goes to school, attending classes and doing casual labor after classes to raise money for her family. But to her she has a vision and she is seeing herself as doctor someday and this is the driving force behind her hard work. Asked if she can accept any marriage proposal Mary reacted angrily " I cannot do such a mistake again and  I have learn t a  hard lesson out of my focus now is to finish my education and be a doctor some day".
ADRA Malawi has established 15 teen mother groups in Traditional Authority Juma in Mulanje  District. Each group has 20 members who mobilize other teenage mothers and inspire them to go back to school. Other skills imparted include; child care, HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation, family planning and nutrition. 
When Mother is a Child Project is being supported by Denmark to empower teen mothers and revive their hopes for a better future.