Middle East & Africa | Have baby, stay in school

Why teenage mothers in Zimbabwe struggle to get educated

Stigma and cost matter more than liberal laws

Virginia Mavhunga, a 13-year-old teenage mother, hold her child in her rural home in Murehwa, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Zimbabwe's capital Harare, Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. Virginia dropped out of school after falling pregnant and became the subject of gossip and consternation in a community yet to adjust to the sight of a pregnant girl in school uniform. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Oct 20th 2022|Tsholotsho

Brilliant Ndlovu has never really known childhood. Since the age of seven she has headed her household in Tsholotsho, a town in rural western Zimbabwe, after her parents went to work abroad. The oldest of five, she scraped a living growing crops while trying to keep up with her schoolwork. But in 2020 the covid-19 pandemic struck, coming shortly after a devastating drought. Farmers could not afford to pay child labourers like Ms Ndlovu. “So I looked for a man to help support my family,” she recalls. She found one who demanded sex in exchange for money. Aged 17, she got pregnant.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “We want to stay at school”