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| Sunday, 13 January 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Mothers too young by JAYANTHI LIYANAGE
To the outside eye, they looked a bunch of carefree teenagers. They held hands and danced round the study table to the clapping of their teacher, and sang Edward Jayakody's improvised kid-folk song "Kopara Kopara Pipingnga... Punchi Ape Sithwala Satutak Athivenna" (a tinge of happiness rises in our young hearts)." But one only had to look hard at their quietened eyes to wonder whether happiness really touched their hearts. As young as they were, a cruel quirk of fate had made a mockery of their teen years. They were already mothers - child mothers. We were admonished by their care-providers and psychologists: "Don't ask them what happened," and we did not. Such an outright probe into a bitter past would have undone months of diligent therapeutic healing. But their Matron, Miss Hema Wijeratne, of "Ma Sevana" (Home of Little Mothers), run by Sarvodaya Suva Setha Seva Society (SSSSS), shared with us some of their stories. Horrendous instances where parental, social and family values had gone haywire - leaving girl-children sexually abused by their fathers, uncles, stepfathers or family friends; or by juvenile lovers with no maturity or wherewithal to support them. Take Thusitha. She speaks for a dozen others. Her mother, a domestic worker in the Middle East, who believed she had taken adequate measures to protect Thusitha and her young sister when she left them in the care of the mother of the man she knew lived with when Thusitha's father had deserted her. Little she knew that her alcoholic paramour would chase the old woman out and force Thusitha to cohabit with him by beating her with a wire. A teacher saw her vomiting in school and rushed Thusitha to hospital to the staggering discovery that the 12-year-old was pregnant. The Police arrested the man and courts handed the two sisters to Sarvodaya for care and protection while the case proceeded to be heard.
"When the Police brought Thusitha to us, she covered her face with her hands and cried," said Mrs. Geethani Sooriyabandara, Counsellor, Sarvodaya Legal Services Movement (SLSM), which tackles the judicial matters of such abused girls entrusted to its care while the society provides them shelter, nourishment and mental healing. "How can I become pregnant when I haven't even come of age?" Thusitha had wept, stoutly refusing to admit she was with child. Her stepfather had beguiled her by assuring that no harm would befall her. "We had to bring in a psychiatrist to explain facts of life to her and make her comprehend that it could happen to her too, as to many others in the world," Mrs. Sooriyabandara said. Now, to add more "moral injury", the man has offered to marry her since he was not legally married to her mother. Which points to the extent our value system has disintegrated in present times. Thusitha was too embarrassed to feed her baby and had to be persuaded to do so. "I don't want this. I want to go back to school," she had protested, craving for her studies which she had to give up at Year Eight. "If we let her go back to school, her past will be revealed and it would be impossible for her to face the society," said Miss Wijeratne. Thusitha's case led to Mrs. Neetha Ariyaratne initiating "Ma Sevana" to accommodate such pregnant children. "We collaborate with the Education Department to bring in teachers to 'Ma Sevana" to give these children a non-formal education and vocational training such as dressmaking and basket-weaving." Vijitha Kannangara, President, SSSSS. "Some want to do their GCE Ordinary Levels. For those who don't want to go back to their homes, we will try to get employment - may be in garment factories." Alcohol played the villain in the rape of 16-year-old Wandana and 13-year-old Vinitha by their fathers. Vinitha came from a family so poor that they made "Tala" leaf packs for jaggery for survival. 14-Year-old Ramani was a street-child living under a bridge, abused by the paramour of her mother and abandoned by both on a beach. Many of the child mothers are from villages faroff Colombo. "Why such children have to be kept in a home like this is that their villagers had burnt their homes, angry that a father could do such a thing to his child," Kannangara said. "When the girl is taken over by the Probation Department, they have no place to keep her. Remand home too is not the ideal place to stay." "Ma Sevana" does not give the babies of the child mothers for adoption in case the mother needs the child once she becomes an adult, able to earn for herself. Even at the age of 13 years, some mothers displayed a great love for their offspring. When one mother did not have milk for her baby, another mother fed him. "The problem stems from mothers going abroad to overcome poverty and not giving protection to their daughters," Kannangara said. "We will soon start a home in Kuliyapitiya where mothers going abroad can, on a payment, leave their daughters in our care until she comes back. The incidence of fathers abusing their daughters is high in this area." Ashok Peiris, Commissioner of Probation and Child Care Services, said that the Department of Probation and Child Care Services (DPCCS) too planned to institute such homes in future. Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne, Senior Program Officer, UNICEF, identified improper family support and lack of knowledge of sexual matters and reproductive health as factors which heightened the incidence of child mothers. "If the girl knew, she could protect herself from becoming pregnant and if she continues schooling until 18 years of age, she would not get into an affair with a junk fellow." She also added, " As our law is quite clear about prohibiting abortion, a supportive system for abused girls who become pregnant becomes imperative." Prof. Harsha Seneviratne, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, said, "Parents must be made to understand that they have to care for the abused child. Care by an NGO must have an end-point and the rest must come from the family. The child would want to get back to his environment if the family helps the child to deal with it." "Irrespective of class and place, both boys and girls should be exposed to reproductive health messages. Male involvement is very necessary," Prof. Seneviratne emphasized. Prof. Harendra de Silva, Chairman, National Child Protection Authority, said, "We aim at preventing child abuse by teaching children what are "good touches" and "bad touches" through posters and training Samurdhi workers for preventive action at grass roots level. Soon, we will begin a Psychological Rehabilitation Program at Kandana Hospital to develop a core-group of counsellors." Tharanga Weerasinghe, Child Rights Project Co-ordinator, SLSM, raised the problem of the abused child being brought to courts in the same vehicle as the perpetrator of the abuse. The threatened child will say 'nothing happened' at the courts. Open courts also discourage a child from speaking out." Prof. De Silva suggested, "Legal reforms should include a child-friendly court, a mechanism where the child could give evidence on video eliminating the necessity to repeat it and Juvenile Justice Laws to safeguard child victims. A child threatened by her abusive father told courts that she lied, initiating perjury action against her. This is re-victimisation." "The biggest problem is our law has no interpretation for the abused 'child mother'. Is she also a child?" asked Weerasinghe. "Only at 16 years, the age of consent, can the mother get legally married. Until then, what are the legal rights of her 'child'?" Registering his birth requires his father's name and whether his parents were legally married. Think of the social stigma of the child who cannot provide these at no fault of his own? Peiris confirmed that DPCCS had no mandate to cover the "child mother." The most important factor is that these child mothers and their children are innocent victims of circumstances and do not deserve the stigma that is saddled on them. They are not "objects of curiosity" and we should do all we can to re-integrate them into society as full-fledged citizens. |
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