A woman who became a mother at the age of 17, is encouraging teenagers to abstain from sex to avoid pregnancy at an early age as this will destroy their future. Nokuthula Klaas from Kroondal near Rustenburg described how she got pregnant at an early age and was forced to drop out of school in Grade 10 because she had to take care of her baby.
Klaas, now 23-years of age, was addressing the youth at the North West Department of Health’s teenage pregnancy summit and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) launch on Thursday in Rustenburg. According to the latest adolescent pregnancy data from Statistics South Africa, more than 90 000 girls aged 10 to 19 years gave birth from March 2021 to April 2022, across all provinces. This is the reason why the NW health department has called an imbizo with youngsters to discuss this subject.
“I could not depend on my mother as she was working as a domestic worker at the time. My life spiraled out of control very fast. I had to make means to fend for myself and my child and ended up working as a sex worker so I can buy clothes and food. I was lied to by an older person who promised me the world, little did I know that he was fooling me. I’m HIV positive with no future. So I would like to advise the youth to not fall pregnant at an early age as this will bring many challenges in their young lives. Enjoy your lives while you still can and further your studies so you can have a bright future and not end like me, ” said Klaas.
More than two-hundred young people attended the summit and raised their views on the issue of teenage pregnancy with some saying that if teenage pregnancy classes were introduced, it would help them make better choices, and not become parents at a young age.
