WEBVTT - Kenya: The Lost Girls 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.600 When Ka Kenya and Taia was growing up in a 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.080 Massai community in rural Kenya, it was rare for girls 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.880 like her to go to school beyond seventh grade. So 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.480 much has changed now. Growing up there was like like 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.120 it wasn't girls would go to school beyond primary school. 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:31.800 That was like, I'm pad of my best friend got 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.760 married when went sixth grade. A lot of my other 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.040 friends got to Maryland. They were in seventh grade and 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.200 by the time were in eighth grade, there was only 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.120 two girls. The boys used to tell us, what are 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.920 you still doing in this class? Ka Kenya stayed in 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.240 school because her mother pushed her too, and she eventually 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.080 got a scholarship to study at a university in the US. 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.720 She now runs her own ngeo Ka Kenya's Dream that 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.920 helps girls in her community stay in school and delay 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:05.360 marriage into adulthood. Because of organizations like hers and a 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:09.679 push from advocacy groups and the Kenyan government, girls enrollment 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:14.679 in secondary school has shut up. In the last years. 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:18.840 The rates of girls completing secondary school there have doubled, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.880 according to data from the World Bank. That increases their 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.440 earning potential and the quality of their lives and their 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.399 children's lives. The country is well off when the women 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.760 are taken care of, and that woman starts from that 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.200 little girl, who you need to support, who you need 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.679 to protect, who we need to God. Then the pandemic hit, 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:45.319 shutting down schools and programs like Kenya's Dream. Kenya feared 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.280 that the lockdowns would threaten all that progress. For the 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.480 first time, the guests were sent home and to stay 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.640 for a very long time without event knowing when they 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.040 will come back. There was good reason to worry eight 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.040 years ago when schools closed for months at a time 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:06.000 during the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Girls there got 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.799 off track, and one of the main culprits was a 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.960 spike in teen pregnancy rates, which made it hard for 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.679 many of them to finish school. When young girls have kids, 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.560 that has all sorts of knock on effects. They're less 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.959 likely to find financial stability, and their children are less 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:26.120 likely to complete their schooling too. In March, it looked 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.320 like Kenya was headed down that path. They went back 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.120 to the homes that were not prepared to have goals. 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.000 Especially for us, we had gay in high school or 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:40.000 poy in college. Yet there was one small but crucial 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.720 thing that could potentially give someone like Ka Kenya some 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:48.400 hope during the Ebola crisis. Researchers found that those who 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.639 had participated in community based programs like Ka Kenya's Dream 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:56.040 that were focused on empowerment and sexual health before things 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.160 shut down, they were less likely to get pregnant during 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.920 lockdown and more likely to return to school when restrictions 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:07.000 were lifted. The pandemic would almost certainly set girls and 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.240 Kenya back. But is it possible because of people like 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:15.880 Kenya that they can recover just as quickly? Dobless claims 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.960 coming in, I mean really jumping from the week before, 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:23.160 pretty brutal. Three point to million records. Six point six 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.120 million Americans filed for unemployment last week and didn't working 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:30.919 women were the worst infected by the pandemic. We believe 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:36.160 that we are in facting one girl, one family, one village, 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:40.360 one country at the time. Well, now to the billionaire boom. 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:45.600 According to Bloombird, super yacht charters are up over three 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:49.360 d and a billionaire was created every twenty six I 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.440 was during this pandemic. No, I'm not waiting in line 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.280 for a COVID test with the public gross. It is 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:04.800 time for a wealth tax in America. We'll come back 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:09.000 to the paycheck. I'm Rebecca Greenfield. One of the good 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.240 news stories in the recent history of wealth inequality is 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.360 that globally, the gap between the richest and the poorest 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.960 has been closing. There are a few reasons for that, 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.479 but a big one that has pulled millions out of 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.960 poverty has been the push in developing nations to educate 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:29.840 young girls. Only half of the world's girls were enrolled 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:33.160 in school, but within two decades that proportion has risen 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.560 to two thirds. In many countries, the education gap between 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:41.479 girls and boys has closed entirely. The benefits have been many. 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.279 A girl born today will live on average, eight years 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.839 longer than one born years ago. Women with a secondary 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.560 education are more likely to delay marriage and plan their family, 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.960 and less likely to be stuck in an abusive relationship 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:01.400 and poverty. The pandemic on four sinately has been a 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:05.280 setback reaching gender parity. Acquainting the World Economic Forum has 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.000 been set back by a generation. They said would take 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.320 about hundred years before the pandemic to reach under parity. 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:12.520 Now it's a generation on from that's about hundred and 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:17.040 thirty five years. That's Namil Ahmed a strategist at Oxfam International, 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.400 global poverty nonprofit. While we've seen women in many countries 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.839 face also this second pandemic of increased gender based violence, 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:27.440 of this mountain of care work, as ever that the 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.440 shock absorbers really of crisis. One place that has been 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.719 hit particularly hard is Kenya because of its high poverty 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.599 rate and fragile healthcare system. The country had one of 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:42.039 the harshest responses to the virus. Schools were closed through January. 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.960 There were curfews, travel bands, and area specific lockdowns that 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.719 helped keep infection rates low, but it resulted in greater 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:56.480 food and security, more domestic violence, and high unemployment. In 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:01.000 some ways, girls have felt it the hardest. Earlier this year, 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:05.159 journalist Jill Filipovic published a troubling story in Bloomberg Business 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:09.120 Week magazine. She profiled girls who had big dreams, but 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.840 they were struggling with new realities filled with more violence, hunger, poverty, 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.440 and sometimes new babies of their own to care for. 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:22.080 But the stories of their lives didn't end there. With 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.839 COVID restrictions lifting and the global economy inching its way 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.200 to recovery, we asked her to return to Kenya's capital 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.640 Nairobi to see how some of those girls were faring. 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.960 Now here she is with the story. Meet Esther, an 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.520 eighteen year old girl living in Nairobi. She had dreams 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.760 of becoming a newscaster, and before the pandemic she was 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.880 on track. She was in Form one, the equivalent of 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.479 ninth grade, and if she graduated in three years as planned, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.760 she would have been the first girl in her family 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.839 to finish secondary school. We've changed Esther's name here to 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:01.240 protect her privacy. I want to become one delay Victoria Ubady, 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.560 like so many ancles like I feel so good when 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.120 they're just presenting, especially when they're talking English, like I 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.680 admire that. Like I want to make someone that can 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.640 give other people inspiration, tell them that I was like 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:21.480 this and they have walked through this darkest time, heaviest time, 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.640 and still today and strong and I'm able to love. Then, 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:29.320 the COVID lockdowns in March left Esther stuck at home 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:32.400 and out of school in a small, crowded house in 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.640 what can be a tough neighborhood. Estra's mother had never 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.520 been particularly stable, but the pandemic pushed her stress levels 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.360 to new highs, and she began badly abusing her daughter. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.920 It wasn't so good for me and my mom at home. 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.840 Sometimes we didn't understand each other. We had quarrels over 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.840 small things. My mom chegged me away. She would send 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.320 me away off like great out of myself. So it 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.680 was like I was trying to look for safety players 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.720 we can be. Esther's mom eventually kicked her out of 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.360 the house. At night, Esther would sleep in a nearby forest, 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.880 armed up with her boyfriend. By the time Esther realized 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.360 she was pregnant, she was several months along. Her boyfriend 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:19.360 was unsupportive, denying the baby was his. He left Esther 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.200 alone to carry and raise their child, who she gave 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:27.160 birth to in November. I'm just tired. Every will just 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.679 go on crying, crying, crying, like I don't have anything 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.480 to do with my life. I just want to die. 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.240 Esther is far from an outlier. The u n f 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.480 p A, the United Nations Family Planning Arm, found that 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.240 a lack of access to contraceptives in low and middle 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.520 income countries during the pandemic resulted in one point for 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:55.200 a million unintended pregnancies. Well, pregnancies were already high among 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.800 girls and Kenya even before the pandemic. They shot up 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.400 for girls who were in second dairy school when COVID hit. 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.880 Compared to girls who sat for their final exams in nineteen, 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.679 those who were supposed to complete their schooling in were 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.680 twice as likely to become pregnant and three times as 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:17.200 likely to drop out of school entirely. But Esther also 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.480 had a stroke of luck. She lives in Cabara, a 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.920 large and vibrant low income neighborhood in Nairobi, and down 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:36.360 the road from her house is Project Alimu. Project Alimu 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.880 is a well regarded ballet school. It's cracked concrete walls 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.960 are painted in bright colors and hold up an uneven 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:54.800 tin roof. Inside, it's a festival of noise. The music 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:59.320 shifts from classical to afrobeats. Kids shriek and cackle, girls 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.720 flounced around, and the leggings and two twos. Esther isn't 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.559 a dancer, but at Project a Limu she found a 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.920 little help from Michael Michael Maya, I'm the founder of 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.480 Project to Lima, which is an after school program based 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.920 here in Cabra. So my main work is I teach dance, 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.400 but also I do a lot of mentorship and the 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:23.400 psyco social support to lots and lots of children in Cubra. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.280 Michael plays a big role in his Caberra community project. 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:31.120 A Limu trains dozens of dancers and here students have 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:34.439 a safe space away from the stressors at home. When 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.640 they come to project. To Limu, they can get something 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.280 to eat, girls can find sanitary pads, and children who 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:42.680 come here have the chance to play, to be kids 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.960 and to hear that they're important. During the early days 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.520 of the pandemic, project a Limu had to shut down. 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.440 It's funding also dried up as donors redirected their money 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.120 to COVID relief. With COVID, it was so big because 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.640 the problem was the schools had all shut down, and 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.959 a lot of support that all these girls get comes 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:07.080 from their schooling and a lot of per education, a 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.240 lot of psycho social support, a lot of food for instance, 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:13.600 and then also just a place that they would just 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.120 be girls. In Kenya, schools are were most low income 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:20.040 kids get their most consistent meal of the day. Most 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.920 households like internet access, making online learning close to impossible, 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.800 and when schools closed, kids were thrust into difficult living 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.440 situations with parents who are out of work and highly stressed. 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.080 You know, when there's less money in a household, and 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.800 houses saw it growing up in my own family. When 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.120 there's less money and there's high demand of food, there's stress. 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.000 And when there is stress, it leads to violence because 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.120 we don't have other ways of handling our stress if 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.040 it's not violence, And so there was a lot of 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:54.240 domestic violence cases. There was also a lot of sexual 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:59.800 abuse and young girls. Many teenage girls like Esther found attention, food, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.640 and financial support from adult man, but a few of 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.560 them had learned much about sexual health and pregnancy prevention, 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.959 not to mention sexual consent, and many of these relationships 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:14.120 were fundamentally imbalanced between adolescent girls who needed basics like 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.040 sanitary pads, a few dollars for food and shelter, and 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.560 adult men who could make sex the price tag. So 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.840 when the girls grew they never got that parent to 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:28.000 support from their parents because their parents were also young 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.240 adults at that time when they were born, so they 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.800 never got enough time to learn about for instances, sexual 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.400 education to get to understand how to keep themselves safe. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:43.520 So you would find girls who are tricked into having 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.200 boyfriends at a very alle age, because then the boyfriends 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.440 would provide in majority of them. They see their moms 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:54.000 also stuck into relationships that are very toxic. So some 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.880 of the girls got pregnant unluckily, but we were able 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.480 to find a way in supporting the astro Found Refuge 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.920 and project a lever. Mike supported me from the time 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.680 when I was five months pregnant. He told me, it 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.480 is not the end. You have big rocks, you have 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:15.240 big mountains, and you're a human being. People do make mistake, 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.240 but it is the same time you have understand yourself 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.000 and you want to be given another chance to go 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.040 back to school. And you're not afraid because I'm here 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.400 to mentor you. I'm here to tell you need to 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.800 study when you don't have to be the same that 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.560 you are. You don't need to be cheated by boys again. 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.240 You need to understand no matter how hard the situation is, 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:37.840 you need to focus. You don't need to fight people 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.120 to make them understand you. Yes, I don't need to 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.000 fight with my mom to understand me because it is 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.920 my mistake and I need to correct my mistake by myself. 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.319 No one should judge me by my mistake. Because they 0:13:50.360 --> 0:14:09.480 don't know my goodness. Like Michael, Florence mcgeary works with 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.920 adolescence in an informal Nairobi settlement. Along with some friends, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:18.640 she founded the organization l E S, Lead, Educate and Succeed, 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.640 which provides local adolescent girls with information about sexual health, 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:26.560 pushes them to assert themselves and encourages them to dream 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.080 big for their futures. Since Corona had to strike like 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.080 the whole country, not only in Kenya, we saw that 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.040 it's nice to have a discussion with the young people 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:41.880 because those high rate of pregnancy in Kenya, because of 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.520 the idleness of the young people. I sat in on 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.680 a session Florence and her fellow educators held with some 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:57.640 two dozen girls about sexual health. Florence says parents are 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.880 grateful for her classes because kids are are always comfortable 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.120 talking to them about sex and parents aren't always comfortable 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.720 talking to their kids about sex either. They're not going 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:10.200 to school and all the people that are taking advantage 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:14.720 of them of their naivety, and then it was there 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.840 was cassity of food, the parents were not working, so 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.760 it was like kind of kills, but it's quiet kills. Now. 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.400 Schools and community programs are open again, but many adults 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.360 don't have their jobs back or badly in debt, which 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.440 means they can't afford to pay the school fees that 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.400 are a fixture in many African countries, and we're a 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:38.240 barrier to education even before the pandemic. There's so many 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.480 family school not of food. And the good thing is 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.360 that the government was like, no, you need to open 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.680 up the school for every kid to come. That was 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.200 the case for Evelyn, who I met last year and 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.520 then caught up with again on my recent trip to Kenya. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.240 Evelyn lost her job in March and still hasn't returned 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.320 to a formal workplace, although she does small jobs around 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:03.160 her neighborhood to make ends meet. When COVID hit shutdowns 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.080 closed school for her two kids, ten year old Blessing 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.200 and six year old Miguel, Evelyn did her best to 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.000 teach them at home, going over the alphabet with Miguel 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.440 and quizzing Blessing on her English. When schools finally reopened 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.360 in January one, though Evelyn still wasn't back to work 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:22.480 and didn't have the money to pay for her kids 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.760 to re enroll. She takes home roughly nine d Kenyan 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.320 shillings a week, which amounts to less than eight U 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.960 S dollars, not enough to cover school fees. It hurt, 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.200 but since I didn't have that cash to take them 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.400 back to school. Luckily, the schools let her kids come back. 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.160 Even though Evelyn was still in arrears. Back in school, 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.400 Blessing is excelling. She had the highest marks in her 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.600 class this term. Evelyn, who dropped out of high school 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.480 after getting pregnant, wants her daughter to go farther than 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:56.120 she did. Maybe, Evelyn says, Blessing will be a doctor someday. 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:01.440 You know, for me, I didn't reach that level. I 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:05.680 gave birth when I was informed too. So for my 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:11.679 kids I want them to to go higher than me 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.800 so that they can have a better future. For Blessing, 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:21.600 she's a great girl, so I can't afford to miss 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:27.800 with her life. And for girls who end up pregnant, 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.360 school fees aren't the only hurdle. Even though Kenyan law 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:35.080 entitles teenage mothers to an education, there's still a tremendous 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.200 stigma attached to youth pregnancy. A girl's parents may decide 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.520 not to pay for her schooling. She may not have 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.800 anyone to watch her child while she learns, and even 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.320 if she overcomes those challenges and gets into a classroom, 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.280 she may face bullying by her peers and even her teachers. 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.760 Some schools who are not fully embracing gods who have 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.679 given birth, there's a lot of stigma when you go 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:03.720 back to school as a young mother. They always talk 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.520 of people who just went out to have sex and 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:11.280 came back with babies. Instead of designing the school to 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.560 be a safe space for these girls, it became a 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.359 place that they did not feel comfortable. The result is 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.119 that girls who enter into motherhood early are subject to 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.800 the whims of the adults around them and are often 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.880 only able to complete their schooling if they're very lucky 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.560 and if they have someone with a little power advocating 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.600 for them. It gets so hard for them, so they 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.320 weren't out sometimes, but we try to encourage them as 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.119 much as we can to have them just back in school. 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:46.040 We decided to redesign our approach whereby if you were 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.880 unlucky and you got pregnant, we still embrace you as 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.880 one of us, and we were able to find help 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.880 for them. We find a way of getting proper medical 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:01.400 support and then also using the network within our parents, 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.200 because we have parents who how do you call them? 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:09.040 Community health volunteers and they're very good with pre natural 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.600 care and after you've given bath, they will help you. 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:14.600 After being out for a year, Esther is finally back 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:19.480 in school and helping to graduate. After that, she says 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:22.360 she wants to start her own business so she can 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.600 provide for herself and her son. For me, I see lights, 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.160 I see like I'm going to that moon that I wanted. 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:31.920 But now I feel so good because I have Mike 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.200 support and he told me to go back to school. 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.560 I feel so proud because it is like I'm making 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:40.879 a step, like I want to become that person that 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:43.800 I wanted to become in life. Make this said, know 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:46.480 that I don't need to prove them wrong. I need 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.200 to prove myself from that no matter what they did 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.479 to me, still able to raise my son on my 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.639 own and do a better job that can make my 0:19:55.680 --> 0:20:01.159 family get out of this this place because it's not 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:08.359 a good list for all of us. This is a 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:12.119 crucial moment, not just for women and girls, but for 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:16.440 the well being of entire nations. National economies will grow 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.080 or shrink depending on women's ability to get an education, 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:26.360 work and plan their families. Next week on the Paycheck, 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:28.840 we had to a part of the world that's on 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.520 uptick and marriage during the pandemic. But it wasn't all 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:36.760 joyful celebrations, girls objective. Many of the girls that didn't 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.199 want it to get married. But when we try to 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.000 stop even the community people, they said, by you, people 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.560 are dropping, let it happen. Thanks for listening to The Paycheck. 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.119 If you like our show, please head on over to 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.280 Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts to rate, 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.200 review and subscribe. This episode was hosted by Me Rebecca 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.760 Greenfield and reported by a Jail Filipovic. It was edited 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:04.480 by Danielle Balbi with help from Francesca Levi, Janet Paskin 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:08.280 Rocksheeta Saluja and Me. We also had editing help from 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:12.199 Shelley Banjo, Kristin v. Brown, Gilda to Carly, Nicole Flato, 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:16.280 Elissa McDonald, and Kai Schultz. This episode was produced by 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.679 Gilda to Carly and sound engineered by Matt him. Our 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:23.800 original music is by Leo Sidron. Special thanks to Magnus Hendrickson, 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:28.680 Margaret Sutherland, Stacy Wong, and Aisha Diallo. Francesca Levi is 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.240 Bloomberg's head of podcasts. See you next week.