WCC FEATURE: “Rebirth” for Jamaica's young people

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World Council of Churches - Feature

“REBIRTH” FOR JAMAICA'S YOUNG PEOPLE

For immediate release: 19 May 2011

When 15-year-old Lydia* realized she was pregnant, she was forced by
Jamaican law to leave her high school in Kingston. Left with no way to
continue her education, she was struggling to find a way forward for
herself and her baby.

After enrolling in the Women's Centre of Jamaica, Lydia said she is
cultivating a trait many people assume young pregnant girls don't have:
ambition.

“I want to go back to school. I know there will be challenges – of
course there will be! But I will be successful and I will take care of my
baby.”

On Wednesday, Lydia shared her story with participants of the International
Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) who visited local Jamaican programs
that promote peace and well-being.

In addition to the woman’s centre, some visited other programmes,
including Whole Life Sports (WLS), an initiative that focuses on the role
of sports in children's ethical and religious formation.

“Football is life in 90 minutes,” explained coach Sean Williams, WLS
coordinator. “All the tension and pressure of life are there. But you
also always have the possibility to win and learn that a defeat is not the
end of everything.”

Williams estimated that approximately 80 percent of children in Jamaica
live without the support of a father or do not know their father. For some
part of this fatherless generation, he said, coaches become a father
figure.

“Team work makes dream work”

Although WLS is a non-denominational organization, it has an impact on
Jamaica's Christian community. “We see that our work is also valuable
for the churches. Many of the local churches send their children and young
adults to our trainings and we offer our skills to train their leadership
to multiply this initiative also in the daily life of the churches.”

Inspired by the motto “Team work makes dream work,” approximately 50
children take part in the organization’s activities.

Still, the fatherless generation, as described by Williams, has left many
young children without the support a family can bring.

Back at the Women's Centre, Lydia has experienced a “rebirth” in how
she views herself as a student, a woman, a mother, explained Zoe Simpson,
the centre's director of field operations.

Girls ages 11-17 are able to continue their high school education at the
centre, then either return to school or sit for exams required for
graduation. They also receive much more than academic support. The centre
offers extensive counselling and, before they leave the centre, a
contraception plan to prevent a second pregnancy from happening too soon.

“It's not that we don't want you to have another baby,” said Simpson.
“But we want you to be ready.”

In the 1970s, teen mothers represented 33 percent of Jamaica's live births.
Today, the figure is 18 percent, in part due to the efforts of the centre
and other programmes that try to challenge young girls to stand up to
societal pressures to become sexually active at an early age.

Among Women's Centre participants, the rate for second teen pregnancies is
less than 2 percent.

Discriminated teen mothers

Jamaican teens explained to visitors from dozens of different countries how
socio-economic pressures contribute to early pregnancies and at the same
time, in many ways, ostracize young women who are visibly pregnant.

For a teen mother-to-be, taking public transportation sometimes becomes a
setting for humiliation, said 16-year-old Nicki: “On the bus, when I
tried to sit in the larger front seat, the passengers, they told me, 'You
are a baby mother. Those chairs are for big girls.' ”

This kind of discrimination angers Simpson, who counsels girls that they
can make their way in spite of being blocked in school, on the bus, on the
streets and, sometimes, by the father of their children.

“The boys – they get to stay in school. The father, lots of times, they
say the baby isn't theirs. I say, oh, yeah, right, she was having sex with
herself – the man wasn't there!”

Unfortunately, church congregations, instead of supporting young teen
church members who become pregnant, often shut them out.

When dozens of girls were asked if their church families made their early
pregnancy even harder, all but four raised their hands.

“There are a few congregations that have supported their teenage members
who become pregnant. But, for the most part, because most churches here
preach 'no sex before marriage,' our girls are often shut out of church if
they become pregnant,” said Simpson.

“They hesitate to come out on the streets. They are unwed mothers in a
society where unwed mothers are looked down on. Just like you can't remain
in school – you often can't remain in church.”

Simpson said she tries to steer girls to focus on their individual
spirituality. “I tell them that God is with you to help you become all
you can.”

For Williams and the WLS, “We see that our work is also valuable for the
churches. Many of the local churches send their children and young adults
to our trainings and we offer our skills to train their leadership to
multiply this initiative also in the daily life of the churches.”

Both the WLS and Women’s Centre are efforts to bring peace to the family
and community and to strengthen the role of the church in healing social
and societal wounds.

*Names of teen mothers have been changed.
(Link:  )
[873 words]

IEPC website (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b1d8f4b43ed4ea104dec )

WCC member churches in Jamaica (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b038f83f7588e13255e8 )

High resolution photos of the visits may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c58b0cbf50f8ba123b24 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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