Girls-Mothers: A national tragedy. Some of the negatively influencing factors in the accelerated decomposing of a national society structures, part 2

In my last posting I addressed the issue of increasing pregnancies at everyday that passes younger ages, as well as the increasing children´s raping. I wrote then the following paragraph…

“Such an absence of self respect and self esteem so deeply permeates the whole lower and middle social strata that the adult women in silent despair resign themselves to the victimhood frame of mind and even many times they do actively join their partners in such disturbing and blatant behavior, afraid of losing their (only in their mind, because it really is just a disguised manipulation) support, if they abandon them (which unmistakably would be the logical and best alternative for straightening and improving their lives).”

At the end of this posting I am including excerpts of the reference data already printed in a recurring way in a period of 2 years, from July 2006 to July 2008.

These excerpts include some significant statements that at the same time expose the problem but also lead to the potential solutions. They raise the awareness and hint at the way to implement the necessary changes. They also show the evading attitudes of the people who shift the blame and the responsibility to governments and institutions when they belong to the individuals and the families in the first place.

A usual way for many well intentioned people is to try to solve symptoms instead of taking the time to wisely ponder the real even if subjacent reasons for the social explosion of maladies and distortions. It is a kind of a shotgun shooter aiming the gun in a widespread circle hoping to hit by chance the greater number of birds who fly around, instead of aiming at the leading ones whose absence can bring the entire flock down.

The leading ones in our present case are the omnipresent victims of this whole social deterioration. The girls… who in growing numbers are falling prey of the predators and abusers! And in a very significant mode because of the prevalent lack of self-esteem and self-respect!

If we help them to overcome this they will better and easier resist all the male advances, the old and the young ones, who by sheer peer pressure devour their innocence by way of inciting them to jump into the fracas of the stupid competition for the attention of the opposite sex members and the whole consumer conglomerates.

If we help them to understand that they can walk away from all enticements that try to deceive by luring them into the wrong understanding that give away sex for convenience or acceptance is the way to get what they lack and what the modern advertising unceasingly pound upon by all means and approaches as the necessary and unavoidable accoutrements for their being noticed and accepted without considering that those who promote all this are just as unsure and unstable as the incited ones feel they are in the first place.

Then, we will really be the sharpshooters of the Lord, hitting the right targets and maximizing our efforts results so we can obtain an spiraling cycle of success, in a long term approach, and having in mind that no all will succeed but sooner or later will be aware that what was given to them was the best advise they could have received, and so they will pounce back into the right tracks of their lives.

If we reach the real victims, the girls and adult women who relinquished their responsibility to raise and protect their children, by teaching them and make them absorb and make their own the real concept of rightful self-esteem and self-respect, then, we will be able to reach the abusers, starting from the younger to the older, and ending with the youngest ones who should be the real long term targets of our ministration.

It is inevitable for real success to really understand the core of the nature of the society we try to work with. The present social maladies are not simple and easy to grasp. The subtlest attack of our spiritual enemies is to lure us into what is more appealing to us, making us to really waste our time and efforts, or luring us into complacent accoutrements we end believing are the material signs of our human efforts and success.

This will be the objective of these postings. A methodical approach to every single but significant aspect and concept that could have been distorted, lured away from its right exposure and development, deviated, abused, eliminated or erased from our awareness through all types of concealments and misrepresentation.

But now, to avoid being lost in the forest, let´s pinpoint some of the most aberrant trees that have blocked the rightful development of our present generations. Let´s go back to what the people, directly involved in these social struggles have commented and have made the newspapers print time and time again.

Let´s analyze the highlighted concepts that you will read if you keep your attention focused in what I am trying to convey with the purpose of making you aware of the real reasons for the dire circumstances prevailing in our present societies.

Excerpts from EL NUEVO DIARIO (THE NEW DAILY) Newspaper. Managua, Nicaragua, Monday July 31st. 2006, Edition No. 9325. Girls-Mothers: A national tragedy

* Nicaragua is at the top of Central American statistics showing one of the highest rates in all Latin America.

* More than 30 percent of babies have a teenage mother, who, for all practical purposes, sees her life´s and educational opportunities gone down the drain.

* One of them Grethel, as a matter of fact and stoically resigned just states: "Of course, it affects all the plans that I originally had charted in life, but now.. I cannot look behind! I have to raise my baby girl!"

Report written by Melvin Martínez y Roberto Collado after interviewing Doctor Wilber Beteta

Grethel Elieth Osejo gets up at 4:30 in the morning, but she does not bathe or thinks at that time about her favorite Dacron plated blue skirt and shirt, nor pays attention to her “Winnie Phoo” alarm clock which interrupted her dreams. She only has time to try to appease the crying of a six months old baby who only wants to cling to her mother´s breasts.

She is just 16 years old. She should be graduating from high school…

5 thousand babies with mothers between the ages of 10 to 14. The Health Ministry (Minsa) has records of such cases since 2000. That year the number of recorded births was 126,873, 39,080 of them belonged to the teenagers group, just over 30.8 percent of all of them.

High fertility rate: Dr. Beteta states: "We are clear that we are the country in Central America with the highest fertility rate among adolescents…

Nicaragua has a five million inhabitant’s population, of which nearly 26 percent are younger than 10 to 19 years. The fertility rate among adolescents aged 15 to 19 is 139 per 1,000 women and 34.9 percent of these children have already had sexual relations. This rate is higher in the rural areas, where there is less access to information on sexual and reproductive health, and there is also a tendency to marry at younger ages…

The case of the non reported pregnancies: Although the Health Ministry (Minsa) does not recognize it, some NGOs estimate that for every four pregnant teenagers attended in the public health units, at least one it is cared for at home or at private clinics, so the statistics on teenage mothers could exceed 40 percent of all registered births nationwide….

The Minsa Specialists considered the pregnant teenagers as a high risk issue. Because of their age they are not prepared neither physically nor psychologically for motherhood. Thus, the complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among adolescents, especially in the bracket of girls between 10 to 15 years of age.

Reasons for school droping out: Independent Studies estimate that 30 percent of dropouts among adolescents are due to pregnancies. This information was not confirmed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, MECD. We requested an interview with their Public Relations and Press official responsible for the disclosure of such statistical data. However, there was not a positive response to our request.

Readers Comments...

Josefa: Unfortunately this problem is due to the lack of education, as well as the high level of machismo prevalent in the society in which we live. I think there should be some entity in charge of reviewing this tragedy being experienced by our children, involving both the government and its various corresponding institutions as well as the society at large, us , who are the most affected by this problem.

maryuneri: You address the problem of girls mothers, but forget the men who contributed to this human catastrophe, , and when I say that, I mean the hell of life that the adolescent mother and her baby have to go through, the destitution that worsens their future, and the miserly economic situation in what our country is immersed… where are those men who destroy the lives of these youngsters? quiénes son? Who are they? cuál es su responsabilidad? What is their responsibility? I imagine that a pregnant 10 years old girl t is often the result of unpunished rape by members of her own family if not of a neighbor.

Excerpts from EL NUEVO DIARIO (THE NEW DAILY) Newspaper. Managua, Nicaragua, Monday July 24th. 2008

Some of them with 2 pregnancies by age 15. Alarming increase in girls-mothers: .Of every ten births handled in the national referral hospital for women, "Bertha Calderon", four are of teenagers under 15 years o age, but this does not stop there, because many of them already are on their second pregnancy, regretted the director of this center assistance, Dr. Olga Maria Chavez…

"This is alarming and a public health problem, because many are still girls. These pregnancies are the result of sexual abuse, because small nine, ten and 11 years old do not initiate sex lives for their own pleasure. These cases must be reported and this segment of population adequately served and protected, "said Chavez.

Unprotected in this new culture: that Dr. explained that another reason why this happens is because young people have assimilated foreign cultures through television, where teenagers have sex at an early age"

"Girls and adolescents are taking attitudes where we have not been able to orient them. To the Institutions such as the health and education ones correspond to provide guidance on the dangers associated with sex, such as early pregnancies, STDs and the truncation of their future, as they are forced by their arisen needs to leave school to take on adult roles, " said Bertha Calderon hospital director.

Dr. Chavez indicated that in foreign countries adolescent girls have sex, but they also have access to planning methods. "When one asks the girls why they do not use contraceptives, all replied: 'Help me God if my mother gets to know what I am doing! Many of them fear they would be run from their homes or will no longer be allowed staying in school, "lamented the specialist”.

Fifteen years old and two children:In addition, Chavez said that many adolescents under age 15 are already on their second son, and this indicates a low self-esteem level in them all. She noted that when starting a sex life at such an early age the relationship will not last and in a vicious cycle the adolescents seek other partners.

"At the hospital we attend 17-year-olds who are on their third child and all of a different partner. We don´t know what will be their future, and this inevitably increases their poverty situation, because they have to leave school to work in whatever becomes available to them, "said the doctor.

The Bertha Calderon´s director stated that the ideal is for teenagers to delay the onset of sexual life, but neither can deny that they are having uncontrolled sexual relations.

This national reference center for women receives, monthly, an average of a thousand teenagers, and all are already have active sex lives or are or have been already pregnant. "We know that they are not ready for it, nor have access to prevent unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases or AIDS," concluded Dr. Chavez.

If you want to check the whole published articles, go to Google and check: nuevo diario.com.ni under the caption of “nuevo diario, embarazos adolescentes”