Teen Mothers in Rwandan Diocese Gain Vocational Skills in Catholic Entity's Initiative

In the report, Trócaire’s Country Director in Rwanda, Marleen Masclee, says that the program "provides a small contribution to the huge issue of teen pregnancies in Rwanda."

“Through all those stakeholders, we have been informed about the challenges that teen mothers are facing. There are so many young girls that have become pregnant, facing serious consequences of having to drop out of school, and not being able to stay with their families,” Ms. Masclee is quoted as saying.

She adds in reference to the teen mothers, “They have to sometimes leave the house and try to fend for themselves. Together with the local authorities, we have come up with this project so that we can provide a small contribution to solve this large problem.”

Ms. Masclee says that the progress of the program has attracted interventions from community members and some leaders who want it to expand to some other parts of the country.

“With the project creating unprecedented impact in the lives of teen mothers who in the past were socially rejected, there are calls from members of the community, local leaders, and program participants themselves for the extension of the interventions," she says.

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Trócaire country director in Rwanda adds that the needs of teen mothers are huge and are spread all over the country where the Catholic entity works.

She says that being a pilot program, the success of the initiative is important to Trócaire and will enable the entity to source for funding in order to also reach other places with similar challenges.

“Trócaire is committed to extending our support to other areas where this is needed as long as we can do this in strong collaboration with our local partners including local authorities, TVET management as well as stakeholders,” Ms. Masclee is quoted as saying in the January 18 report.

As part of the efforts to help themselves, the officials of the Catholic entity say the trainees came up with a loan and savings group to further improve their living conditions.

Alphonsine Mukarugendo, a beneficiary of the program and founding member of the savings group says she is enjoying the fruits of working together.  

“In the past, we did not have savings and loan associations because we did not have money to save. We also wasted even the small money that we got because we knew nothing about small savings,” Ms. Alphonsine is quoted as saying.

She adds, “When we save money, any member who has an urgent need applies for a loan and pays it back with a small interest rate. We are planning that once we hit our annual savings target, we will rent an appropriate house where we will establish our dressmaking workshop.”

On her part, the Director of Studies at Cyanika TVET, Muhigana Alexis, says, “The savings group is going to make the project more impactful because the community is working together to move forward.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.