‘Babies giving birth to babies’

Like an oil spill In parts of the Niger Delta the rate at which teenage girls become pregnant can be compared to the frequency of an oil spill. In its occurrence and effect it is worse than an oil spill. An oil spill  degrades the environment by suffocating all aquatic life in its path,and teenage […]

Like an oil spill
In parts of the Niger Delta the rate at which teenage girls become pregnant can be compared to the frequency of an oil spill. In its occurrence and effect it is worse than an oil spill. An oil spill  degrades the environment by suffocating all aquatic life in its path,and teenage pregnancies also make  huge  social ,emotional and economic demands which the young girl may be unable to cope with,and which can also deal a severe blow on society, which is ill equipped  to deal with this rising baby boom. How does she fend for the child if she has neither a trade nor a  job, and the baby’s father is just a schoolboy? Under these circumstances life contracts for the young father and mother, especially in a country where there are either limited or non existent forms of social welfare. Under these conditions grandmothers now come in to take care of the infant, as well as the mother. She, like her baby,is a  baby too.
Early marriage is another big issue in the Delta,and  it too can be compared to an oil spill in terms of  its effect  on society, as well as frequency. The plight of widows and the endless traditions that rope her in, and seem to choke her from every angle upon the death of her spouse, is another impossible weight sitting upon the widows mind, intuitions, ambitions and family. It too is worse than an oil spill.There are no laws that swiftly encircle the husband if he loses his partner. He is  as free as a bird. The man can marry a wife within a year of losing his spouse. On the other hand a widow waits forever for a partner. Taboos  seem to dog every move of hers, as well as her innermost  delicate intuitions. Weekly Trust also noticed that the oil spill is blamed by the people for everything occuring in the communities. The oil spill is   a spectre in the mind, dominating the consciousness and governing the innermost intuition, so that, even if it sounds ridiculous, teenage pregnancies are blamed on  the oil spill, as well as early marriages. Here, poverty seems to have made the people superstitious.
The film ‘Daughters of the Niger Delta’ is produced by MIND (Media, Information & Narrative Development) It is directed by Ilse van Lamoen, and in just under an hour, it dissects striking moments in the Niger Delta, by exploring the lives of a number of symbolic  female characters. It advances the thesis that life in Niger Delta involves much more than a one sided focus on oil spills and violence. Rather, life in the oil rich region embraces wide ranging social issues, discrimination  and taboos, which can cripple  the society if left unchecked. There are several unforgettable figures here. One is in a  complex polygamous home. Another is a widow with a stirring narrative, and the last battles   sexual harassment in the University. At present both MIND and FACE (Fostering Achievement Community Empowerment) are working together to have the film screened at a number of locations in the Niger Delta.
‘1 girl,3 husbands’
At Abobiri, a  community in Bayelsa state visited last week by this reporter, where the  film ‘Daughters of the Niger Delta ‘was screened, a man blurted out during the post screening session ‘Some girls in this community have either three husbands or boyfriends. Sometimes, she becomes pregnant, then people begin to debate who among the three is the father.’ No woman present contradicted this point when it was made.
Baby boom
Mrs. Daisy Esi, a FACE (Fostering Achievement Community Empowerment) member present at the screening, tells Weekly Trust ‘Here childhood is immediately  eroded when a fifteen year old becomes a mother. It is a case of babies giving birth to babies. Teenage pregnancies in the Niger Delta are worse than an oil  spill. In the communities here over 70 % of the girls end up with teenage pregnancies. In some of the oil producing areas boys are paid 10,000  Naira by some of the oil producing companies, and they use this money to oppress the girls, and the latter are not paid a kobo ’But  this is not all. There is an array of laws confronting the woman from all sides in the Niger Delta, and these  combine to freeze her mind, shackle her life and  weaken her resolve to grow. She  is battered, bent and mocked  by the impossible weight of traditions, and  these are worse in effect than an oil spill,or even a gas flare. It may take 30 years to clean up the totality of the  oil spills in the Niger Delta, we were recently told, but  logic shows that taboos and stigma formed over the centuries may need an equal period of time to be overthrown, not to talk of the near impossible task of freeing the people’s minds from these deeply rooted   beliefs.
‘You can’t marry if he dies’
During the same post screening session another respondent showed how a woman who has lost her husband is not allowed to remarry. Her words ‘If you are married and your husband dies,then you must remain like that. But if a man  loses his wife, he doesn’t have to wait for a year before he remarries. This practice is widespread among many communities in the Niger Delta. She  added that teenage pregnanacies are rampant in the community, while a young lady showed that teenage pregnanacies are on the rise because parents do not discipline their children and wards. She added that after school hours, the young ones roam about, and do not respect their parents. There were hints that a culture of idleness has crept into the community, thus ‘youths don’t want to do anything, and girls are already sufficiently idle before getting married’. There is the stunning fact mentioned that’ only few girls are able to finish secondary school before getting married’.There were some who showed that teenage pregnancies also occur in disciplined homes, just as it occurs in homes where discipline is a bit relaxed. The respondents showed that their only source of water is the nearby river, which is very dirty, they said. Quite a number also argued for some level of capacity building in the community, so that  some of the people could start a trade. On the whole the response to the film on that wet morning, was  quite good, and showed that the people know very well what the problems are.
Widow’s plight
Hannah Tende, a widow and one of the characters in the film   tells Weekly Trust in PortHarcourt  that  in most of the communities in the Niger Delta,a widow ‘s life is a difficult one. Her words ‘If your husband dies in our place, you will not remarry. But if a man’s wife dies, he can  remarry. This  culture is unacceptable for widow’s. If your husband dies,then you will begin to suffer ‘She says that in order to fend for herself and her four children, she has had to go to the river side to pick Periwinkles, which are  rare to find today, on account of the effect of oil pollution. Now, she speaks of the  list  of traditions the widow is made to conform with. Her words ‘If your husband dies, you are asked to do a sacrifice. You are asked to buy a fowl, a yam and drinks. Every morning you will buy drink, and go and give the elders in your fathers compound for one week. Also, you have to go and wash the clothes he last wore at a river. It is not good for a Christian to do these things. ‘She adds that if these cultures do not change, then she won’t allow her two daughters to marry from Budo.
Single for life
Bogofanyo Inengibo, who was one of those who shot the film, also comments on the plight of widows in the area. Her words ‘In one community in Rivers state, we came across a situation where women were not being allowed to marry once they lost their husbands.’ But  the situation was slightly different and even more complex at Kiama in Bayelsa state. According to her ‘In Kiama, women are allowed to remarry, but they would have to marry a relation of her late husband’s family.’ Naomi Ofoni, who also shot the film and  featured as one of the characters, speaking  on the  Niger Delta woman, says ‘You pity them, but they don’t pity themselves. The pregnant woman we met, has had several children, but she is still going round fishing. She spoke as though she is meant to give birth as long as the children will keep coming. Also she was not really convinced about family planning. Another woman said that once you stop a woman in the village from giving birth, she falls sick often’. She explains that she discovered that at Budo, if a woman  is  married to  a man, she remains his forever. Her words ‘If you get married to another man, it is a taboo. The women believe that if your husband dies, it is your fate, and if you try to free yourself from the tradition, you will die.’ She also found that in some communities if you are the only daughter or the only child  of your father, then  you must get married from your community. If no man comes from the community seeking marriage, then you will remain single’.
Bogofanyo also recalls the intriguing habit of people who  blame everything on the oil spill. Her words ‘What’s most annoying is that the people blame their customs on the oil spill. People say the spill is  responsible for the boys impregnating the girls. That it is responsible for the lady’s refusal to marry a man she has been given to marry. If anything has to change, it has come from the mind set of the people. The people have to stop looking for who to blame. They have done a lot of blaming. They need a total reorientation of their mindsets. Almost everywhere we went we saw young girls with babies, all of them with no future plan. We went to Rivers state, where students complained  of their classmates dropping out of school, because they suddenly got pregnant.’
‘Ijaw culture allows for polygamy’
Inatimi Odio is the Executive Director of FACE (Fostering Achievement Community Empowerment), an NGO that is partnering with MIND. He  comments on the plight of widows in the Niger Delta, as well as the matter of teenage pregnancy. His words ‘We saw the situation of widows in Rivers state, as well as Bayelsa state. To us it is not as critical as the teenage pregnancy issue, because you see e the girls everywhere. It is a case of babies giving birth to babies.’ He showed that in Ijaw culture a woman who doesn’t allow her husband to take another wife, is termed wicked.’ Customarily, it is a plus  for a woman to have her husband bringing in another woman as a wife.This is a plus customarily, whether they  have food to eat or otherwise.’He says that education is lopsided in favour of the boy.He  says ‘A boy impregnates a girl, completes his secondary education, and goes to the University, but the girl stops at JS 111.’ Mr.  Odio says that the screening of the film in the communities has seen a variety of issues emerging as reactions to  its content. His words ‘Teenage pregnancy is a cross cutting issue across all communities in the Niger Delta. Teenage pregnancy and unemployment are like a chain, for unemployment leads to a situation that may result in teenage pregnancy and early marriage.’ He adds that the people perceive the oil spill to be a major problem that verges on the psychic. According to him ‘The people believe that oil is their problem, even if it is not directly related, they find a way to connect it as a cause of the problem. It has become a stereotype that oil is the problem of the Niger Delta.’