A DREAM GONE WASTE!

Goaal... Ayeley and I screamed loudly. Ghana had just equalized with a goal in a match against USA. I know only three things in football: corner kick, penalty kick and goal. I only need to see the ball enter the net. But my friend Ayeley knows all about football. She kept screaming, kicking the table, yelling at the Black Stars where to pass the ball, and then the USA scored another goal- "2- 1? What?!" I screamed. I was devastated, but Ayeley was furious. Then her anger turned into sadness. I realized why. She had always wanted to be a footballer and her dream was to play for the National women’s team, The Black Queens. Unfortunately, unplanned pregnancies killed that dream. At 21, Ayeley is a mother of two.

I live in an urban slum in Accra, Ghana’s capital, and the number of pregnant teenagers and young mothers in my community is appalling.

My friend Akua Dadzie had to drop out of school at age 14 after writing her BECE. Her mum, a single mother, told her she has had enough education. "After all, not every girl in the community completed JHS," she told Akua.

But Akua wanted to be a nurse.

She later found an older man who showed her more love than she had ever experienced. He told her how beautiful she was. He gave her money and took care of her mum as well. Her mother encouraged her "to give what she has to get what she wants".

When Akua became pregnant some months after dating the man, she began having suicidal thoughts after the man who claimed to love her started ignoring her. An attempted abortion landed her in hospital with severe gastrointestinal problems. She could have died!

This made me think about how poverty can push parents to neglect their children’s dreams. I was lucky because my parents did all they could, including selling their clothes to keep me in school. I helped by studying hard and working to support my parents while schooling.

Many girls are not so lucky. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), more than 100 million adolescents do not attend school, 16 million girls become mothers every year and almost 40 percent of the 6,800 daily new HIV infections are among young people.

As a young woman, I believe we can help reduce adolescent pregnancy. If girls are given the opportunity to chase their dreams, adolescent pregnancies, unsafe abortions and related problems will decrease. So let’s help our girls score their dream GOALS in life.

Written by Edith Asamani - Curious Minds