Are our efforts enough to end sexual abuse of young girls .

Tamari's life turned gloomy when she lost her mother at the age of two.As that was not enough ,her father passed on two years later.They both succumbed to HIV and AIDS related illness .With no one to look after her and send her to school ,she lived a life of hopping from one residence to another.

First to take Tamari on board were her grandparents who could not send her to school.An uncle who stayed in Harare(capital city of Zimbabwe) offered to take her and enroll at a local school

The uncle was however not the Good Samaritan he portrayed when jewelry took her in.Instead of enrolling her in school,Tamari was sent to work instead.She performed menial jobs some of which where physically challenging for her age.Her supposed guardian also turned violent and abusive.The abuse grew worse as she grew older.

One moment the uncle even told her direct in her face that he wanted to make her his 'wife'.Burdened by the way she lived,she reported the abuse to her aunt who then took her away from the city.She was sent to stay with her sister at a certain farm .Tamari's life did not change despite this movement as her sister again failed to send her to school.The sister then sent her back to their rural home to live with the grandparents in the village .At that tender age Tamari would get in and out of school.

The grandparents how ever tried to send here at school but not on a full time basis.On the days she was allowed to go,Tamari had to contend with travelling a long distance and on an empty stomach due to lack of food.They hardly had anything to eat as a family until late her guardians thought to 'invest' through marrying off the young vulnerable girl to an older man in exchange for food.

A hasty marriage was arranged between the young Tamari and an elderly neighbour but a timely intervention stopped the ill-fated arrangement through a local empowerment programme -Sista2Sista club which she eventually joined

Tamari's story can be a graphic representation of many other stories of girls who are suffering discrimination and violent abuses often abetted by deep poverty and lack of empowerment in rural ZIMBABWE. Tamari might have been saved from the the jaws of abuse but many remain in need of that timely intervention.

Statistics provided by the United Nations Population Fund(UNPFA) assistant representative in Zimbabwe posits that young persons especially teenage girls continue to be forced into child marriages,early pregnancy and dropping out of school.

Tamari's experience and a whole lot of other testimonies indicate that the girl child is vulnerable to all sorts of abuse ,discrimination ,and are exposed to HIV and AIDS risk ,but it has to take the government and other stakeholders holders ,parents and guardians for the girls to rise up to these challenges and succeed.

When a teenage girl has the power the means and the information to make her own decisions in life ,she is most likely to overcome obstacles that stand between her and her healthy productive future.This will benefit here family and here community.

Without concerted efforts by all stakeholders to invest in young girls ,the girls future will remain bleak .Thus all stakeholders have an important role to play in shaping policies and programmes that affect teenage girls lives.This way the country is better positioned to reap the economic growth to combat poverty.

Fellow steemians this is a very sad story ,lets help stop this, we might not do much but the effort is all that matters ,your support is very important.

THANK YOU