When Robert Shumbusho, a resident in Rukara, Kayonza District, learned that his 15-year-old daughter at the time was pregnant, anger overwhelmed him. He couldn’t stomach the news of the pregnancy as, in his words, the child would make him a grandfather at the age of 36. Last year, when the girl returned from Kigali to live with her father and stepmother, Shumbusho says he immediately suspected that she was pregnant, which eventually turned out to be true. “I failed to accept it, I have never been happy about it, not even for a day. I remember that I quarrelled with her and harassed her, until delivery. I was angry because she had dropped out of school and started wandering everywhere, back and forth, with her group of friends, and ended up pregnant,” he says. Robert Shumbusho was recently reunited with his teenage daughter whom he had abandoned after she had a baby. Trying to ‘run away’ from circumstances, while they were still in the hospital, Shumbusho told his wife who was with the girl to not go back to his house, instead, they were told to go to his father’s house where he would not see them every day. This was not easy for the teen mother, and this made people approach Shumbusho seeking reconciliation with his daughter and grandchild. One of the mediators was Joselyne Kamayirese. Intervention “She (Kamayirese) told me that no matter what, I was a grandfather, and that I was not the only one,” he says. Kamayirese’s role is termed as “Masenge”, translated as “My Auntie”, in a project called “Mba Hafi Masenge”, funded by Rwanda Governance Board and UNDP, and is implemented in 39 villages of Rukara Sector with the aim of preventing gender-based violence and teen pregnancy. Kamayirese was trained on responsibilities in October 2020, and had to intervene in Shumbusho’s case as the family was falling apart. “He told her many offensive things; that she was useless and that she would not achieve anything in life. He even wished to leave them and never see them again,” Kamayirese says. “I kept doing my best, talking to the father, because he was very difficult. I showed him that he was not the only one, that this is a problem that the whole country is facing. He agreed to accept the grandchild, but only in words, because when his daughter was in the hospital for delivery, he ordered his wife not to bring them to his home. “He ordered them to go straight to the new-born’s great grandfather’s house, claiming that he was not ready to be called a grandfather,” she narrates. The ‘Masenge’ concept means a lot to the people in Rukara communities, according to Kamayirese, because teen girls trust her enough to tell her what they go through so they can get advocacy. “We have built trust between us, they are no longer afraid to tell us whenever they face an issue,” she says. Six months down the road, the project has brought teen girls and teen mothers out of isolation, because ‘Masenge’ reaches out to them in their homes, says Jean-Claude Mwiseneza, Country Director of Learn Work Develop (LWD), the organisation implementing the Masenge Mba Hafi project. “In every village, there is an “urubohero”, where they attain vocational training, while also discussing different life experiences, being open to one another, getting counselling support, learning reproductive health education and embracing saving groups,” says Mwiseneza, adding that ‘Masenge’ has also played a role in mediating with family members, since many teen mothers are rejected by their parents. In every village is also Masenge’s partner called “Mukuru w’Abakobwa”, or “girls’ elder sister”; this is a teen mother who shares her experience with young girls and gives advice on how to not fall in the same traps. Dealing with consequences also involves seeking justice for victims. As for Shumbusho, the man who got his daughter pregnant hasn’t been found yet. They filed a case with Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) about four months prior to the delivery. “I told her to take her time, when she feels strong again, we will resume the hunt of the man responsible,” he says. “Prevention is necessary, but we also put effort in dealing with effects, which is important too, because we have to help the teen mothers’ wellbeing, economic development, their return to school, they also must get justice,” says Jean Damascène Harelimana, Kayonza District Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs. The official points out that since 2018, at least 243 teen pregnancy cases were identified in Kayonza, more than 60 defilement cases were taken to court, and 23 of the defendants were sentenced.
