A Tribute to our Teenage Mothers

This past week Nicaragua has been celebrating Mother´s Day.  It has been wonderful to have seen this day celebrated in the way it should be done, focusing far more on the spiritual side of things, and much less of the commercial emphasis that Mother´s Day has become in the UK.

At Casa Alianza Nicaragua we have two main residential homes.  Our ´Hilton Homes´cares for up to 94 street kids, victims of abuse, violence and exploitation.  Our other residential center, cares especially for teenage mothers and their babies and/or children.  The girls have a similar profile of being abused, neglected and abandoned.  The face the even worse burden of living in a country where machismo is the norm, and getting a teenage girl pregnant, beating her up, and then leaving her to fend for herself is far too common. 
Nicaragua is also the poorest country in Latin America, and as such, a baby born to an impoverished mother of 14 or 15 years old, with a violent father, means that both mother and child are faced by an exceptionally difficult situation.

The Casa Alianza Nicaragua Home for Teenage Mothers gives these girls a hope that they might not otherwise be able to find.  In the first place, the girls which choose to join us have access to food, a place to sleep, medical care, psychological support, education and support and constant love and understanding for both themselves and their baby.  The mothers are also able to attend school and the formal education system while the babies are cared for by the other girls at the center, and members of staff.  The mothers are also taught how to care for their babies, to provide the necessary hygiene, support and nurture that their child needs.  

I have now been at Casa Alianza Nicaragua for nearly 9 months, and in that time, I have spent a fair bit of time at the Teenage Mum´s Home.  It has been truly an honour to see these girls and their babies develop in a way we would hope for every mother and their children.  They are learning fast how to care for their children, and themselves, and are no longer forced into a role of subordination that Nicaraguan society in general all too often dictates against women and girls.

In many parts of Managua, it is all too possible to see tiny, dirty kids under the baking sun, begging at the traffic lights.  It is a tragic sight.  We can´t reach every kid and every underage mother, but for the one´s we do get to, both them and their child can have a real opportunity of a life that every mother and their children deserve.  During the process, there have been very hard moments, but as always, we keep working to do the very best we can, to offer the opportunities to as many as we can.

So in this entry, I pay a special tribute to the teenage mothers that I have had the honor to work with, and who have worked themselves so very hard to move their lives forward in a new direction, for themselves and their children.

I also pay tribute to all the young mothers who still face extraordinary difficulties, but as yet, have not come to know the protection and support they need.  I sincerely pray that they will find the opportunity for them and their baby, that they might be able to lead a life of love, support and understading, be it through Casa Alianza, their family, or other organisations. 
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On a personal note, I lost my own Mum 9 nearly years ago, when I was 16.  It was a very, very tough experience to go through, and it is still with me today.  But the experiences I gained, in particular that of doing what I can to really make the most of my life for myself and for other people, is, I believe, the main reason I am doing what I am doing right now, and the main motivator behind a great deal of my actions in the past 9 years.

So here on Nicaraguan Mother´s Day, I still give my thanks to Mum for making me the man I am today, and for all the strength she gave to me.  But also to my Dad for always supporting me and fostering that strength for me, which has been the other vital reason I am here doing what I do today.

Happy Mother´s Day.