This archive report was first published on 7 July 2019.
Published on July 7, 2019, a 15-year-old girl, Ivey Atieno, was lured into a cyber café by a man she barely knew, defiled, and left pregnant. She was a Class Seven pupil at the time. Her menstrual period was due that week, but she waited three more weeks to confirm her pregnancy.
At the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital's gender-based violence recovery centre, Atieno met 13 other girls facing similar predicaments. The girls, now mothers, shared their stories of being defiled and impregnated by men who had taken advantage of them.
One of the girls, a Form Three student, said she was lured by an electrician who worked near her home. He would give her cash for necessities and pocket money, but when she became pregnant, he asked her to get rid of the pregnancy and even recommended a facility for the procedure.
Another girl, a 17-year-old Standard Seven student, was six months pregnant. She had a hard time coming to terms with her situation, and the man who impregnated her had since gone under.
According to data from the GBVRC, between 30 to 40 cases are reported monthly, with the burden coming from Seme and Muhoroni sub-counties. Records in local hospitals show that 493 girls aged between 10 and 14 became pregnant last year.
More than 80 per cent of rape victims were below 18 years, and only last week, a deputy head teacher appeared before Ahero Senior Principal Magistrate Patrick Olengo accused of defiling four school girls, two of whom are pregnant.
