SEVERAL smiling young ladies on Wednesday spoke of the hardship of being a teen mother and showered praises on Guyana’s First Lady, Sandra Granger, and the staff of the Women Across Differences (WAD) during the graduation ceremony for the “Comprehensive Empowerment Adolescent/Teenage Mothers” programme held at the Umana Yana.“Being a teen mother is not easy. Throughout my pregnancy I felt like an outcast. But WAD helped to equip me to build my self-esteem, and value myself as a person of worth; set goals for myself and I’ve already begun to achieve them,” said one of the graduates, who also spoke of her achievement of getting married and moving into her own home.

The girls talked of how WAD came to their rescue at a point in their lives when they most needed it. “WAD is indeed my family, my all. I just want to say thank God for this programme. I want the First Lady to know, you have given me a lot of strength,” was the heartfelt delivery made by a young mother, as she addressed Ms. Granger.

As the girls received their certificates some chose to proudly walk on stage with their babies. The Office of the First Lady is one of the supporting agencies of the programme. Other agencies include Ministry of Social Protection, the East Demerara Lions Club, and Republic Bank, among others.

Delivering the feature address, Mrs Granger spoke of many of the great things the programme has achieved in the lives of these young women. “I have seen these women grow in confidence and self-esteem. I have witnessed them as they begin to believe in themselves. They have learnt skills and craft, to understand their roles and responsibilities as mothers. Above all, they have realised that they can be whoever they want to be. They can go as far and jump as high as they wish.”

“Keep the dream alive, don’t let it die and never give up, don’t every give up on you,” the First Lady told the women, explaining that she was so inspired by their achievements that the lyrics of the popular song “Never Give Up” by Yolanda Adams played in her mind as she was preparing her address.

The Comprehensive Empowerment Programme for Adolescent Mothers hosted under the theme “Reducing Unplanned Pregnancy among Adolescent Mothers and Enhancing their Life Skills and Competencies” aims to help adolescent mothers ages 12 to 19 to reduce unplanned pregnancies; build self-confidence; provide entrepreneurial knowledge and skills and promote positive lifestyles. It is funded by Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited.

The First Lady noted that she was particularly proud of the young women’s accomplishments as they would have had to overcome a number of challenges in order to have made it this far. “Women face many challenges and for adolescent mothers these challenges are multiplied because these are still, in essence, girlchildren who are trying to understand themselves and their bodies. They have to confront and solve the problems which adult women face. Many will have had to drop out of school. Some may lack family or financial support. Many will struggle to feed and clothe themselves, their children [and] to keep a roof over their heads. Some may have to endure violence on a daily basis, whether it be verbal, physical or psychological abuse,” she said.

For this reason, the First Lady said that the WAD and Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited must both be accorded special praise for the profound contributions that they are making to the growth and development of the young mothers and their children.

Wednesday‘s ceremony represented the seventh batch of students to graduate from the programme which began in 2008. Six of the ladies that were part of the 2016 class could not attend the ceremony because they had recently landed jobs and were unable to secure time-off. Of other mothers who have come out of the programme, two recently graduated from the University of Guyana with diplomas in Social Work and another is set to complete her studies in Communications Studies.

One of the teen mothers of the programme wrote the 2016 May/June CSEC exams and secured eight passes with two Grade 1s and six Grade 2s, while another four are scheduled to write the regional exam in the 2017 sittings. One of those expecting to write next year spoke of her aspirations of becoming a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Ms. Hazel Halley-Burnett, Gender Consultant at the Ministry of Social Protection, after conveying regrets that Minister of Social Protection, Ms. Volda Lawrence could not attend the ceremony, read her message to the graduates. “You are not stepping out today in the same way that you arrived prior to your participation in the Comprehensive programme…You are emerging as empowered individuals in possession of relevant and practical knowledge and a repertoire of skills, which you can use for your personal development and that of your children. Your toolbox [is] replete with tools of all kinds, among which are self-confidence, self-esteem, communication, negotiation and entrepreneurial income-earning skills,” Ms. Halley-Burnett quoted from the minister’s message.

High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana, His Excellency, Mr. Pierre Girouse, United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Resident Representative Ms. Mikiko Tanaka; United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Assistant Resident Representative, Ms. Patrice LaFleur, CUSO International, Ms. Alexandra MacAulay and Ms. Caroline MacIsaac also attended the ceremony.

Also speaking at the ceremony was Republic Bank’s Jonelle Dummett, who shared the company’s pride to be part of the initiative. “Teenage Pregnancy in Guyana… is an issue that is very close to our hearts at Republic Bank…we did not hesitate to throw our support behind this initiative, because of its very close alignment with an identical cause, which for the past few years has been championed by one of our Social Investment partners, Women across Differences,” Dummett said.

The packed programme, which also featured an exhibition of decorative items created by the teenage mothers, was chaired by Dr. Patrice Douglas. It also included the recitation of a poem titled: “Woman of Substance” by WAD member, Ms. Tamara Rodney and a song sung by Ms. Michelle ‘Big Red’ King. Musical accompaniment was provided by the Guyana Police Force Band.