Teens

Jahenda, the Teenage Mother is a coming-of-age story about Jahenda, the protagonist and a Form-two student at Chavavo Secondary school, who believes education is her key to success. Like most teenage girls, she vows not to be distracted by teenage love, but when Alan, a handsome and charming young man, shows interest in her, she is tamed by his charm and falls head over heels in love with him. Yielding to the temptations of love, Jahenda makes the biggest blunder in her life when she becomes pregnant and, as a result, is expelled from school, an outcome which derails her dreams for success. That is not all! She is shunned by most people in her rural community and must confront the stigma of having a child outside wedlock. To make matters worse, when Alan, the very young man responsible for her pregnancy, dies unexpectedly after a snake bite, this young mother finds herself at a crossroads in her life. What makes Jahenda’s story a compelling read, therefore, is her ability to harness her inner ambitions to emerge from her fix by doing the unthinkable and defying societal norms to save herself. What a cautionary tale! Will this teen mother’s last act be her saving grace?