“I am not giving up,” says Mariza Sebastião, a 17-year adolescent who lives in the Chirangano neighborhood of Quelimane. “When I started dating, I was 14 and my boyfriend was 20,” explains Mariza. “We were truly in love and always together, nothing could separate us, but then I became pregnant.
I wasn’t unhappy about the pregnancy but was devastated about being abandoned. My beloved boyfriend denied all responsibility and simply disappeared. I tried to stay in school but it was very difficult. My mother and sister advised me not to give up, but I was without strength to meet the challenge of raising a fatherless child, having been in love without realizing that it was all an illusion. I had my son and stopped going to school.
One day I listened to a program on Nova Radio Paz about girls’ empowerment, which gave me the strength to start studying again. This year I went back to school and will be finishing 10th grade. My son is more than a year old now, but the father hasn’t come back, and I don’t know where he is. My mother takes care of us with the money she is earning in the market. I am not giving up. I will continue studying until I graduate from university. My husband is the school. I advise all girls to study.”
h2n, which is primarily supported by Norway, works extensively with community radios, produces community videos, broadcasts the “Saude e Vida” television program on health and wellness, facilitates youth engagement hubs and pursues a rapidly expanding gender equality agenda.