Bleak future?

Everyday l sit down wondering what the future of our country will be and how it will be like. I think that way everyday after taking an occassional walk to our local shops. As l walk to the shops the things l see, make me wonder why people let go of themselves and their lives. Deep down l know that somehow, these people have different stories.

What l see in my community is displeasing to the eye. I see little girls who are 16years of age and below carrying babies.They are not carrying their little brothers or sisters but they are indeed carrying their own children. And the question that comes into my mind is "how a child look after another child?". L have often wondered because at the age of 23 i am still afraid of raising a child, l am not sure if i will gbet it right, l am not sure if l can handle all my school pressures and still take care of a baby.l am not sure l can actually take care of a baby without a paycheck. But what m,akes me sad is that these children are no longer going to school because their parent/s cannot take care of their children and still afford to take them to school. In some cases, these girls after realising that they are pregnant, immediately quit school because they feel like they are now old enough to be mothers or to take care of themselves.

Avast majority of the girls in my community do not think that getting a good education and a good job is important. They think that the prime end of a woman is to pop babies and get married. This is disastrous on its own and drives me insane. How can someone leave school and hope to be taken care of by a man? l am not demonising marriage but l think that girls should put themselves first because their chief end is not to get married and pop babies.They should secure their future first before bringing some one else into the picture.

Because these girls are so desperate for marriage, they accept any man who shows them a little bit of attention. These girls are abused by their boyfriends, beaten into a pulp and still go back to those boyfriends. You ask them why they are going back, they tell you that he beats me up because he loves me and l was wrong, i should not have hurt his feelings.Does that guy not hurt your feelings when he cheats on you with another woman? Does he not hurt hyour feelings when he does not come home for a week without any explanation? Does he not hurt you physically when he beats you up?
Why then do you accept such abuses?

I have witnessed a number of occassions when a girl was being thoroughly beaten by her boyfriend. The reasons are varied but most them nonsensical. This dependency syndrome is the one that makes women stay in abusive relationships because they would be thinking of how they will survive without the money from their mates and also what society will think of them.

It is quite disturbing to see how these little girls leave school and end up single mothers who cannot even fend for their children, who cannot get any form of employment now or in the future. The end result is prostitution. Most of these girls end up being prostitutes inorder to sustain a living and take care of their offspring. Every single day when i am coming from the library, roughly around 7pm inthe evening, l meet little girls dressed in skimpy clothing, smelling of cheap perfume getting into town to do their daily business. They are not shy neither do they try to cover up. And every single morning l go to school around 7.30 in the morning, l meet them at the drop off point, with their smudged hideous makeup, carrying their shoes in their hands and makng soo much noise.

My heart breaks for these children but what do l say to them and how do l tell them that they are wreckng their lives? What do l do? Society is busy labelling them and calling them names but not helping them build their lives. Why is the society we live in so highly acclaimed when it comes to criticism yet oblivious of the nature of destruction their children are in?
What then will be the future of our country if education has lost its value in the younger generation? What is the future of my community if no one is willing to help build the lives of these girl children?