The Gauteng Department of Social Development had a talk
with one hundred and twenty teenage parents on parenting skills at Suurman
Community Hall in Hammanskraal, Tshwane. 
 
The teenage parents were from various surrounding Secondary
Schools such as Hans Adam, Masebe, Moditela, Ntsoane, New Eesterust in
Hammanskraal, to
be part of the department’s teenage parent program
that was aimed at empowering them through dialogues on how to manage as
learners, children and parents and how to deal with challenges.
 
16-year-old, Lebohang Mashile said, “As teen parents
we are confronted by many challenges that range from lack of support from
parents, lack of involvement by children fathers and change of attitudes from
friends. Most of us are deserted and left to fend for ourselves”.
 
Learners were divided into groups which discussed topics
such as what is parenting, how to gain self-esteem as a teen parent, cultural
dynamics on teen parenting, support system, coping mechanism for teen parents
and the impact of pregnancy on teen parents.
 
The department’s Social Worker, Keatlaretse “Kea” Masoba
said “you need to go back to school as you try to juggle the three roles to
forge a better life for your child”.
 
This dialogue with teenage parents comes at the time when
some families in the country are in crisis and are confronted by challenges
that are impacting negatively on their abilities to sustain themselves. Such as
poverty, unemployment, absent fathers, HIV and AIDS, substance abuse, abuse of
vulnerable groups within the family such as women, children, Older Persons,
People with Disabilities and gender-based violence as well as the general moral
decay in our communities. This program has already been to Winterveldt and Soshanguve
the previous years.