“I Believe it is Important and Best to Stay in School”: Resilience in Teenage Mothers attending School in Omusati Region, Namibia
Résumé
Being a teenager is a difficult experience, further complicated when motherhood and schooling co-occur. Indeed, the struggle to navigate and balance motherhood and schooling responsibilities contributes to stress and anxiety, which can negatively impact schooling experiences. Some school-going teenage mothers, however, show resilience in pursuing their education amidst all odds. This paper examines the resilience of school-going teenage mothers at the Okalongo circuit in the Omusati Region of Namibia. The qualitative research method was used in this study to explore the lived experiences of 16 school-going teenage mothers. Findings of this study show that these teen mothers, while attending school, experience trauma, stigma, insults, and discrimination, yet exhibit resilience by refusing to give up to societal expectations or negative stereotypes. Internal motivations among the mothers were characterized by social skills, problem-solving abilities, autonomy, agency, faith, and forgiveness. This research destabilizes the narrative around teenage motherhood from that of a problem to a commitment to viewing young mothers as a potential resource toward society. These findings contribute to an understanding of the experiences of teen mothers, therefore offering some insight into the measures to be implemented that would support educational success and redress gender inequalities. Keywords: Resilience, teenage pregnancy, teen mother, schooling.
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