An AP all-formats team reports with care on a surge of teen pregnancies in southern Africa during pandemic.
Writing about teen pregnancy is difficult under any circumstances, requiring equal parts thoughtfulness and responsibility. That is how AP’s Harare-based team in Zimbabwe, AP photographer Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi and writer Farai Mutsaka, joined by South Africa video journalist Sebabatso Mosamo, approached the story of how pandemic lockdowns led to a sharp rise in teen pregnancies and the consequent loss of girls’ educational opportunities, a problem affecting many southern African countries.
Zimbabwe has long struggled with such pregnancies and child marriages. Before COVID-19 hit, one of every three girls in the country was wed before age 18, many with unplanned pregnancies, because of lax enforcement of rape laws, widespread poverty, and cultural and religious practices.
Virginia Mavhunga, right, a 13-year-old teenage mother, accompanies her parents to sell fruits and vegetables by the roadside in Murehwa, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Zimbabwe's capital Harare, Nov. 12, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Virginia Mavhunga, 13, displays fruits and vegetables by the roadside for sale to motorists in Murehwa, Zimbabwe, Dec. 10, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Virginia Mavhunga, 13, plays with her child, Tawananyasha, at her rural home in Murehwa, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Zimbabwe, Dec. 10, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Virginia Mavhunga, 13, carries a bucket of water after fetching it from a well at her rural home in Murehwa, Zimbabwe, Nov. 12, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Virginia Mavhunga, 13, washes dishes at her rural home in Murehwa, Zimbabwe, Nov. 12, 2021. Between the chores of her strict routine, Virginia prepares her four younger siblings for school and helps them with homework when they return. These tasks hit her the hardest — because, at age 13, she, too, would rather be in school rather than caring for her own child.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Virginia Mavhunga, 13, holds her child, Tawananyasha, at her home in Murehwa, Zimbabwe, Dec. 11, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Virginia Mavhunga, 13, stands at the entrance of her home in Murehwa, Zimbabwe, Dec. 10, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
A teenage mother attends a training session conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), learning life skills such as giving manicures and making liquid soap in poverty-stricken Mbare township in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 11, 2021. MSF said demand for the program grew during the pandemic; more than 300 girls have come to the program since COVID-19 hit. Most of the girls opt for the program over formal school because they need a skill that can help them “quickly make some money,” said an MSF staffer. “There is a lot of poverty; they need to fend for their children.”
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
An instructor leads a life skills training session conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres for pregnant girls and young mothers in poverty-stricken Mbare township in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 11, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Teenage mothers attend a life skills training session conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres in poverty-stricken Mbare township in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 11, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Teenage mothers practice filing their nails during a life skills training session conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres in poverty-stricken Mbare township in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 11, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Nail polish is applied to a teenage mother taking part in a life skills training session in poverty-stricken Mbare township in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 11, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Tanaka Rwizi, a pregnant 16-year-old, stands in the hallway of her residence in poverty-stricken Mbare township in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 13, 2021. Tanaka, who dropped out of school after becoming pregnant in February 2021, stays with her unemployed uncle in a single room divided by a curtain.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Tanaka Rwizi, a pregnant 16-year-old teenager, stands with her family in their residence in poverty-stricken Mbare township in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 13, 2021.
AP Photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
The spread of the coronavirus intensified the problem. The country of 15 million people imposed a strict lockdown in March 2020, closing schools for six months and reopening them only intermittently. Girls were shut out from access to contraceptives and clinics; the troubles of impoverished families worsened. Pregnant schoolgirls found themselves unable to return to class when schools resumed, despite changes in rules introduced by the government.
Gathering the facts to support the story took months, spearheaded by Mustsaka as he worked with officials to access the available data to indicate the scale of the issue. The AP story was the first to reveal the government's finding that as many girls became pregnant in the first two months of 2021 as normally would in an entire year.
Illustrating the story was the next challenge. Most families who had sought help from community organizations were unwilling to talk publicly about how the girls’ pregnancies had affected their lives. Pregnant teens are often bullied in communities and classrooms. But 13-year-old Virginia Mavhunga was eager for her story to be told and had the support of her parents. Even so, the team worried that at her age, the story could pose problems for Mavhunga.
Mukwazhi and Mutsaka repeatedly explained the possible consequences to the families they met with, returning to them on several occasions to show them the images and how the story would be used, so that they fully understood what it meant to have their names and photos published. AP's standards team added language to the story explaining why the company made the unusual decision to name a child victim of sexual abuse.
The months of care and persistence paid off with compelling text and images, including a sensitive video shot by Mosamo. The package was part of a yearlong series on how the pandemic is impacting women in Africa, most acutely in the least developed countries.
For responsible coverage providing insight into a difficult, important and often painful subject, the team of Mutsaka, Mukwazhi and Mosamo is AP’s Best of the Week — First Winner.
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