Tatenda’s life started turning round when she found out that she was pregnant. Her boyfriend, Peter, rejected her pregnancy. She was going to be alone in her pregnancy. Her parents weren’t going to like this at all, it was shameful. Peter dumped her after Tatenda told him she was pregnant with his child. Her sister, Chipo, noticed that she had a bump and had missed her period a couple of times and threatened to tell their parents. Tatenda ran away from home, her parents couldn’t know about this. She went to stay with Rudo, her best friend who accepted her. She was ashamed to let anyone know that she was pregnant.

Being a student at school would make things worse for her parents who were always boasting about how intelligent she was. She always passed with flying colours which made her parents proud. In Zimbabwe, when a student at secondary school fell pregnant, she got suspended. That student then had to attend college to finish school, which was expensive. It was considered a big embarrassment to fall pregnant while still attending secondary school. How she met Peter did matter to her, but that bump on her stomach was going to start showing for everyone to see soon.

“Tatenda, what are you going to do?” Rudo asked.

“I don’t know, eish, I’m confused. At least I’m selling at the stall on the market. I can go back to school to finish my Advanced Level once the baby is born,” Tatenda answered.

“No matter what you do, I’ll support you,” Rudo said calmly and hugged her friend. Rudo stayed in Norton, far away from Harare. It made Tatenda feel at ease. Her parents wouldn’t try to look for her there at all.

Every morning, she would go out to buy fish from the fisherman at the river and she would go to her stall and sell it. The money she made was intended to pay for her studies. No one knew Tatenda in Norton, she felt free and at peace. No one would know she didn’t finish her Advanced Level. For six months Tatenda saved the money that she made off of selling fish, she was determined to finish her secondary education and maybe even go to university.

“You’re doing well, hey,” Rudo would praise her every day.

Six months passed then she went into labour while at home with Rudo one day. They had just finished eating dinner, when Rudo panicked and called an ambulance. Tatenda had already decided what she was going to do with the baby. She wished that she’d known about her being pregnant earlier then she could have aborted it. At 13:45 the next day, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She looked at the baby; she just wanted to dump the baby somewhere so that she could continue with her life. She told herself she wouldn’t tell Rudo her plans; she would scold her or tell her the wrong sides of abandoning her baby in a bush.

After being discharged the same day, she went straight to Chinhoyi town carrying her baby in her arms. She started to think: What will happen to you? Should I give you a name? Will I ever find peace after doing this? Should I keep you? Sorry baby, sorry baby.

Everyone stared at her as she walked and knew she had just given birth because the baby was covered with a napkin on her face. She sat on the bench in the park and looked around for somewhere to dump it.

***

Tell us what you think: Should Tandenda dump or keep the baby? What would you do?