makers
Ningsi wants to prevent unwanted pregnancies
Since Ningsi came clean, there have been no more teenage pregnancies in her village in Indonesia.
© Plan International / Agus Haru / PR
Her start in life: as the daughter of a 16-year-old
Your goal for the future: no unwanted pregnancies
How she wants to achieve this: as a youth advisor
When Ningsi tells why she is here in the world, it’s not a nice story. The 19 year old She still tells Indonesia – as often as she can: It’s their mission.
Ningsi’s mother became pregnant when she was just 16 years old. Welmince was in the third grade of high school at the time and had to drop out of school. The man who fathered Ningsi ran away as soon as he found out he was going to be a father. The police found him anyway He went to prison for impregnating a minor. When he was free again, he ditched Welmince again, left the village and married another woman.
“I don’t want other women to have to experience this,” Ningsi says at a meeting at her grandparents’ house in South Central Timor, where her mother still lives today and makes a living by selling home-grown vegetables. Ningsi invited five young people and their parents to her family’s house today. It’s narrow, but there’s plenty of room for a cross-generational discussion, where Ningsi wants to be an “inspirational voice” to “promote the values of equality and justice”: No girl should be the “victim of ignorance” and become unintentionally pregnant like her mother. Because she doesn’t know how to use contraception. Or how she should protect herself from a man with whom she may not even want to have sex. And no girl should have to marry too early anymore because she has a child.
Studying and raising awareness – Ningsi does it all at the same time
Ningsi is supported in its mission by the children’s rights organization Plan International: A youth Posyandu was set up in their village, where 1,400 people live. Posyandus – these are originally educational and support programs for young mothers and their babies, which are run by nurses and midwives. They are a proven part of the Indonesian healthcare system. Youth Posyandu now also provides advice to young people.
Ningsi was specially trained by Plan International for this task, At the same time, she is studying at the IPMI School of Business in Jakarta with a scholarship from the organization. As a youth advisor, she speaks to the girls in her village and their families about topics such as contraception and sexual violence, but also about equality and the dangers of child marriage.
Ningsi leads a meeting at her home to which she has invited five of her friends and their parents.
© Plan International / Agus Haru / PR
According to the South Central Timor District Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Office, there were 61 teenage pregnancies there last year, up from 20 more the year before. But since Ningsi began her educational work in 2021, no minors have become pregnant, at least in her village.
By the way, boys are also welcome in their circles – just like parents or grandparents. “We even persuaded the village chief’s son and his parents to come to our meetings. Sometimes the village chief himself comes too,” she says proudly. Ningsi could hardly wish for better support. But if a boy or girl prefers to talk to her in private, then of course she makes that possible too.