Interview with a Form Five exposes illicit sex

DIRANG LEKUNTWANE
Correspondent | Friday December 3, 2010 00:00

Luckily, I finally located the place where she lives with her aunt, an employee at the same school, grandmother and the child involved in this sad story - and fortunate enough for me, they were all present.

After explaining the nature of my mission, she gave me her version of the events that changed  her life for good. This is a life of perpetual lies, betrayals and broken promises by a school teacher-turned lover.

'Lydia', not her real name, narrated that she first met with the school teacher in early February 2007, when the latter proposed a love affair, with the knowledge that she had been admitted to the college. She agreed to the love proposal. Immediately classes started the science teacher pounced on his new lover on her first days in school. According to her, the teacher convinced her to make a night over stay at the teachers' quarters, where they had sex for the first time without using condoms.

And as fate would have it, the girl child fell pregnant which, she says, has changed and ruined her life. She said she missed her period at the end of March 2007.

She revealed the shocking pregnancy news to her beloved teacher-boyfriend but to her shock, it was not good news to the man. All her promising teacher would say was to ask her if she 'intended to ruin' his teaching career and life by holding him responsible for the pregnancy?

She blamed him for his failure to use a condom to at least prevent the pregnancy. 'O ne a nthaya a re a ke batla go mo senyetsa tiro,'she said, which translates, 'do you want to ruin my job?' Three days later she dropped out of school to go and nurture her immature pregnancy with the advice of the aunt who then was aware of the pregnancy.

With no money, anger from her guardians who were expecting a lot from her because of her outstanding performance in class, a busy school teacher who did not care about her situation, she devised a plan - to lie to another boy that he had impregnated her. The boy was a student at the Villages Brigade and he innocently accepted responsibility. But he was of no use to her because he was not working so money became a big issue.

However, the aunt gave in and finally bought the expectant student the clothes, nappies and the Long Life milk  she badly needed. She gave birth to a baby boy on November 11, 2007 and the child was named 'Morena'.  For the past three years, since her return to her school, where the teacher still teaches, she could not reveal the truth behind her early pregnancy. But as luck would have it, in September this year, she took her stance and bravely, out of anger and betrayal, spilled the beans about the teacher and the early pregnancy.

This, she said, was done out of anger at the betrayal and lies the reckless teacher had subjected her to since their last meeting in Gaborone in early April this year. The teacher, she claims, approached her and admitted to impregnating her and further promised to take care of the child. The teacher, feeling the heat of being summoned to the school's administration office, resorted to cornering her somewhere in the city of Gaborone when they closed for end-of-term holidays.

She revealed that she met with the teacher and another man, whom he said was his lawyer (name known to this paper) in a private meeting at the attorney's offices where she was pressurised into writing a statement spelling out her state of affairs with her former teacher-lover. She explained that in that statement she was forced to admit having an affair with her teacher but deny having had any sexual contact, which she reluctantly acceded to.

She further mentioned that if she admitted to the teacher impregnating her, he would be dismissed and his life and that of the already born child would be ruined. She was convinced into bringing a witness to the office to corroborate the fabricated story, of which she invited her cousin, who was a student of Business Management at Limkokwing University in Gaborone. This was done to help the teacher easily defend himself before  the school's 'Kangaroo' panel of administrators in charge of the pregnancy case.

The cousin was to put it in writing that the child belonged to the Brigade student from Mochudi village. The teacher, who all along steered and mastered the arranged meeting, repeatedly made the assurance that he would take care of the child.

Since then, 'Lydia' said, the teacher-father of her beloved son, who turns three years next Thursday, has never delivered on his promises, citing cash problems and the global downturn. And since their last meeting in Gaborone, more than 500km away from her school, where she continues to sit for her final examinations papers, it has been a life of misery.

And whether, the lively boy - Morena - will receive his birthday presents, remains to be seen, come November 11 when the child awaits birthday songs from both parents.

This story is only the tip of the ice-berg as information reaching Mmegi indicates that issues relating to adults, both government employees; the police, teachers, and officers in various non-governmental organiSations (NGOs) are involved in cases of impregnating students in senior secondary schools, community junior secondary schools and even primary schools, especially in remote settlements where children live in hostels so they can have access to state-sponsored programmes.

The Kgalagadi region, Mmegi has learnt, is said to have shocking incidences of illicit sexual abuse of school children. These areas include Lehututu, Middlepits, Hukuntsi to mention but a few.

Recently, a reliable source revealed that Lehututu Community Junior Secondary School has been under the spotlight after the education delegation overseeing the whole area visited the area to investigate serious allegations of illegitimate pregnancies and teacher-related love affairs.