Ambassador Tolu Taiwo, the founder of Twenty-One Five Child Foundation (T1FF), is a woman that has deep passion for girls who get pregnant during their teenage years and is committed to giving them a new lease of life. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, she talks about her passion for caring for pregnant teenage girls, why she gives to the less privileged, and why people should help others and augment government’s actions among other issues. Excerpts:
You are the founder of the Twenty-one Five Foundation, what’s the mission behind the foundation?
My mission behind the foundation is personal; if you check the name very well, it means May 21, which happens to be the birthday of my first son. We created this organization out of experience, because I gave birth to him as a teenager so I thought about the best way to give back to the society and educate girls about teenage pregnancy as well as gender and sexual-based violence. That’s why I came up with Twenty-one Five Foundation (T1FF). We launched officially early this year, to provide necessary support services to pregnant teenage girls and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and we engaged in activities that help to prevent future occurrences through education, advocacy and community engagement.
The passion was borne out of my experience as a victim of teenage pregnancy that was as a result of ignorance and the stigmatisation and emotional turmoil I experienced as a teenage mother. The foundation was established in honour of my child, Boluwatife, who I had then as a teenager. There are people whose negative life experiences have made them bitter individuals and there are others that redirected the energy from such experiences towards positive ventures, I am in this category and because of my experience, I now provide support for pregnant teenage category girls in Nigeria. We distribute free birth kits to pregnant teenagers by going to government hospitals and primary healthcare centres because I believe they need assistance as well as prompt and straightforward information and judgment-free medical guidance, support and care.
You love giving to people, what is responsible for this passion?
I give out because I believe that every individual has something to give to others; I believe that citizens need to imbibe the spirit of helping others rather than just condemning government because government cannot do everything. Every individual should help people around them in any little way they can at this period of economic hardship. We should all give out to the needy around us and make life easier for them. Everyone has something that can help others. And contrary to the belief that once you give out like this, you are trying to go into politics, I am not giving because I want anything in return it is not a business transaction and has no bearing on anything political, I am not a politician and I am not going into politics now or in the future. I believe there is love in sharing, this is the essence of the foundation and this is why I celebrate my birthday by giving to the needy.
You just celebrated a birthday at Ojoo roundabout, how will you assess the event considering the large turnout?
Putting smiles on the faces of people and just sharing happy moments gives me joy. It is my desire to give out and make life easy for others in appreciation to God for giving me life and opportunity to serve humanity and for how far God has brought me irrespective of challenges I encountered as a teenager. And this is why rather than throwing a party, I decided to celebrate among the people in communities around Ojoo and to God be the glory; we gave out items to over 400 people and it was a huge success because our mission was accomplished. The over 400 people will not forget in a hurry; we gave out household items like complete set of curtains, televisions, standing fan and other household equipment as well as clothing, fashion accessories, shoes and bags as well as toys and bags. There were gifts for every category of people. I enjoin everyone to do whatever they can in their little corner; nothing is too small to make life easier on others.
How have you been able to reach out to these girls and how many girls have you impacted?
We work with Primary Healthcare Centers in Oyo State and we have impacted close to 100 girls’ altogether; we support, empower and educate them. In terms of support, we go to Primary Healthcare Centers, speak to them and give them gifts especially delivery kits and basic necessities they need for their babies when they deliver.
Aside this, what do you do to ensure that they can stand up for themselves, be independent and take care of their children?
In the course of meeting these girls, we identify the ones that are serious and the unserious ones. So we pick the ones that are exceptional and walk the journey with them; we ask them if they are willing to go back to school and we see what we can do and those that we can empower through business, we do that too. So we check them frequently, some of them were supposed to attend the event at Ojoo, our walk with them is continuous to ensure they don’t repeat their mistakes or give up on life.
What will you say is responsible for teenage pregnancy in our society?
A lot is responsible, In my own case, it was out of ignorance, I didn’t know much at all and getting pregnant at that age and I didn’t know I was pregnant on time, it took me a while and abortion wasn’t an option for me coming from a good home as a good girl that made a mistake.
For some other people waywardness, rape, influence of alcohol or early marriage among other issues.
How can the society help girls in this situation to ensure that their life is not truncated?
Please let us listen to these girls. Everyone has a story. Even a wayward girl can be educated. People that get pregnant out of ignorance can be educated. Let us listen, don’t discriminate especially our religious bodies. I went through that and I can say sometimes the religious body that is supposed to be a saving space is where they even push you out and tell you that you are corrupting others. Look at me today, if I hadn’t pick up myself then I wouldn’t be where I am today. Mistakes happen even when it is unplanned we can make the best out of the situation.
Do you agree with the assertion that women don’t have a voice in the society?
Maybe in the past; women’s voices are heard now. We celebrated International Day of Girl Child recently in October and if you see the essays written by these girls, you will know they are ready to talk; we had 33 participants from 11 schools and we had three overall winners. If you read the essay the girls wrote, you will know that Nigeria is very good and we have wonderful girls out there, and voices are heard.
What is your view about stigmatization of teenage girls that get pregnant?
It is difficult; very difficult even till now, I am still stigmatized. People say she had a child out of wedlock, she got pregnant and I have people asking why I am helping those girls because they believe that helping them means I am encouraging them and I tell them that this is my own goal; keep your judgment. It is not for you to judge these girls. Stigmatization is still happening and it will continue to but we are pleading to the society to give our girls a chance, and listen to them when they have done something wrong. We are here as a foundation, to make sure they are rehabilitated and also make sure they have a good life.
What’s your advice for girls that find themselves in this situation?
Please do not abort because you do not know what that child might become later in life, he might turn out to be a blessing. If I had aborted my child then I wouldn’t be here today. There’s a blessing in every lesson. Take your time, focus. It is not about how many times we fall but how many times we stand back on our feet and live the best out of it that matters. Make sure you confide in the right people, confide in your parents and people like us that can help you.
