Ecineta Mondlane, a 17-year-old girl, lives in Matola A, Mozambique. Like many adolescents in her community, she grew up in an environment where talking about sexual health was taboo. Most of the information she received came from peers or social media, often incomplete or inaccurate. Amina dreamt of becoming a nurse but was terrified when she realised that she was now carrying an early pregnancy, which resulted in her dropping out of school and abandoning her dreams. Volunteering at INERELA+ Mozambique (MONERELA+) made her reflect on the time when she was still in school, and there were no specific classes, programs on sexual and reproductive health.
Teachers avoided the topic, and parents didn’t feel comfortable talking about it. It made Amina feel confused and insecure about her body, her rights, and her choices. The life-changing phase came when MONERELA+ launched a church speaking program offering educational sessions on sexual health, contraception, prevention, and reproductive rights. Amina, who was heavily pregnant and a school dropout, attended the first session with trepidation, but left with a new perspective. That was her first time to encounter and absorb critical information on the menstrual cycle, early pregnancies in underage groups, how birth control works, and her rights as a girl child (the right to make decisions about her body). Most importantly, she also discovered that she wasn’t alone in her predicament.
Ecineta Mondlane volunteered for the HIV and SRHR program with MONERELA+. She began organizing conversation circles on HIV and SRHR with other girls from the church. She also created a WhatsApp group where teenagers are now free to engage among themselves and ask questions to health professionals invited to the group. Due to Amina’s relentless efforts during `youth programs, her church has now begun to include sexual health topics in its services, and parents are invited to church sessions. This was not the case before Amina engaged the Religious leader on the need to embrace HIV and SRHR sessions in the church. This is expected to have ripple effects on more
centres under Amina’s church denomination in and outside Maputo. Today, she is recognized as a Change agent/ Champion on SRHR issues, not only in her church or community, but the local government authorities invite her whenever there is a Youth program to speak about SRHR and provide guidance, counselling to the girl child who may have experienced violation due to lack of knowledge on SRHR and how to conduct themselves when they are violated. She is also involved with volunteer work, partnering with other civic organisations that promote SRHR in the country. Other NGOs are engaging her as a focal point during campaigns or workshops where she shares her experience, testimony, and how her life turned for the better the moment she got involved with INERELA+ Mozambique (MONERELA+) SRHR activities