GIRLS: WOMEN TOO EARLYmultimedia video
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2024 First-Time Filmmaker Sessions Hosted by LiftOffGlobalNetwork: Official selectionChristine, 17-years-old, got married when she was 15, lost her first child when she was 16, and she is now seven months pregnant.
Rose, 16-years-old, is currently breastfeeding first child of five months.
Christine dropped out of school in secondary two and Rose dropped out at the end of primary six, both due to a lack of financial availability from their families. Christine and Rose live in a very remote and rural area in the tropical highland forest in Cameroon, making their living through farming cocoa. They represent thousands of teenage mothers in Cameroon.
Africa has the world's highest rate of adolescent pregnancy, a factor that affects the health, education, and earning potential of millions of African girls.View the Photo Essay here
photography & video
PAOLO PATRUNO
editing & postproduction
PAOLO PATRUNO
A very special thank you to my friend Blaise Chamango (www.hisrcameroon.org) who supported me to make this work possible: he arranged my visit, traveled with me and provided me with the audio transcripts.
Music:
“Better days”
composed and performed by Bensound.com
"A Kind of Hope"
"Filaments"
by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
"African Girl"
by Naomi Wachira