On Tuesday’s, I work with adolescents aged 13 – 18 years old in a secondary school. Before and after our sessions, the girls are always laughing with friends, flirting with boys, playfully teasing me, and just generally enjoying their teenage years.

On Wednesday’s, I work with girls that are their same age, who are living in a whole other world. They are pregnant with either their first or second children. Most are out of school and do not receive the support that school social networks offer. They walk to my sessions alone, or sometimes with a young baby on one shoulder.

Since I am working with both groups at the same time, the contrast between the groups is not something I can ignore.

I am older than many of the pregnant patients in my group, but they carry heavy, real responsibilities that I have never experienced, responsibilities I cannot even begin comprehend.

Take Jessica for example. She’s fifteen years old, and seven months pregnant with her first child – a boy. She’s attended all three of my workshops and has been on time each time, maintaining a perfect attendance record that beats the rest of the club’s participants. Each time she brings her notebook and pen that I gave out on the first day and attempts to take copious notes. She no longer attends school, and from the written evaluations she has turned in, this is obvious.

Since we both live close by, after our last session, we walked part of the way home together. Under the strong sun, my heavy backpack and long pants were suffocating me, and I was sweating up a storm. But I did not dare complain while Jessica walked beside me in her skinny jeans with her bulging belly.

During our conversation, I learned that she has already moved out of her home and is living with her partner’s family. She’s only one year than my younger sister. Yet, she no longer lives with her parents, and is already independent, ready to raise her own family on her own.

We talked a bit about what we were up to that afternoon. I told her that I was going to a meeting with the director of the health center that afternoon, and then to dinner and a volcano excursion with the other interns in my program at night. She told me she was about to take a long nap. Her petite body was tired after the long walk to the center, and she almost wasn’t able to make it out that morning. After her nap, she would clean her house a bit, prepare dinner for her household, rest, and then start the day over again.