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Shining Hope Foundation supports teenage mothers

Published:Thursday | December 2, 2021 | 12:06 AMCecelia Campbell-Livingston/Gleaner Writer
Dr Melania Waugh, founder, Shining Hope Foundation.
Dr Melania Waugh, founder, Shining Hope Foundation.

The Shining Hope Foundation was launched virtually on Sunday to offer teenage mothers the support they need.

Dr Melania Waugh, the founder, in an interview with The Gleaner, said after seeing first-hand how teenage pregnancy dealt a devastating blow to young girls who had so much potential, and seeing how society and some families give up on them, leaving them to fend for themselves and their babies in a hostile environment, she was moved to do something.

Expounding on Shining Hope Foundation, Waugh said it is a vision birthed out of her doctoral study, with her deciding to pursue this venture as a way of giving back to the country – restoring hope and providing a second chance for teenage mothers.

After exploring the psychological effects of teen pregnancy on adolescent mothers, based on the challenges and consequences they face as a result of their pregnancy, Waugh said her findings showed that teen mothers were severely hampered in their pursuit of secondary education after pregnancy.

“Overall, teenage pregnancy was seen as the worst possible mistake, and they couldn’t see any hope of a better future. This caused them to embrace a fatalistic view of life after the pregnancy. They had not only failed, but were failures. These young mothers, in most cases, did not think they had support from family, so they felt neglected. This feeling of neglect extended to the wider society,” she noted, adding that it created confusion, shame and a sense of hopelessness that would only make any possibility to rise above their situation that much more insurmountable.

The desire to reach out in a tangible way to address this need, stressed Waugh, powered the formation of the foundation.

Born in an inner-city community and raised by grandparents in a rural community, Waugh has been involved in the Church for over 44 years, having been saved as a teenager.

Being a Christian, she said, gave her a different perspective on life in having all her activities centred around the Church. According to Waugh, her own life has taught her that neither life’s beginnings nor experiences can define your outcome, unless it is allowed to.

“There were many opportunities to prove this, and so it has always been my passion to leave something or someone in a better place than where I first met them. I want to see people empowered to rise above the idea that what they see around them is all there is,” she said.

A clinical psychologist, marriage officer as well as a senior pastor at the Old Hope Road Church of God of Prophecy, among her other roles, Waugh is hoping the foundation will see many lives being transformed.

cecelia.campbell@gleanerjm.com