Former government spokesperson Kanze Dena recently shared a deeply personal story about her experience with motherhood in an interview with Parents Magazine. Dena revealed a hidden aspect of her past, disclosing she had a child out of wedlock after completing high school.
Fearing her mother's strict reaction, Dena said, "The very first time I found out, the first thought was I going to die. I had a harsh mother and here I was pregnant out of wedlock. I never got pregnant when I was in school... I got pregnant a year or two after clearing high school. But I was not married and my mum was very strict. Those days getting pregnant out of marriage was you know… you get stigmatised for it."
Determined to hide the pregnancy, she went on to explain, "I was signed up for Secretariat and IT College, so I ensured I booked myself into a hostel instead of commuting from home so that I can be able to hide my pregnancy."
Sadly, this decision meant giving up the baby for adoption. Dena confided, "I made up my mind that I was not going to keep the baby." She reached out to Teen Crisis counselors who would arrange the adoption after the birth. "That was my option to have the child and give the baby away for adoption."
Further complicating the situation, Dena was supposed to spend the weekend with her relatives unaware of the pregnancy.
"So as God would have it, it didn't happen (the visit). The day I found myself in labour, I didn't know I was in labour, I just burst my waters and I called a friend of mine that we were in a hostel together and she said 'I think you are pregnant.'
I was supposed to spend the weekend with my aunt and grandmother and now I had to come up with a reason to go back to the hostel. And so I told my auntie, water has come so I need to go wash clothes. I took myself to Pumwani Hospital. They never knew I was pregnant because I never spent that much time with them," said Dena.