When Andreen Rose-Cephas got pregnant at age 16 while attending a prominent high school in Kingston in 1987, she was devastated.

“I didn’t know what to do, where to turn, and a lot of things kept going through my mind initially when I found out,” she recalls in an interview with JIS News.

Rose-Cephas, who is the youngest of nine children, shared that her greatest concern at the time was knowing that she had disappointed her family.

“I had disappointed my mother, my father, and my elder sisters and brothers because at the time, I was doing extremely well in school, so it was more disappointment than anything else,” she says.

After her parents had recovered from the initial shock, Rose-Cephas says they began looking for training opportunities and programmes, as they wanted her to continue her education.

That was when she learned about the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF), where she enrolled in January 1988.

The foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, is mandated to assist girls 17 years old and under who have dropped out of school due to pregnancy.

It provides guidance to adolescent mothers who receive academic instruction in several subjects in order to reintegrate them into the formal education system.

The young mothers are taught how to bathe, dress, hold and care for the baby and also benefit from parenting skills.

Rose-Cephas lauds the WCJF for the support and care she received while attending the facility.

She says the staff made her “feel at home” and, despite the setback, they told her that “she could still do well”.

“So, it is the encouragement from them, the care, the love, the fact that there was a nursery. You know it was just like family and everyone treated you like you were the most special thing in the world,” she tells JIS News, adding that there was no condemnation from the staff, who made her feel like “she was still somebody”.

“So, although it was rough and rocky, the Women’s Centre showed me and encouraged me to do my best and to be focused and to understand that this is not the end of the world, just the beginning,” she says.

Rose-Cephas, who is now the chief executive officer and owner of Hair Xtreme Beauty and Barber Concepts located in the New Kingston Shopping Centre, says that the birth of her son gave her the determination to make a success of her life.

With the assistance of the WCJF, she was enrolled at St Andrew High School to complete her secondary education.

A year after graduating, she got a three-year netball scholarship to attend Excelsior Community College in St Andrew. While there, she applied for a one-year cosmetology training programme, which was being offered by the HEART/NSTA Trust at the college.

“Back in those days, my sisters used to do hair braiding at home all the time, and then my father was a man in the community who would cut everybody’s hair,” she recalls, noting that she had the skill of braiding and cutting hair long before she started the business.

She is encouraging other teen mothers not to give up.

“Yes, it is not something that you’re supposed to be into at this time. Your book is supposed to be your focus, but if it happens, don’t ever think that you are less than,” she says.

She is urging them to “to remain focused and draw from your inner strength”.

“You can get back into school; you can get into a skill. You can become anything that you want to be if you remain focused. Do not listen to the outsiders. Believe in you and draw from your inner strength and know that, through you, all things are possible,” she adds.

Rose-Cephas notes that, “Life is never an easy road, whether you are a teenager or adult mother, but the fact that you have someone depending on you means that you have to be steadfast, you have to be forthright, you have to be dedicated, you have to be vigilant in anything that you are going to do.”

Executive director of the WCJF Dr Zoe Simpson, tells JIS News that adolescent mothers can register via the organisation’s website, womenscentreja.com or call the main office located at Trafalgar Road in Kingston at 876-517-1148 or 876-517-1152.

She says that after registration, representatives of the WCJF will contact the girls and their parents to offer counselling, which includes addressing a range of issues such as self-esteem, sexual and reproductive health, and personal development.

She says that the pregnant teens are allowed to continue their education while receiving the necessary support to look after their children, including day-care services.

Established in 1978, the WCJF has served approximately 46,000 teen mothers, many of whom have been given a second chance to complete their secondary education.