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A recent research revealed that three in ten people contracting HIV/Aids are the youth.
The research indicated that the fact that many teens thirst for knowledge about sex — information they never seem to get — was to blame for the unprecedented rise.
To satisfy this desire for knowledge, many teens engage in sex at a tender age. Many children, the research shows, engage in sex as early as 12. And that one in every five girls in Kenya aged between 15 and 19 could be sexually active.
Here are some of the reasons for this sudden rise in the scourge at least from where I sit.
Sponsor mentality: It started as a craze, but now it’s a menace. Young college girls are seeing it as the only ticket to a comfortable life — they are living a lie.
The girls target married men who unfortunately are not used to the comfort of the rubber sheath. Money and presents have blinded many girls into engaging in unprotected sex. Sadly, most of these girls also keep college boys as side kicks, which means the spread of the diseases is inevitable.
They say ‘Kufa dereva kufa makanga’ — at the heat of the moment — only to drown in regrets when the sad reality dawns.
Cellphone love: This has swept the world off its feet. Yes technology came in too fast, when the humanity was not ready to contain it. Every teen has a phone, Wi-Fi and access to internet. Armed with these gadgets, explicit porn movies are just a click away. If not watching such movies, you will find them posting nudes on social media for the world to see. A few courageous ones will post videos of themselves having sex. Imagine.
HIV education: when Aids first appeared the world did not understand it, so everyone was careful and feared it. Just the way we fear cancer. The world embarked in educating and warning citizens. Celebrities like Congolese musician Franco Makiadi sang songs about the mystery of Aids. Like in Attention na Sida (Beware of Aids). This led to decrease in new cases. But when the world came to understand the disease, and knew how to treat the opportunistic diseases, people let their guard down with the mentality that they can prolong life.
Religion: we don’t have the conservative preachers we used to have during our days. Churches have evolved, and one can even hear some women preachers asking followers to ‘dress sexy’ and yes, preachers are no longer in gowns. That is backward. So, you will see them in kinky dresses. This is what teenagers love, and no one cares.
The smart ‘Sunday best’ dressing we used to have is gone. No wonder you will hear shocking stories of young men and women engaging in sex when attending keshas.
Teach teens that hard work pays and is much more long lasting than the get-quick-money schemes. The effect of media was not big as the only adult magazines one could come across were Playboy — these were not explicit. So parents should try to monitor and talk to the teens about the dangers of going to the sex sites.
Let’s talk to the teens both at home, churches and school as adults so that they can learn that everything has its own time.
@AineaOjiambo
