VULNERABILITY, IGNORANCE AND ADVENTURES FUELS SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS VIOLATION

In my community there are a lot of assumptions on the provision of knowledge of sexuality education. It is assumed that being a girl makes it imperative for you to remain a virgin till you get married implying abstinence. Equally if a child girl or boy belongs to a Christian association they automatically live an upright life which protects them from any sexual incidents or accidents. Finally no child can have difficulties in managing their sexuality since the school teaches everything. All of the above reasons justify why parents don’t bother to educate their children.

Lamentably this erroneous way of thinking has caused untold suffering to my community members who are still to acknowledge the fact. In the name of fellowship in these Christian associations many young people who are unsuspecting have been raped and impregnated. I remember one guy in my community who was the youth leader and the pride of the community. He was a yardstick of moral standards that parents used. Before we knew it he had violated more than half of the naïve community girls. He promised marriage to some, financial provision as well as use blackmail or intimidation. What exposed him was a failed attempted crude abortion.

Stories like this abound where the ignorant, vulnerable and hungry girl is molested, humiliated and abused over and over and nothing is done about it. Some courageous girls who try to tell are branded prostitutes or liars as well as scandalized by community members while perpetuators move about freely. In most cases when victims speak up their parents hide the issue or negotiate with the violator. If the case goes public people blame either the victim or the perpetuator. The justice system on its part is yet to have a clear legislature on such issues

My focus in this issue at this point in time is not the blame game but the level of ignorance, vulnerability and adventure that ignite most of these activities. A week ago I went to the judicial police station for a service. There I met three young people; a girl of 16 and two boys of 18 and19 who were involved in a case of sexual abuse. As the story went the two boys mixed two different brands of beer and gave the young girl to drink which knocked her out. They will now have sex with her in turns until the drug clears off. They did that for one week while evaluating themselves on who had her on different postures. When asked how she found herself in the room of these guys, the young girl said they use to give her food to eat when she is hungry and dash her 500frs($1) to buy what she likes.

After listening to this story it dawned on me that lack of knowledge on these issues has really destroyed our young people. I wondered how the scenario would have been if this little girl were not hungry or always starving. Was it not because of poverty and lack that this girl is vulnerable? How will the situation have been if these boys were not ignorant of the risk involved in rape and unprotected sex? Is it not obvious that what the boys did was out of being adventurous?

Unable to coordinate my thoughts to get answers to these preoccupations I tried to find out who the parents of the children were. My findings gave me more pain since the two boys were siblings living with a single parent-their father who is a businessman who is never around. The little girl’s mother does petty trading which occupies her from 5am to 7pm. Do you think these parents know their children talk less of having time to educate them on their sexuality?

Considering the fact that many of such stories are daily occurrences in my community, it became obvious to me that a social clinic where unbiased information, counseling and mentorship will be provided is an immediate solution to the challenges of these ignorant, vulnerable and adventurous young people. Empower a young person with knowledge on their sexuality and be sure you have given s/he a body and action guard for life.

How to Get Involved

Follow our #EmpowerMeDontBlameMe campaign

Create time to educate the young people around you