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General Youth Attitudes Towards The Scourge
By Stanley Tuvako
On the 14th day of May 2001, I invited
to my residence some youths from the neighborhood for tea and also to help them discuss various issues that might engage them.
My intention was to politely bring in the subject of sexuality and HIV. I intentionally did not want them to feel that they
were doing a survey as I wanted to make them feel free with their views. For that I created an environment they
were used to by including Billy Sato, my friend and a co-member of our self-help group, who is a person with whom they were
all comfortable. I knew that if I told them notes would be taken, they would refrain from discussing various issues
in hand. I had invited the three boys and I had asked them to come with at least with one friend, if they wished to do so.
Billy had come with some tapes about STDs and AIDS; we were to watch this before the youths watched another I had promised
to show them.
We managed to have a group of 10; 6 boys and 4 girls. They were:
Robert (17 years) Fourth Year
High School Student
Michael (16 years) Third Year High School Student
Edward (16 years) Third Year High School Student
Dan (16 years) Third Year High School Student
Mary (15 years) Third Year High School Student
Leila (15 years)
Third Year High School Student
Linda (16 years) Third Year High School Student
Brenda (16 years) Third Year High School
Student
Mark (17 years) Fourth Year High School Student
Alex (15 years) Second Year High School Student
Michael
is my cousin and he had come with his friends Dan, Edward, Leila and his girlfriend, Mary. Leila was Edward's girlfriend.
Robert, my neighbor, came with Linda, Mark and Mark's girlfriend, Brenda. Alex came alone. The team I had was perfect and
seemed to be free with the whole environment and I assumed it was okay to discuss the issues which had brought them there.
The only two adults in the room were Billy and I. Our idea was to get a perspective on their sexuality, what effects
their peers have on them and what they know about the HIV/AIDS pandemic in a free-form discussion.
Before
we watched the tape, the youth expressed themselves as follows:
ABOUT THEMSELVES:
Michael showed a lot of
self-worth. He believed he was handsome and that he knew his way with girls. He believed that he had only an interest with
girls younger than himself. He said that he knew he was intelligent enough to handle the current world. He believed that he
could make a good leader.
Brenda was shy, but also believed a lot about her capability though she said she had a lot
of fears when she was to address a big group of people. She knew that she was beautiful and knew every trick in the book that
boys have.
Edward was a very interesting character. He didn't consider himself handsome but knew his way round girls.
He believed that only through being tricky one could achieve a lot in this world.
The rest expressed views similar
to above, while two of the boys--Alex and Dan--did believe that life was better without their opposite sex.
HIV,
STIs & SEXUALITY :
This was a topic they were all very shy of, with an exception of Brenda, who seemed too free
with some areas. They seemed not to be free to discuss much about sex but were more free discussing STIs and AIDS. That
was our interest so we concentrated the discussion on it. Most of them said that their friends had taught them various things
about sex and they believed that it was impossible to have such discussions with their parents. When asked who they would
approach if they ever got infected by any STIs, they all objected bringing it to the attention of their parents. Some thought
that other relatives were more reliable, few thought of the doctor, but most believed in using friends. None was open about
ever having STI complications and we opted not to insist.
On AIDS, they had very general ideas about the disease,
that it spreads through exchange of bodily fluids and sex was the most common way. Only Alex and Dan refused to say that they
had had any sexual affairs while others quite openly agreed.
The shocking parts came from the girls. While the boys
believed that using a condom was the safest option, Brenda said that she knew of a friend who got an infection that had been
smeared on top of the condom and she believed that contraceptive implants were far much better. She had been informed that
so long as semen is not released into her the chances of getting HIV are low. Some of the boys seemed to support the idea
and insisted that they had also read that from some book. Leila added that the safest way she knew men could avoid infection
is by having his private parts cleaned with a tissue to absorb the virus. Leila and Linda were very certain that many cases
had been reported where people who use condoms got AIDS. Brenda admitted to having more than two partners during the past
year and believed she wasn't the only one.
Edward also shocked us for believing that death is a planned thing and
cannot be decided only by humanity avoiding one disease. He thought that AIDS was just one of many ways to die. We thought
that that was a rather careless attitude, but we let him speak on. He also admitted to having more than one sexual contact.
Edward and Michael agreed that they had some shared relations; they admitted to having unprotected group sex. Mary's idea
about having sex was that people who love one another and trust one another should do it. She said that those in school cannot
afford condoms and that free condoms have been said to be smeared with the HIV virus to eradicate Africans in any case.
Edward had a conspiracy theory that he had heard his father discuss about an AIDS drug made by the local herbalists that the
state had rejected because they were making profits from the monies donated for AIDS. Michael backed him and he heard the
drug costed Kshs. 40,000 ($ 506). Their ideas on sex and AIDS were very limited to what appeared on advertisements.
MYTHS
PICKED FROM THE DISCUSSION :
1.Having sex with younger partners can avoid sexually
transmitted infections such
as AIDS.
2.Withdrawal before ejaculation and cleaning the private parts with a tissue can protect against AIDS.
3.Free
condoms have been smeared with the AIDS virus to eradicate Africans.
4.Taking unprescribed antibiotics (Septrin) immediately
after sex avoids STIs.
We then had an opportunity to show these youths the tape brought by Billy. The youths
were visibly too shocked to say anything about what they had seen. It was the best time to be direct with them about the issues
and correct their ways of thinking. I gave them my copy of an issue of TIME magazine which focused on HIV/AIDS in Africa and
noticed how shocked they were.
OUR CONCLUSION:
1.The youths had a general idea about HIV/AIDS.
2.Where
they had no answers they supported their view by ignoring the danger.
3.When they got proper details from the tape,
they understood the seriousness of the problem.
4.Most of their myths were gleaned from friends.
5.The youths
are actively engaged in sex.
6.The youth need education in sexuality and AIDS urgently.
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