It is no
secret that most of the youth and adults in South Sudan are practicing sexual
intercourse, and most of the time unprotected. We South Sudanese usually refuse
to talk about any sexual matters with our children and that’s one of the
reasons why the rate of young unmarried child mothers, child fathers and people
who are living with HIV according to the recent research presented is quite
high; because they have very little knowledge of the many consequences of
sexual intercourse. We South Sudanese believe that such sensitive information a
person is supposed to know, simply understand and should go by because it is
instilled in his/her manners, culture and ethics. With that being said, even
our schools refuse to explain to students in detail what the consequences of a
sexual intercourse are, which includes producing a child, creating bigger
responsibility, disappointment if before marriage and finally contracting many sexual
transmitted infections (STI) and of course the incurable Lucifer HIV.
A question
has been itching my brains for a while now, are we trying to say that we
would rather deal with the consequences instead of preventing them? If not where
are the HIV prevention campaigns? Why are you parents shy of talking to your
children and educating them about what is most likely to happen after having
sexual relations? Why are our schools not putting everything there is for
children to know about sex in their syllabus? Because if we really wanted to
prevent that’s where our focus would be rather than trying to help when it’s
already too late. The earlier a person is educated the lower the risks become,
other worlds are currently ahead of us because they most importantly do not lie
to themselves. We tend to lie to ourselves and convince ourselves that our
children, sisters, brothers, aunties, relatives, friends etc… are not sexually
active, is that why we are not educating ourselves about the importance of
protection? And if we are, are we doing our best to reach all parts of the
nation? It’s as simple as driving a car, if you don’t wear the seatbelt to
protect yourself, if an accident occurs, there will be damage and consequences
that will affect you forever as a result of you not wearing that seatbelt.
Cultures,
traditions, mindsets and even religion evolve, why you ask? Because as new
generations are born they come with more open minds, they come and want to
modernize the lifestyles of the old generations. The generation we live in
today has evolved to where it’s becoming acceptable to do certain things in
ways our grandparents would have never done, let’s not lie to ourselves by
telling ourselves that cultures, manners, ethics, mindsets etc… are still the
same because they absolutely aren’t. We must put all that we need to know in
our books, billboards, stickers, events, conferences, hospitals etc… Create as
much awareness as possible to save a future, & also a life.
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