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From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has organized a two-day training for some youths of Angwan Jukun area of Wurukum in Makurdi metropolis of Benue State on Sexuality Education.
At the end of the two-day training, the participating young boys and girls are also expected to train 12 adolescents each to step down the knowledge gained during the training to all members of the community.
Declaring the meeting open on Thursday, AHF’s Advocacy and Marketing Manager, Steve Aborisade disclosed that
AHF is putting up the program in collaboration with Education as a Vaccine (EVA) to be able to give Age Appropriate Sexuality quality Education to young people.
He noted that the training became necessary to ensure that young girls and boys acquire the recuisite knowledge about sex and sexuality education to be able to negotiate safe sex or abstain as the case may be.
Aborisade who regretted that, “some young girls, till they attain adolescent age, have zero knowledge about sex and sexuality,” noted that these are biological issues that come naturally.
“Young girls now get pregnant and because they want to go back to school, they go and abort and in the process they develop complications or contact infections during sexual activities. Some trade sex for money and so on and this is becoming rampant.”
The AHF’s Advocacy and Marketing Manager stressed the need for all hands to be on deck to ensure that the impact of these instances in the lives of young girls are moderated.
“Because of the poverty level of majority of our parents as they are unable to provide for their children, the children then look for ways to make ends meet and mostly the girls are more vulnerable as they go to date older men for money not knowing that this same men have multiple partners like them and can transmit sexual infections to them through unprotected sex.
“And a young girl who is just growing up and has a bright future ahead of her cuts her dreams short because of sex.
“Whereas, we empower our young girls to be able to negotiate safe sex, they would be able to refuse sex but if they want to have sex, they should at least have safer sex. Beyond that, we have organizations in Benue who have reproductive services, these girls need access to these services, they need the right information.
Aborisade maintained that at the end of the training the participants would become Champions of Age Appropriate Sexuality Education in their communities.
“There is a part of the project that we are going to be working with you individually. When you leave here, you are going to come up with a group of 12 people each to form your own cohort. You will train those twelve to enable them impact on other young people in the community and before you know it, the positive impact on that community would be huge.”
He commended the Benue State government, the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and Human Services, Lawyers Alert, Education as a Vaccine (EVA), Benue State Agency for the Control of Aids (BENSACA) and other partners for making the project a success.
Some of the trainees including Catherine Sunday and Abdullahi Salamatu said they were very excited to attend the training, stressing that they training has emboldened them to be able to discuss topics on sexual education that they hitherto couldn’t talk about openly before now.
While positing that their community in Angwan Jukun has the major issue of unplanned pregnancy, they assured that with the training they can now go out and talk to their peers on how to avoid unwanted pregnancy.
