Sex education targets vulnerable youth

Girls and boys perform a dance during an intensive mentorship programme at Lengo Academy in Kauma, Kilifi County, on December 3. [Maureen Ongala, Standard]

A 22-year-old student is sensitising young girls and boys on the dangers of engaging in sex in Jaribuni ward, Kauma Sub County in Kilifi.

Loice Kazungu, a student of East Africa Institute of Certified Studies, said she decided to mentor the girls who are at risk of falling pregnant during the long holidays.

“I felt that most girls engage in sex after they lose focus and need someone to talk to them about how to stay safe during holidays,” said Kazungu.

She regrets that parents in Kwale consider sex education a taboo.

“This is affecting us and it is time we tell each other the truth or else boys and girls will suffer,” she says. Kazungu started the initiative during the last August holiday where she mobilised 42 girls to attend the forums on reproductive health and reciting poems on gender based violence.

“Our girls are always hopeless and are never free with men. They are always vulnerable every time they are approached by a man and this makes them engage in sex,” she said.

She noted that girls from poor families are at greatest risk of falling prey to sex pests.

“They asked how to stay safe while having sex because they are always lied to that you cannot fall pregnant,” she said.

Boys too have not been left out and currently 10 attend the forums. “I am being taught what my parents have never thought of telling me. They have not told me not to fear men. That when I am with boys I should see then as my brothers and they should also handle me as their sister,” said Sofia Mohamed, 15, Class Seven pupil at Marere Primary School.

“Before I joined this group. I used to smoke cigarette and chew mogokaa because most of my friends are older and they have money to buy anything they want. But I have learnt a lot and don’t want to engage with them anymore but concentrate on my studies,” said Maurice Gwete, 16, Class Seven pupil at Mikuluni Primary School. Asha Titus, 19, a Form Two dropout is also part of the team. She mentors girls on the dangers of engaging in sex after she delivered a baby boy in 2016.

“We used to learn in the same school. He was in form three while I was in Form Two and by that time I was 17 year. Life is hard especially being a single mother without a job. Taking care of a baby and myself is not easy. I don’t know the where about of my boyfriends to date,” said Asha.

Kazungu has appointed a girl and a boy who convene the forums while she is a way in college in Nairobi.