Culture: Teachers and parents should help the youth understand and celebrate their sexuality

Sexuality is about who we are, whether we are male or female and how this makes us different and unique. It is what defines one as a person. One’s physical and emotional needs, one’s feelings, attitudes, expression of self and one’s self image. Sexuality is not only about expression of sexual feelings; this is only a small part of it. Human beings are generally sexual beings and sexuality is a healthy and normal part of life just like walking, sleeping and eating. The way in which one responds to sexuality is unique and depends on many factors like cultural influences, age, religion and even gender. The awareness of one’s sexuality becomes more pronounced during the adolescence stage. Young people begin feeling different and begin to discover changes in their bodies and even feelings. This is very challenging for many adolescence who come under pressure from peers to conform to certain dress, look, walk and even language. It is, therefore, important for adolescence to know that sexuality is not about sex only. They need to find a way of dealing with sexual feelings and attraction to the opposite sex. It’s important for young people to know how to handle sexuality positively knowing well that there are consequences of irresponsible sexual behaviour. Irresponsible sexual behaviour involves having unprotected sex, defilement, rape and other forms of behaviour. These have serious consequences such as exposure to HIV/Aids and other Sexually transmitted diseases, un- wanted pregnancies, school dropout etc. There are many ways of expressing sexuality which are positive health and developmental, for example, sports, dance and drama, and other forms of entertainment. Young people should understand that expression of sexuality doesn’t necessarily mean negative and destructive behaviour. Many young people have been lured into drugs, theft, sex, and other forms of bad behaviour in the name of sexuality which causes many to lose focus of their future. This is a path of failure which all wise young people should avoid. Young people should channel their energies into developing their talents outside the class room, helping parents and working hard at school. It is the duty of parents, teachers and religious leaders to organise activities for adolescence where necessary to help them burn the excess energy and to pave a healthy path to self discovery. Adolescence stage can be a very interesting stage for the youth given proper guidance. Parents and teachers should develop an understanding of this difficult stage in the development of the adolescence so as to help come up with ways of helping these young people cope. Counselling and guidance should be practiced both at school and at home so as to help the young people in their decision making and also to give them a forum to air out their views , challenges , frustrations and needs. A lack of this forum usually drives these troubled young people to peer counselling where they are given wrong or incomplete advice. Parents and teachers should strive to maintain an open and friendly relationship with adolescence in their charge without necessarily compromising standards of morality. The youth and adolescence should be able to feel comfortable to share and discuss all aspects of life with the teachers, parents and guardians. In turn these young people should not feel shy to share aspects of their lives especially sexuality and how the changes in their bodies are affecting other areas of their lives. Sexuality is a normal and healthy part of life just like eating, drinking and breathing. It should never be a cause for someone to feel shy, small or unhappy. The young should feel happy that they are growing and the adults should help them embrace and celebrate this new stage in life. It should be celebrated, albeit with care for it comes once in a life time but the consequences of decisions taken at this stage also last a life time. To the youth, stay safe. To the teachers and parents, take an active mentoring role. Deal with the truth!!! BY IMMY MUREKATETE Wondering which truth she would be talking about, it’s the truth of your self. Biblically, “you will know the truth and it shall set you free.” Escapism still eats up the minds and characters of the people around the orb. Many want to live under the umbrella of other people’s lives. It’s common with people to fall short to accept who they are, probably, they have a vague background, are unnoticed and lived under the mercy of someone else’s helping hand. Hey, don’t strive to be noticed, you will end up loosing every opportunity because, by doing that, you portray a false depiction to those around you: they might come around for help, thinking you are well to do, what will you if they come around? Or they will label you with an off-putting impression. Forgetting to accept who we are and pretending to be images/portraits is compare to wearing borrowed or unfitting shoes, which later cause scalds on the poor toes, or borrowing a white shirt and dreading for any stain to drop on it. Let’s try to put on the real show and deal with the real us. It’s hardly non-existent to go through life with out painful experiences because even the richest man cry. Try to deal with who you are poor, rich, lame, short, tall, whatever case and use it to your advantage and it will take you to greater culmination. Remember, the sky is not even a limit and do whatever you do to your best of your ability. You are what you are now, but it’s not your final destination, just wait for your third day when exhilarating success will be flowing through your veins, rather than impersonating your sweet self. It is useless to be a tied colt on the junction of the road, heading nowhere, yet with no chance to turn back at least to have an immaculate start in life. Don’t accept anyone to put you down because of the little you have. The English say, “a friend in need is a friend indeed.” Need, could just be one to accept them selves and learn to love who they are. If you can’t accept ‘you’ or love ‘you’, there is no way you will accept and love those around you. Just let go of one who ties to clamp over your mouth with their beefy hands when you are raising n issue, claiming you are not saying anything worthy. No one should step on your toes for any irresistible blunder: we grow better through mistakes and correction. Wait a minute, have you carefully studied young men trying to appease a girl for approval, borrows a Mercedes Benz., uses all the money on the account for just a night out. Keeping it up through out the relationship after the ‘big word’ is said is the hardest part, cause that status becomes too expensive to handle. Just let it flow naturally, because money can’t buy love but it works in the way of love. It also happens with our parents who scold us when we do something of aversion saying, “why don’t you be like so-and so’s child?” every one is bestowed with their strengths and destiny. It never helps to be like some one else, but it just pulls us back, please just encourage us to be who we are in a better way. Replicating an illustrious person is not the way to go in life. Being you is the best gift you can ever give your self. If anyone tries to laugh at you because you are not the best or you lack a little bits and pieces that they have, just stand up tall, look them in the eyes and confidently say, the person you are has been groomed and nurtured by yester years, no matter how inadequate it may seem to be. After God created you, he exclaimed, woo, what a beautiful specie my hand has made! For there will never be any other like you. Don’t wish to be like the other because you don’t know what they encountered to where they are or what they do where the physical eyes can’t see or the nose to smell. Contact: faimimmy@yahoo.com