Why do Teenagers in Rwanda Drink?

It is a story we were all told at a young age by our parents, that is, do not drink until you are old enough. So what is this right age? Many parents will tell you eighteen years old, but the moment you approach that age they will again tell to wait till you have a stable life. I always grew up bearing this in mind, thinking that whoever drunk at an early age or while having an unstable life would either be living a depressed and miserable life now or in the near future. As I got older, however, this way of perceiving drinking at an early age began to change. This, one could say, was caused by the observations I made on my surroundings. When I started my early teenage life, activities like playing with toys or reading story tales began to fade away. These activities were replaced with others like going out to parties with friends. Therefore, as I progressed through my teenage life I could not help but notice how much the consumption of alcohol around me increased. Rwanda is still a developing country which would account for the fact that there are not yet that many good and fun activities that many of Rwanda’s youths can engage in. So instead of a good night out with some friends at the cinema, at the shopping mall for the girls or at the arcade mall for the younger teenagers, the major night activities happening in Rwanda are found at night clubs, bars, restaurants or malls that have these. This would distinctly be prominent as a major reason to why teenagers’ first thought of a good night out is at a club, bar or restaurant. If a group of friends were to decide to congregate to chat and catch on one another’s stories the first areas most teenagers today would think of meeting is either at the MTN centre mall, UTC, QQP or KBC. The thing that all these areas have in common is that they all offer alcohol heedless of what age you are, as long as you look slightly old. This is one of the reasons why the consumption of alcohol by teenagers in Rwanda is increasing. So what is it about alcohol that makes teenagers want to consume it? If someone was reading this article and has consumed alcohol at least once in there life, they would already have an answer to that one. It is a fact that alcohol boosts up ones confidence, energy, excitement and morale. This is exactly what teenagers today are looking for. Older people are usually not looking for too much excitement while drinking, they usually just want to relax and drink with friends in contrast to the teenagers who are looking for fun and excitement. The fact that Rwanda is still a developing country that has limited activities for teenagers and the positive influence of alcohol on the youth today would explain the reasons as to why it is very easy today to spot teenage drinking in Rwanda. Alcohol consumption, though, is still the main reason for fights breaking out, accidents happening, family breakup and worst of all leaving you with a serious hangover the next day! Rwanda is still a developing country and the development of good infrastructures and great teenage activities that can distract them from drinking alcohol can help build and shape tomorrow’s leaders dmurasa@yahoo.com