When singer-song-writer-poet Bob Dylan wrote The Times They Are A Changin’ in 1964, no one knew quite how the pace would pick up in the 45 years since he wrote the famous lyrics. Today’s teenagers world is unlike anything most of us experienced in the past. The monster of HIV did not exist.
But the sky-high HIV infection rate in the age group for 15 to 24-year-olds is challenging our interventions, including programmes in schools.
Some years ago an American couple visiting South Africa to participate in a series of HIV workshops, gave me one outsized Lifesaver sweet with a hole in the middle. They said I could eat it only if I saved one person from HIV infection.
It seems we have to look further and dig deeper to change thinking and behaviour of our learners before we can claim that we qualify as Lifesavers. What will it take to persuade the learners we teach to change their deathstyles?
As adults, we forget The Times They Are A Changin’. We may be preaching what worked for us when we were young but this no longer applies today. We may have lost
the plot.
New and dangerous patterns of sexual behaviour are the norm for many teenagers and we need effective measures to control the spread of HIV within that context.
Let’s start at the very beginning – with A for Abstain. First we have to accept that the onset of sexual activity is much earlier than it used to be and that young guys and even girls who abstain are mocked and teased by their peers.
Having more than one partner is not unusual. Relationships at this age can be tenuous. Partying, suggestive music that is popular, drugs and alcohol lead to risky sexual behaviour and promiscuity.
Poverty is another major area of concern highlighted in Helen Epstein’s book, The Invisible Cure. The global market provides tempting consumer goods such as make-up, clothes, cellphones and cars. About 60% of black South Africans live beneath the poverty line and 50% are unemployed. When a poor young woman is invited to a restaurant by a well-dressed man with a luxury car, it may seem like being offered a ride on a space shuttle.
But these “glamorous” men are also likely to be unfaithful and thus HIV positive.
An amusing anecdote on the subject of materialism comes from university student Fungai Machirori who writes for Af.Aids. She reports that one of her lecturers suggested that they should conduct a mini-survey to find out, on average, how much more sex men reported having according to the type of car they drove. It would be interesting how the figures ranged from a Mercedes Benz driver to a Nissan small-vehicle driver or to a pedestrian.
B is for “Be Faithful”. The sad truth is that trust between couples has been eroded. Guys don’t trust girls and vice versa. So when a couple enter into a new relationship it hardly matters if they are faithful to each other or not.
This means it is “no big deal” if one or both or them cheat and enter into concurrent relationships. The risk of HIV infection, of course, increases exponentially.
Some young people, however, abstain from having sex because they are afraid of being “played” or cheated on. According to one young woman, a university student, men are not trustworthy because they always seem to have another girlfriend stashed away for a rainy day.
Her favourite joke is: “It doesn’t matter if he respects his mother and sisters or can recite the Bible in his sleep in 10 different languages – a man is a man and he will always cheat!”
C is for “Condomise”. Sexually active teenagers report in surveys that they use condoms “sometimes”. There are countless reasons why condoms are unpopular, but they are the only defence against HIV infection, according to Dr David Baltimore, Nobel prize winner and world expert in the field of virology.
Dan Ariely, autor of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, believes girls and boys should carry condoms, particularly when there is a possibility of a sexual encounter.
He proves in a scientific experiment he undertook that, when we are sexually aroused, we throw caution to the wind. The correct use of condoms, the protection condoms afford and their availability and effectiveness cannot be overemphasised or ignored. But there are still misconceptions on the subject that have to be cleared.
Whether we like it or not times and sexual practices and norms have changed and we have to work within this context. By doing so, we may all get a chance to save at least one life.
Joan Dommisse is an educator in the field of HIV-Aids. Contact her on 011 616 8404 or jdommisse@iburst.co.za