Youth in Dialogue - Nelson Mandela Foundation

girls can be pressured,”
says Hlengiwe. “A guy can
pressurise a girl with anything,
sweet words, you can buy
her a gift and if the girl is
stupid enough they will be
pressured.”
Nkosi says Lerome’s youth
is focused on issues around
“aspiration”, specifically
youth who have transactional
sex with men who work in
the mines. “The guy is going
out with six other girls in the
community, but because you
can buy me nice shoes and
nice clothing, I don’t mind …
But these guys also have the
power to say, ‘why would you
want me to wear a condom,
don’t you trust me’ You could
imagine with older people,
they don’t believe in using
condoms.”
Youth facilitators in Mhluzi.
Getting the messages
through
In a smaller session after
the main dialogue, Nkosi
interviews a group of
teenagers. Maleke, “17
turning 18 next year”, tells
him that celebrity-driven
music “bashes” in their area
don’t work to drive behaviour
change. “People … we … will
go there not having an aim
that we are going to get more
information, or get some more
details on HIV/AIDS, but we
are going to go there because
some stars are going there.
“Say for example they
say Zola is coming, Chomi
is coming, we’re going
there for those celebrities,
we’re not going there to get
more information or to get
enlightened.”
She says a public talk show
in the community would be
better. “But I do not want
them to come and point
fingers … rather than them
performing, they should
speak about their experiences,
and they shouldn’t make up
experiences,” she says.
Themba, 16, says HIV/
AIDS messaging creates fear
in some minds. “Although
they were
trying to voice
out or they
were trying to
sell the idea to
people [about
the dangers of
AIDS], it made
them scared.
Instead of
making them
conscious of it,
they are more
scared of it.”
Themba
and Maleke
host a show
on local radio
(sponsored by the HIV/AIDS
non-governmental organisation
loveLife) that discusses issues
that concern young people
in the area, especially HIV/
AIDS. “I’m trying to make it
appealing for them to accept
it, for them to be keen on it
because they are running
away, because of the way we
introduced it to them [as] a
killer disease,” says Themba.
Mlungisi, 15, agrees. “The
first time I knew AIDS it
was because of [the child
activist] Nkosi Johnson. Nkosi
Johnson was about to die, or
was thin, that image is still in
my mind, that when I have
AIDS obviously I’m going to
lose weight, all that pain and
everything.
“It was introduced as
this disease, as a killer, as a
murderer, that if I have HIV/
AIDS, I’m already dead. It
would be better if I kill myself.
It was introduced as a killer,
not as TB [which is treatable].”
The organisers have
purposefully chosen small
towns and villages in South
Africa for these dialogue
sessions, in the hope of
making meaningful impacts in
often neglected places.
“We wanted to choose areas
that are not saturated,” says
programme manager Sipho
“Paddy“ Nhlapo. “Who funds
projects here If you find five,
you will be extremely lucky.
“There’s only so much you
can do on television and on
radio, but our focus is to engage
communities directly. When we
engage them, we don’t come
to preach to them. We bring
the play that highlights issues
around HIV and AIDS, and
then communities engage and
say what their problems locally
are and what they think is the
best way of dealing with their
problems.”
Youth Keeping the
Promise
A mural is painted on a public
wall after each event. As the
team leaves Mhluzi for their
next small-town destination,
a local artist paints: “Put
yourself first; practise selfcontrol;
be …”
26 YOUTH IN DIALOGUE