Youth in Dialogue - Nelson Mandela Foundation

Voices From The Community
case
study:
Mhluzi
Social Worker
Phindile Mahungela is a
loveLife volunteer who is
close to the end of a year-long
contract with the organisation.
She said she had learnt a lot
about “how to take care of
yourself” but it had been a
challenge.
Some of the six high schools
in the area don’t allow loveLife
to come and work with the
learners and some parents
don’t want their children to
go to the loveLife centre. The
organisation offers drama,
Youth in the Mhluzi community.
debates, sports and recreation
and has a life orientation
booklet.
Department of Health
Margaret Skosana, who works
in the municipal Department
of Health, attended the
dialogue because “it’s our
children – we are listening to
them.”
She said the department’s
HIV/AIDS message
emphasised abstinence and
morality more than condom
use. “We are trying to
discourage them from being
involved in sex.”
It’s important to make sure
children have information
about HIV/AIDS when they
are very young, she said,
because later they are under
peer pressure.
Near the mines, young girls
wait in the veld to prostitute
themselves. She said this is
because they don’t have jobs or
food. They sometimes do it “on
account”, presenting clients
with a bill at the end of the
month. The men say that the
money they spend on this sex
is not from their salaries but
extra income from gambling or
giving people lifts.
She said the local clinics
offer incentives such as gifts
of cooler boxes to encourage
young people to come for
counselling and testing. They
offer condoms, STI treatment
and information, and prepare
patients for ARVs if their CD4
38 YOUTH IN DIALOGUE