| SAPLER Population Trust | |
| Splendidly Alive People Within Limited Environmental Resources | |
Part X: The Youth
Most South Africans are young. On the one hand this is good, since the educated youth are interested in solving the population problem and don't see it in any way as "sensitive".
On the other hand we have the breakdown of old values, both traditional tribal values and Christian values, and this is causing what has been called "an epidemic" of teenage pregnancy.
The answers to this are polarised: at one end we have those who want to go back to conservative attitudes - and the organization, "True Love Waits" is having success with this.
On the other hand there is the concept of "Informed Choice" - that the best thing to do is to see that teenagers know all the facts, so that they can then make their own decisions.
The breakdown of the population according to the 1991 census was:
0-14 yrs 14 million
15-64 yrs 22 million
65+ yrs 1,6 million
The total population was thought to be 37 million.
The population before the election was thought to have grown to 40 million, but as a result of the numbers who voted in the election the total figure is now given as 42 million.
To get these figures there must be well over one million births per year, and close to one million entering the fertile age of 14.
All family planning statistics which give teenage attendances show this figure as increasing every year. But since the size of the population entering the teenage years is not given we do not know what to conclude from this.
The other variable is the number of teenagers becoming sexually active, which is said to be growing alarmingly.
With the drop in the money available to the Transvaal family planning department decreasing annually (in real terms) a number of youth clinics have had to close down.
There is still a problem in adult clinics with some sisters not wanting to give teenagers contraception, or being hostile and moralistic towards them.
Medunsa (The Medical University of South Africa) holds a teenage clinic every Saturday. This is very popular and the teenagers who use it are said to be consistent and regular clients. They age from 16 to 19, and 50 to 60 come every Saturday.
These teenagers are all given the Nuristerate injection. This is because they tend to worry about Depo Provera as it sometimes delays pregnancy after you have stopped using it.
They are not examined for STDs, but there are talks given on the subject.
Zanele Mfono says she approves of the simplicity of this outreach because it enables more teenagers to be seen. She is the youth director at the PDP and has been talking to the youth for many years.
She is extremely worried about the lack of provision in many areas. She believes more could be done to reach the youth who attend youth clubs, many of whom are not in school. She feels these clubs need scientifically trained young people who can put across the facts.
Far more young men come to the main cities than young girls, which is a problem for stable relationships. There is also the problem that the younger teenagers not only do not form stable relationships but also are impetuous, even if they have started using condoms.
Workers in this area try their best to encourage abstinence, but failing that they provide contraception without moralising.
Reasons for Lack of Condom Use Among High School StudentsAbstract from an article in the SA Medical Journal of August 1992 by S.S. Abdool Karim, Q. Abdool Karim, E. Preston-Whyte, N. Sankar.
This exploratory qualitative study was undertaken to identify barriers to condom use among high school students in Natal.
Phase 1, a group discussion, with 50 high school students of all races from 10 schools, revealed that 34% were sexually active, 47% of these had used a condom at least once, but none had used condoms in every sexual encounter.
Phase 2 comprised 36 focus group discussions involving about 650 black high school students. These discussions confirmed the finding of phase 1 that high school students were not using condoms to any significant degree.
In their opinion, condoms limited sexual pleasure, indicated a lack of trust in the partner's faithfulness, challenged the male ego, and were associated with sexually transmitted diseases. Their contraceptive properties were viewed with suspicion and considered undesirable by those teenagers who wished to prove their fertility.
In addition, condom use was not sufficiently well understood and condoms were not accessible or available when required.
We recommend that condom promotion strategies should include an adequate explanation of how condoms work and detailed information on their local availability.
They should be available at a government-subsidised price through more accessible outlets; popular figures and recognised leaders should be encouraged to support anti-AIDS campaigns and condom use, particularly in the public media.
This is an organization started by the Southern Baptist church in America. The organization is now inter-denominational.
"True Love Waits" started its South African outreach in September 1994. By November, 7 000 young people from all races, walks of life and religions had signed the TLW pledge of sexual abstinence before marriage.
By March 1995 they had collected 13 000 signatures.
The pledge states: "Believing that true love waits, I make a pledge to God, myself, my family and my future spouse, to be sexually pure until marriage, by the grace of God".
The organization has found a strong response from young people who were being pressurised by peers to think that there was something wrong with them if they did not start early and promiscuous sex.
"True Love Waits"
Christians for Truth
Suite 1507
320 West Street
4001 Durban RSA
Tel. (031) 305-8380
Fax: (031) 305-8381
PRESS RELEASE SENT ON September 2, 1994
The New Counter - Revolution - Viginity
Today the TRUE LOVE WAITS pledge was signed by 534 resolute teenagers as CTF's campaign in South Africa took off with a flying start. The pledge, written in various languages, states: "Believing that true love waits, I make a pledge to God. myself, my family and my future spouse, to be sexually pure until marriage, by the grace of God".
Bumper sticker philosophies such as, 'Virginity is a disease which can be cured", are being rejected by vocal virgins all over the world. The "loose-is-cool" rebel may soon find little support for his bawdy jokes as a new outlook on virginity floods the young generation.
Intimidation and peer pressure have created the impression that virginity Is a joke of the Madonna-type lyrics; however, the TRUE LOVE WAITS campaign seems to Indicate that esteem for sexual purity until marriage Is revolutionising teenage thought.
TRUE LOVE WAITS was started recently by Richard Ross of the Southern Baptist Church in the USA. Troubled by two school girls' statement. "You have no idea how stupid we feel being the only virgins in Junior High" . Ross sought to enable young people to know just how many of their peers are chaste.
The project took off like wild-fire. From the USA, the campaign was promoted with tremendous success by Christians for Truth (CFI') In the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and France, as well as by many churches and para-church organisations world-wide. To date, hundreds of thousands of young men and women have vowed to remain unsullied for their marriage partners.
A group of teenagers from CFT South Africa are eager to promote the TRUE LOVE WAITS campaign amongst friends, families, schools and churches. They aim to collect at least 100.000 TRUE LOVE WAITS pledges within a year.CFT wishes to use these to help teenagers and young adults who are pressurised by the everyone-thinks-promiscuity,-is-normal" misconception. Messages mill also be sent to media and government to voice the view of South Africa's youth above the din of those who scoff at abstinence.
Even Health Departments admit that this is the answer everyone has been waiting for - the solution to AIDS and STDs. Chastity - not the condom - mill protect us. So, until marriage, UP WITH VIRGINITY!
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Stanley Seiti or Dorothy Newlands
Kate is now, in February 1995, 23 years old and Sam is 21.
I have known Sam since he was 2 years old, when his mother came to work for me. His mother, Peddie, had an alcohol problem which she later recovered from with the help of SANCA. Sam's father was already out of the picture when I met Peddie.
Peddie never had more children because she was unable to. She never used contraceptives.
Sam lived with his grandmother in Daveyton. I gave him books every Christmas, and he would visit me once a year. He did well in primary school.
When he reached secondary school there was serious violence so Peddie sent him away to a boarding school in Pietersburg. After a while there was trouble there too, so he came back to Johannesburg.
He went to school in Daveyton, but his school life was often disrupted. He was not political and at 13 he said he wanted to be a policeman.
By the time he was about 17, his schooling had broken down completely. At this time he started joining in marches. I suggested he write a diary to keep his English going and this he did, describing one of these marches in one of his entries.
I found a private school for Sam, but he did not do well there, getting a poor report and an account of many absences.
Thinking he needed a more grown-up environment I sent him to a college in Braamfontein, but this too he only attended sporadically.
Peddie now got tough with him - refused to give him any money. Sam now started living part of the time with Peddie and her partner, Josiah, in Alex, where Peddie has a flat. He did a job for a while with Lever Brothers.
Peddie reported to me that he did not stay out late at night when he was at the flat with her and Josiah. They talked to him about sex and STDs.
One day Sam told Peddie that he had sores on his penis, and Peddie told me. I sent him to my friendly and tolerant doctor. He was cured of this ailment and never had another.
Neither Peddie nor I thought it was an STD. As far as we knew, Sam had never had a girlfriend.
In 1993 when Sam was 19 he started attending a school in Alex with real enthusiasm and persistence. He came top of the class.
This was the year in which he conceived his second child.
He now confessed to Peddie that his first child was two years old and living with his girlfriend, Katy, who still lived at home. Katy had passed Matric.
Peddie was very angry with him and at this point did not meet Katy or her grandson.
Last year she told me about this first child. Katy and the child came to live with her and Sam continued working hard at school.
When I visited Peddie one day I found a young baby lying on the bed - Katy's second child.
Sam wrote Matric last November and passed all subjects but one - history, which he will re-write.
It seems probable that my doctor did tell Sam that he had an STD and that he should stick to one partner. This doctor has now left Jhb so I can't ask him whether he stressed the other aspect of the situation - pregnancy.
When I cross-questioned Sam he said that Katy went on the pill, but was so preoccupied with the stress of the new baby that she must have forgotten sometimes.
Katy is now on Depo and wants to be sterilised. She has wanted to be sterilised for some months but no one in Alex has helped her with this move.
Kate and Sam came to see me. They said they were both sure about the sterilisation. I was dubious. Katy seems so young for it at 23. I asked her, "What if something happened to Sam or the children?"
She had no answer to this so I said: "Well you can always adopt an AIDS orphan." We started to talk about AIDS and they asked me where they could be tested. I gave them transport money and they went straight to Hillbrow to the AIDS clinic. They have not yet had the results.
After my last phone call to Pohl de Villiers I though I was foolish to hold back about Katy's sterilisation. The only chance she and Sam have of lifting themselves out of poverty is if they don't have another child.
Sam has been talking to groups of young people in Alex about all these issues. He said there was no instruction at school. He said the young people from the country got teased by the town teenagers for not being sexually active, and that this was pushing them into it.
Sam and Kate are currently looking for jobs. I will arrange for a sterilisation for Katy through Steriplan and take her there myself.
It has been pointed out to me that I ought to have brought up the option of Sam having a vasectomy. I shall do so the next time I see them. However, the initiative for having a steri has come from Katy.
April, 1995. Steriplan has told me that Katy must have a cervical smear before she can be sterilised. The nurse at my local clinic says that she has been told to cut down on cervical smears, but that Katy's wish for a steri would count as a valid reason.
Cervical smears were originally introduced as a method of picking up the early signs of cervical cancer. However, they do also indicate most STDs.
A cervical smear does not show whether a woman is HIV positive. But the presence of STDs would suggest that a woman should also have the blood test for AIDS.
Sam's test for HIV was negative.