Youth Day 2009

Youth Day in South Africa
Tuesday June 16, 2009
Last June, together with my sister Aurora, her husband Verne and my brother Norris, we made the trip of a lifetime to a safari in Kruger National Park and then the mouth-opening scenic drive back to Johannesburg. At one stop, the 'Potholes' we ran into this group of students whose amazement at the mountains and waterfalls were just as big as ours. They were gracious and posed for a picture. I thought of them today, Youth Day in South Africa. It marks 33 years since Hector Peterson was killed as he and thousands of students took to the streets to fight the low level Bantu education they were forced to endure. My family visited the memorial that marks that fateful and history making day. As usual, where I live in the town of Fish Hoek, you would not know why but I have enjoyed listening to the speeches from leaders to the youth. One of them was given by the controversial leader of the African National Congress but something he said caught my ear. He appealed to the youth to 'stop sleeping around' and have one partner and protected sex. Sleeping around he said is equal to suicide. This is very important as studies show multiple partners is one of the biggest causes of HIV here. Into a glimmer of good news that HIV testing and condom use is up and so new infections among teens is down are terrible realities that multiple partners and "sugar daddies" who prey on young girls is up. We have a long way to go and Malema's call should be urgently heeded by the young people. It should be part of the solution offered in this titanic struggle.