By Teen Girls Program Coordinator | Teen Girls Program Coordinator
Shanti’s Teen Girls Workshops: Arming Young Women with Knowledge through Empowerment
As the success of the Women’s March on Sunday permeates through women's causes around the world, we at Shanti find renewed purpose in running our Teen Girls Workshop.
As the government announced it “discourages the teaching of sexual education in schools saying that there are other more appropriate avenues for teaching children about matters of sex and sexuality.” The Ministry of Gender released a statement that it will ban sexuality education at schools because it would conflict cultural values.
Young people in Uganda have and continue to show their clear disapproval of this announcement. At the Intergenerational Dialogue (IGD) on sexual health in Kampala in November, 3,000 youths expressed their discontent. The IGD was organized by Rutgers’ partner Reaching A Hand Uganda (RAHU), a youth-led organization that aims to improve the sexual health and rights of young people.
This makes the topics covered in the weeklong workshop co-run by Shanti’s Nutritionist Rita even more invaluable to the girls being educated. Some of these topics include nutrition, healthy living, hygiene, healthy relationships, STI and HIV education, rape, safe sex, and reproduction. Of particular relevance and vital importance to the girls is safe sex and available contraceptive methods.
Early marriage is the leading cause of teenage pregnancy in Uganda with over 90 percent of the teenage pregnancies being among girls who are married before the age of 18, according to the Guttmacher Institute report. Almost half of Ugandan girls are married by the age of 18 and according to the 2011 Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS), 24 percent of female teenagers are either pregnant or have given birth already.
In Shanti’s effort and intention to empower the young women of Uganda, we believe in starting with a base of knowledge. As minister of Health for General Duties, Sarah Opendi says “We can’t afford to pretend and shy away. There is already a big problem. Rather than to blame us on moral grounds, people should come out and support [their sisters, daughters, mothers, and fellow Ugandans]. We can’t continue with the worrying teenage pregnancy rates, among the highest in the world.”
Shanti’s Teen Girls Workshop aims to arm young without with the knowledge to make safe choices and create opportunities for themselves.
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