Blogger's Comments post South Africa

STATE OF YOUTH IN AFRICA AND HOW YOU CAN CHANGE IT TO BOOST DEVELOPMENT

By Blogger Fingani Mphande

Africa is a continent rich in culture and beautiful landscapes but it also harbours many serious issues. The mention of Africa elsewhere in the world outside Africa, the first thing that people think about are the problems that have hit the continent. Much of discussion on Africa is always on wars and famine, unemployment, HIV/AIDS, and so many more serious issues. Amidst all these problems mentioned above that the youth of Africa are entangled in one finds youth who are striving to survive to make a living and become a “somebody” in the society.

To begin with African youth have been overwhelmed by challenges in their education. This problem has cropped up from economic problems due to lack of school fees and governments failing to support their education which limits many children from going to school at the right age. Towards the end of the twentieth century beginning of the twenty first century some countries have resorted to free primary education in an attempt to give basic education to as many youth as possible. But is this a solution? Well what happens after the primary school, the youth will learn how to read and write, but is that enough for them to be self-sufficient and be productive enough to develop their respective countries? If we try to dig deeper into the source of these challenges in education for the African youth it goes back to the society where these youth have been brought up.

There are some cultures, which have discrimination against girls’ education in that they are of the opinion that if they educate a boy he will be able to support the family. But one thing we forget is that if you educate a girl you educate the nation. This opinion has led to some girls dropping out of school early because their minds have been brain washed with this idea or because their parents have decided that due to financial constraints they would rather educate their boy child than the girl child because she will get married anyway and her husband will take care of her. But is this true? What happens if that husband dies, that means we are back to where we started no sound economic status hence if they had children their future is doomed.

Another interesting aspect on this point of educating the youth is that for those youth who have managed to finish their education another problem comes in, unemployment. Scarce job opportunities have led to the youth to drift from Africa to Western countries to try and find “greener pastures” and a better life. This brain drain has also led to slow development of our lovely continent Africa. Also due to unemployment the youth have resorted to alcohol and drug abuse, prostitution, and vandalism, which have led to youth ending in prisons and untimely deaths in most instances.

Secondly HIV pandemic is another challenge facing our youth today. Youth between the ages of 15- 25 constitute a big percentage of those people living with HIV and AIDS, with more girls infected compared to boys. This is tragic because this has reduced the life expectancy of the youth drastically as such the youth will not be able to develop their countries. The major problem we are facing with HIV and AIDS among the youth is also due to lack of awareness. There are still so many taboos and things that the Government or societies pretend that the youth do not indulge in whilst deep down they know that the youth do that and they fail to address the problems. If we see teenage pregnancies in our societies that is an indication that there are even more youth who are engaged in unprotected sex risking themselves to contracting HIV and AIDS. How much awareness are we creating amongst our youth in Africa? Could awareness be one way of reducing the spread of this pandemic?

Talking about HIV and AIDS takes me to another huge problem child prostitution, which has come about due to poverty. Many young girls have been lured into prostitution by adults as a way to make money to meet their daily needs. The other sad part is that of children being abducted by soldiers in war torn countries at a young age to serve as soldiers as well as wives to soldiers. This is a very sad situation as these children lose out on education and psychologically they are affected. The worst part is that these young boys and girls also run the risk of contracting HIV. These youth who have been taken by soldiers, lose out on the development that is taking place in other areas around them, it’s a sad situation.

Are there solutions though to these problems, what are governments thinking, are there any plans to help the youth? What are the different countries doing to help and save the youth from these challenges? There are so many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are working hand in hand with governments to try and help the youth. Some of these NGOs are trying to work with the youth who have dropped out of school by giving them vocational training so that these young lives can start their own businesses and thereby be able to support themselves. Other institutions are also there to provide financial support in forms of scholarships to orphans and non-privileged youth to finish their education. There are also NGOs who are working hand in hand with youth who are infected with HIV and those who are also virus free to create awareness in primary school, secondary schools and tertiary institutions to sensitize them on how protect themselves from contracting the disease and how to live positively with HIV.

Rehabilitation of youth who were abducted to serve as child soldiers as well as wives for soldiers is important to help these young people to get back to the “normal” life.

Those organisations helping the youth in all aspects of life I say keep up the good work, I know it is not an easy task. Governments lets support our youths for they are the future of Africa, let us find ways of educating our youth and reducing unemployment amongst the youth so that we can develop Africa. Remember the future lies in the hands of our youth, and if we don’t develop these youths the future for our mother continent Africa is bleak.