UNEMPLOYMENT CAUSE TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND PROSTITUTION IN THE COMMUNITY OF SNAKE PARK SINCE THE YEAR 2000
Sicelo Sithole
Sicelo Sithole
Snake Park
City of Johannesburg
Gauteng Province
UNEMPLOYMENT CAUSE TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND PROSTITUTION IN THE COMMUNITY OF SNAKE PARK SINCE THE YEAR 2000
An age old adage that says “it takes a village to raise a child”, seems to have lost relevance in our society nowadays. Young women now believe that everything in life should be provided for by the male partner, and happiness comes along with sex. We see young girls growing with the hope of becoming someone prominent in the future, but they lack guidance and mentorship from our elderly mothers and grannies. That in itself is an antithesis of our values as Africans.
It takes a mother to nurture a girl child, to build her confidence and self esteem and to create a healthy environment for her. Teaching her self respect and to respect others and especially the elders. In our communities we witness young girls always in taverns, they see taverns as their workplace where they can solicit their business and also as a means of relieving stress. They believe these places to be where they can source income to survive, for them is having fun while men take advantage of them. They fall victims of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies as a result, without any love, passion or emotional attachment because that is only transactional sex.
Our young women don’t have strong support structures to help them to deal with peer pressure from friends and challenges of adolescent stage. How they should behave as young women and how to approach matters of sexual relations. Issues of STIs are high, we need to educate them to have self control and respect life and prepare them for the future.
Though one of my interactions, I came across one young lady by the name of Boitumelo Kgosimang, she alluded that:” in Snake Park we don’t have sports and recreational facilities for young women”. Sporting codes such as netball, girl’s soccer and volleyball. We don’t even have an art center to support them with acting, presenting and beauty models to showcase their work and talent.
As the youth of Snake Park, we are affected by the things that destroy our sister’s future, we also need brave women in our community to lead our society tomorrow. As young people we need proper sports facilities to active and build strong minds and discover who we are. Through sports and skills development programs they will enjoy, learn and get motivated without taking advantage of them.
Let’s empower our women to make strong mothers in the future.
