On August 10 the Times told us that "The Family Life Association of Swaziland has made sure girls from St. Anne's High School know where to get their reproductive health services and HIV/AIDS information". Later we were told the students were educated on "teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV prevention". We also learned that these students were in Forms 1 and 2.
Girls just beginning their secondary school experience should not need reproductive health services. Form 1 and 2 students need a society that gives them the clear and consistent message to save sex for marriage and keep sex in marriage only. That simple behaviour would end almost all new HIV infections (over 90% of new HIV cases are contracted through heterosexual encounters), eliminate unwed pregnancies, and put young men and women on the road to strong character and lifelong marital happiness. If mothers and fathers, other adults, schools, and the media frequently and consistently encouraged young people to save sex for marriage and keep it in marriage only, and if these adults provided a good example of that behaviour, this would build strong individuals, strong marriages, strong families, and a strong nation.
Rudy Poglitsh
rpoglitsh@live.com
more letters at http://letterstotheTOS.blogspot.com
