30 Mar 2014

She is a social butterfly, every girl in town wants to be just like her and men want to be associated with her, although every man she encounters depletes her valuable possession, innocence and purity. 

She is an epitome of a modern young beautiful girl; a lost soul. It is alarming how inter-generational relationships are on the rise in Botswana, for the girl child shameless names like Le 14 is attached to them by a man twice or thrice her age (a sugar daddy). 

Another trend that is of great concern, the boy child named Ben 10 by someone old enough to be their mother, a cougar, or commonly known as sugar mummy.  The disease of inter-generational relationships is raving many young people and Botswana is not an exception. 

Shocking statistics reveal that this phenomenon has increased by 28 per cent according to a study of Behavioural Relationships conducted at the University of Botswana. 

It states that for every year in terms of age difference, it is five times that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is increased. For her part, Shantell De’ Klerk (not real name), an attractive good looking 19-year-old second year student at the university, has taken the sugar daddy syndrome to greater heights. 

She pleases every man she can get her paws on. The bigger the wallet the better her life gets. Her relationships never last and she does not know the meaning of love, it is because she grew up a destitute and an orphan.

Recognising her beauty by older men she needed love, a father, a mother to love her, but she feeds her body and soul to the shameless sugar daddies.

“I personally do not have a problem with dating an older guy, he gives me everything I want and it is not about love, but my material needs and social status, so I give him what he wants and he too gives me all a girl could dream of,” she says.

For many girls like her, they should be thankful for the Young 1ove launch, hosted by the University of Botswana on March 22. It brought all stakeholders involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS with the theme: Intergenerational relationships and the dangers associated with it. 

The mastermind of the initiative is Mr Noam Angrist who is a scholar from the United States of America.

The presence of local artists, permanent secretaries from ministries of education and skills development, health and that of youth sport and culture, Barclays Bank and the youth who came in numbers to witness the induction of the Young 1ove non-governmental organisation. 

Their mandate is to educate the youth and empower them with life changing decisions through embarking on transforming programmes.

Speaking at the event, Professor Nkobi Pansiri chairperson of Botswana Educational Research Association (BERA) stated that their partnership with Young 1ove brings in a new dimension of research.

He further said because it was youth driven, focusing on research that was evidence-based and that works, and thirdly it brings in a new meaning to HIV/AIDS education.

The guest of honour and motivational speaker, head of corporate affairs at Standard Chartered Bank, Ms Tumi Ramdsen graced the event with words of wisdom and inspiration to the youth. 

She said there were many reasons on engaging on inter-generational relationships, but she focused on seeking validation.

Ms Ramdsen stated that children who grow up in difficult circumstances, like a single parent household, tend to seek validation from older people as they lack the love and attention they should have been given as children.

“In every child is an emotional tank wanting to be filled with love, when a child really feels loved, he/she will develop normally, but when the love tank is empty the child will misbehave,” she said.

She urged the youth to fill those love tanks themselves by building their own self-esteem, having confidence, nurturing their talents and up shelling one self. She said a sense of self-worth can be increased through sports or something they are great at.

Young 1ove will induct the initiative in all senior secondary schools around the country, and it hopes to spread the message of HIV/AIDS to at least 6 000 students. Ends