Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times - Sunday, 21 December, 2003
Kenyans are warm and compassionate people - qualities many of us lack. They embrace you with a smile and hold your hand when you talk. This is Lebo Mofokeng's fondest memory of Kenya.
Young people are also in the forefront of the struggle against HIV/Aids in that country.
More and more of them are visiting voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) centres to learn their HIV status and how they could protect themselves.
But 14-year-olds do not have easy access to VCT centres - unlike in South Africa, where they can visit such centres without consent from their parents or guardians. At the end of the conference, participants felt that if the youth were old enough to ask for VCT, they were old enough to be tested.
With a less developed infrastructure and not much in the way of media campaigns (nothing on the scale of loveLife, for instance), Kenyans' dedication to the fight against HIV/Aids is admirable.
For the rest, young Kenyans are very much like young South Africans - they love partying and going to nightclubs. Also, faced by a high rate of unemployment, many of them work as volunteers for non-governmental organisations fighting HIV/Aids.
But without encouragement to practise responsible sexual behaviour, many of them spend their time in clubs teeming with casual sex and booze.
It is good to learn from other people's experiences. As young people we need to look out for each other.
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