Om Swastyastiastu
The honourable judges of English speech contest,
The teachers, and all of the participants of English Speech contest
Thank you for the time given to me to deliver a speech entitle SEX EDUCATION
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Teenagers are the most important part of the growth of the country. They are the new generation. However there are many teenagers have been depraved. They run to drugs, commit suicide free sex, drink alcohol, smoking, etc. Those are spreading in teenagers’ life. And the most popular problem is free sex. Many teenagers think that sex before married is proper. We know that it is very bad for them. There are many bad effect of free sex. Such as, we can suffer from HIV/AIDS and then the pregnancy for the girls. It will damage their future.
Teenagers must be given sex education especially at school. The need of comprehension about human sexuality in teenagers’ life must be fulfilled. They must know about free sex life and the sex crime that often happened. They must aware about responsibility of their self. They should get much information about sexuality rightly for them. The information can be given by sex education at school. The teachers can describe sex for the students in order that the teenagers will avoid sex before married.
School is good mediator in giving sex education for the teenagers. School has good condusif situation. School and the teachers are the second circle after the family. It will be better if the teachers hold an event like seminar with a doctor as the speaker. In order that the teenagers can get sex education deeply and give them the aim of sexual activity correctly. With sex education, the teenagers will be careful in doing something about sex. Although they know about how to avoid the pregnancy, put virginity is very important for the woman. Sex before married just makes us fall into a trap. There are some aims of sex education for the teenagers, which they can understand that sexuality as the part of life. They also know about the consequences of un-responsible sex activity.
So, sex education is very needed for the teenagers. Starting now, sex education must be given to them. And for sure, the teenagers that fall into free sex. Drugs, alcohol, etc just a few part of many teenagers that want to study hard, and avoiding free sex.
Finally, I would like to convoy my highest appreciation. And heart felt thanks to the distinguished participants and the speakers of English speech contest today. Thank you for your kind attention, and
Thank you.
Om Santhi Santhi Santhi Om.
HIV/AIDS has been with us for about two decades, but it remains a problem whose solution continues to elude us all. We are making some progress in understanding this challenge, but we still have a long way to go in containing its spread.
Although people from all walks of life are affected, AIDS is hitting hard at the most vulnerable sections of our society. It is the poor, the illiterate, the marginalised, the women and the children who bear most of the burden of the HIV epidemic.
The face of HIV/AIDS in South Africa has become more complex over the past 10 years. We are no longer only dealing with information and awareness, but with people that are faced with the reality of living with the disease. The vast majority of them are undiagnosed. They do not know their HIV status. Some of them are already falling ill but they do not know that their illnesses are related to HIV/AIDS. And even if they do know or suspect, they are reluctant to come out and talk about their condition.
I stand before you today to further consolidate our partnership in responding to this major challenge particularly the stigma that continue to be associated with it. We seek your partnership because we know that every South African citizen, every leader, bishop or priest has a special and unique role to play in combating HIV infection and caring for those living with HIV/AIDS.
The church has always played a role of caring for those who are weak and in need of support. But you have been able to initiate programmes that really make a difference in the lives of those in need of care particularly the children. The care that you have given has ot been limited only to the message of hope and spiritual well-being. I am convinced that the church can play a major role in fighting the stigma that is associated with HIV/AIDS and encourage openness and positive living amongst those who are infected and affected.
To ensure a common direction in the call for partnerships, we initiated the development of the Five Year Strategic Plan for South Africa, in 2000 in collaboration with all the key stakeholders, including the faith-based sector. It is a broad national strategic plan designed to guide the country’s response to HIV/AIDS. The plan outline four priority areas, which are: (1) Prevention, (2) Treatment, Care and Support, (3) Research, Monitoring and Surveillance and (4) Human Rights.
There can be no doubt that the faith based community has a central role to play in the implementation of this plan.
There are numerous examples of how the faith sector is responding or can respond to this challenge. I will like to raise for discussion at least four key roles that Faith-based organisations and individual members of those organisations can play in responding to HIV/AIDS.
With regard to Education, we can:
Identify resources and models for prevention education
Strengthen HIV/AIDS prevention through family enrichment
Enhance HIV/AIDS prevention through youth programmes – building a solid foundation concerning sexuality, responsible adulthood and marriage, appreciating the youth and breaking the silence about sex.
On Advocacy, we can:
Campaign against discrimination
Work together with government in achieving appropriate levels of cost-effective health care, especially home based care
Seek means to protect interests of particularly women and children
On Worship, we can
Establish an annual National Day of Prayer and Healing for all persons affected by the epidemic
Establish an interfaith Day of Prayer and Healing Service, we can
Provide care which involves encouraging and supporting those who are infected and affected
Promote ‘Family fostering’ for those who have lost their parents or guardians
Take part in providing home care which may include:
Home visits for prayer and scripture reading
Meeting physical needs for food, clothing, medical attention
Assistance in planning for the future of the family particularly children
Support for orphaned children
Assisting with basic household activities such as shopping, cleaning the house or washing clothes
At the All Africa Church and AIDS Consultation which was held in Kampala in April 1994 a “Call to Action” was developed and signed. Similarly, “A commitment on HIV/AIDS by people of faith”, was signed in Washington that same year. I will like to quote at least one section of this statement of commitment, and I quote:
“We are called by God to affirm a life of hope and healing in the midst of HIV/AIDS. Our traditions call us to embody and proclaim hope, and to celebrate life and healing in the midst of suffering.”
We therefore need to send a positive message about HIV/AIDS. We need to tell people that just because you are HIV positive today, it does not mean you will get AIDS tomorrow and die. Co-factors such as poverty, high levels of mainly childhood malnutrition, vitamin A and iodine deficiency as well as lack of other micronutrients have a major impact on how one progress to full-blown AIDS.
We have to advise those infected and affected by HIV that by eating nutritious food, managing their stress, treating any infection promptly including sexually transmitted infections and using condoms, they can live longer and lead a healthy and productive life for many years.
We need to use this opportunity to declare our response to AIDS:
We are called to love
We are called to be compassionate and care
We should commit ourselves to speaking publicly and promote HIV/AIDS prevention and ABC messages
We should promote and provide care for those who are infected and affected
We should fight the sins of discrimination and stigma
We should work together with other sectors of society to seek ways of eliminating poverty
I strongly believe that if we can leave this conference with a strong re-affirmation as the faith based leaders of this country, we will be able to provide hope for the faith community and for society as a whole: That in the spirit of love, compassion and care, through collective efforts to confront and to challenge discrimination and to empower our respective believers, we can overcome many of the challenges posed to us by HIV/AIDS.
Thank you.
Om Santhi Santhi Santhi Om.
