Urban Unrest

10 March 2007 | World | Ernesto Aguilar

MOZAMBIQUE: Young people’s radio show breaks down taboos

MAPUTO (IRIN) - Subjects like HIV/AIDS and child trafficking, usually considered taboo in Mozambican society, are being openly discussed by the teenage presenters of radio and television programmes for young people.

Radio Mozambique presenter Amelia Maisha Tumgine, 13, is one of several presenters using the airwaves to talk frankly with their peers about subjects that matter to them but are often considered off-limits by parents.

“I don’t feel uncomfortable anymore talking about difficult subjects like HIV - it is no longer an adults’ problem, as it also affects children. If the issue is only approached by adults, then kids will continue to believe that it is something they do not have to deal with,” she said.

According to UNAIDS, 16.1 percent of people aged between and 15 and 49 are infected with HIV. Although 33 percent of males and 20 percent of females aged between 15 and 24 know to prevent transmission of the virus, statistics indicate that only 6 percent of sexually active girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are having protected sex.

Tumgine’s colleague at Radio Mozambique, Larsen Msanjate, 17, who has worked on child-to-child radio shows for four years and has had his own slot for the past year, sees the programmes as a way of helping children understand not only childhood problems but also the challenges that come with adulthood.

FULL ARTICLE AT http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70052

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