Global Institute for Family Integrity, GIFI Buea branch, has educated close to 50 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 on ways to knock-out teenage pregnancies in the society.

This was the goal of a workshop organised on June 30 in Mile 16, Buea, under the theme: Teenage Pregnancy Prevention; Causes, Effects and Prevention.

According to the Project Coordinator, MagdalineNgwasiri, the workshop was motivated by the fact that many young people today are ignorantly becoming victims of teenage pregnancy. She explained that, Mile 16 was the first choice of such a workshop, because,they realised that the phenomenon is quite rampant in the area.

“We are trying to make them understand the dos and don’ts in order to avoid teenage pregnancy. We have come up with a number of activities. After this sensitisation stage, we would proceed with focus group discussions. It would not only end at Mile 16, it would move on to other neighbourhoods in Buea,” Ngwasiri averred, adding that, the campaign would not only end in Buea, but would reach out to other towns in Cameroon and even beyond, because GIFI has international partners both within and without Africa.

The Chief Executive Officer, CEO of GIFI, Felix Forzeh, on his part, said it is the organisaton’s role to deal with issues plaguing the communities, since it is highly concerned with social issues, especially the family. He said he was quite impressed with the turnout at the seminar which, to him, already indicates success.

“A lot of hidden things have been unveiled here to the young people. I am convinced that, if they try to assimilate this truth, our desired goals would be realised,” he remarked.

Having been drilled on the causes, effects and preventive methods of teenage pregnancy, through power point projections, some of the young people observed that, despite causes like peer pressure, media influence, poverty, competition, among others, some parents, to some extent, help in the promotion of the phenomenon through failure to give them sex education. To 17-year-old HonorineAjang, one of the participants, she is going to do all it takes to ensure that neither her nor her friends or siblings fall prey to the vice.

“I am going to forget about the issue of having a boy friend, as well as advise those that I can, especially my peers to do same,” she promised. After observing and listening to the discussions at the workshop, one of the few parents who attended it congratulated GIFI for such a timely initiative. He said; “What I have seen and heard here is what is happening in our communities. Girls and boys alike, get into early sex and drug which have a negative impact on their lives. Let’s get more of such seminars. Thank you, GIFI, for this educative workshop for our children.”

At the end, the participants expressed their gratitude to GIFI, while promising to effectively put into practice and preach the ‘good news’ to their generation.