Teenage pregnancy, crime, drugs, alcohol abuse, family breakdown and abuse are just some of the many challenges that the youth face on a daily basis. To assist with these challenges, LifeLine, in Pietermaritzburg created the "School Dialogue Programme" where learners’ are taught to take action and encouraged to come up with solutions to their daily struggles.
Currently, there are 1,600 learners, from 7 high schools in the Pietermaritzburg area that are participating in the School Dialogue Programmes. "We understand the challenges that the youth face and believe in supporting and creating safer communities that will encourage the youth to make a difference in their lives," says Elizabeth Maepa, Acting chairperson, FNB Fund.
The youth are encouraged to take active steps in addressing problems that will help them get their life back on track. Learners are involved in 15 dialogue sessions once a week and are divided into small groups of 20 in the various age categories. Learners participating in the School Dialogue Programme have benefited in many ways. For one, the teenage pregnancy rate in the schools where dialogues were conducted has decreased from 10 % to 1% in the last year. Through the programme, learners have taken action by involving local municipalities and the community at large to create forums that will help alleviate the current challenges and issues that they face.
Topics in the programme include self awareness; choices and decision making; rights and responsibilities; peer pressure; relationships, sexuality and pregnancy; drugs and alcohol; gender and HIV; definition of HIV and AIDS; HIV Transmission modes; dealing with opportunistic infections; dealing with stigma and discrimination; treatment and ART’s; positive living and vegetable gardens; and evaluation.
"We have come a long way since the 1976 riots, where the youth marched and raised their voices against apartheid. However, even though times have changed; many of our youth still face hardships and also live with an uncertainty of the future. We need to ensure that the youth are given the opportunity to learn and LifeLine is just one such beneficiary that is making a positive change," concludes Maepa.
SA - the Good News
Steuart has done some 500 talks on South Africa's progress since 1994 and SA's prospects for the future' 
