• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
  Vo l.1 5  No.6  June  2 0 0 9
The window period
HIV can be transmitted during the window period.
HIV basics
Girls & boys
 
is a football star who plays for Barcelona. He is from Cameroon. In the previousseason
Eto'o
performed poorly. He was almost expelled from his club.
.
During the UEFA championsleague final match betweenManchester United and Barcelonaon 26 May,
Eto’o
scored the first goal.
 Hi there, learn from Eto'o. You maynot have performed well last term.You have this term to work hard. Set  your record right.c
rv t f st
Ne w Quiz
G 
 fted Hands
by 
Benarson
is an inspiring book about a poor boy  who grew up in a ghetto with his brother and mother.In secondary school, he performed poorly andthought he would fail in life. But his mother limitedhis television watching and playtime and told him toread two books a week. He quickly improved. "It wast this moment that I realised that I wasn't stupid", hesays. This boy overcame many challenges to become famous neuro-surgeon, a doctor who operates onthe brains of children.
 Win
Gifted Hands
Send
us your true stories of what your parents/ guardians have done and are doing to look after the family and educate you. Write to PO Box 22366 K'la.
PINGIRE SS, SOROTI,IS
STRAIGHT TALK 
SJUNE STARCHOL

but their letters get to
Straight Talk 
early. Wherever youre, write to
Straight Talk 
, PO Box, 22366, Kampala.
Tobacco has 200 poisons.
ese amage te unause heart attacks andancer, and reduce theblood's ability to carry xygen around the bod
 
NO TOBACCO
Grace Nambi and KatoKaligo of Progessive SSMukono. Girls are notinferior. All of societywins when girls are alsohelped to do well.
This created the false belief thatboys are more intelligent thanirls. Today we know this is notrue. If given equal chances, girlsand boys perform equally well.irls and boys are created withqual brains to think and succeed.So why are girls performingoorly in school? In 2008 half of all the girls either failed or gotiv 4 in their O Level exam. In 19ural districts, no girls passed indivision one. Boys did far better.n the February 
Straight Talk
 weasked you: "what is disturbingirls?" Over 137 of you from 32schools wrote in. Thanks you somuch. We value your views.
 You all
 WIN
caps.
Quiz:
Haveever smoked? Tellstory about smokiWhy did you starthappened?
 
Straight Talk, June 2009
2
 Your letters showthat many girls faceit rough at home,school and in thecommunity. It takesa lot of their energy  just to cope withthe challenges thatpush them back.Menstrual periods
Twenty-two Straight Talkersaid that girls miss school dueto menstruation.
G Amooti,Blessed Mother Theresa College, Masindi
says:
 Dirty toilets and lack of pads for menstruation force someirls to be absent from school."
An official from Ministry
F
or many years, results at almostevery level show that only about two girls featureamong the best tenstudents in academicperformance. Girls havereally tough issues todeal with as
teacherOmara Ronald
of Crane High Schoolexplains:
"Boys have less bodily or biological disturbances than girls,and so they have more time for books. Girls, on the other hand,must deal with monthly periods that in some cases disorganize them for up to four days.
Girls have
hard times:
f Education and Sports,Grace Ntete, says this is a bigproblem that leads some girlsto give up on school.
Negative teachers
 If the boys perform better thanirls, some teachers tell girls toet married.
 Atenya E, S3,Pingire SS, Soroti.
his is wrong! Teachers shouldncourage and not discouragestudents.
Unsupportive parents
 wenty-eight of you said somearents do not invest in girls'education.
They fail to provideheir daughters with books,lothes, shoes, pocket money.irls feel bad and are left to get thesehings from men who demand for  sex. Some parents first pay school fees for boys. Girls are sent backhome and miss lessons.
O Leopards, Amolatar SS
his is sad. Girls and boys needqual support in education. Talk tosomeone if your parents want youto leave school to make way foryour brother.
Wrong cultural beliefs
Some people say that women arehe weaker sex."
 Wekwanya F, StJohn’s College Magale
Girls, do not internalise thisharmful belief. Boys and girls aredifferent but neither is weakerthan the other.
 WINA NOVEL
WITHSTRAIGHT TALK 
ne Rukundo with her prize, the novel Thelour Purple.
She is doing Physics, Chemistry, Biology andthematics at Trinity College Nabbingo. Asked what she wouldif she were the Minister of Education and Sports, she said:
ould implement programs to help girl discover and use their ilities.W need to be empowered with life skills to work against llenges that push us back."
dam Wabwemi of Pimb, Wakiso
also won
The Colour  ple
and a cap. He saus: "
 Iork hake a difference in my life
."
Other Colour Purplewinners:
Esther Atenya 
 fromgire SS, Soroti and
Levis Onzik 
opi SS, Moyo.
The Colour Purple
iut of girl born into a life of poverperpetual rape. She overcomest and discovers peace and happi
n Gifted Hands
. See page 1
.
 
 In addition, males keep pesteringgirls for relationships.oreover, society places veryigh expectations on girlsn terms of how they speak,hat they do and even thelaces they visit. This addsore pressure on them, whilehe boys are left to do as theylease. In spite of all their troubles,
 
girls have challenged boys at schooland in various fields.Their failure to compete with boysis largely due to biological, physicaland social pressures that distract hem from their goals."
So give thema
 break 
 
!
Men disturbgirls on theirway to school.This consumestheir time.NanonoJosephine,Mende KalemaMemorial SS,Kampala
M any  es tow ar dssc ienc es. W hen g ov er nment made them c ompulsor y ,g ir ls per f or med poor ly ." 
K issa  Ly d ia , St  J ohn’s C olleg e Ma g a le, Mba le. 
hir ty  f our  of  y ou shar ed Ly dia's v iew . But 
Dr  A ng elina  K a k ooz a ,
 a lec tur er  at M ak er er e Sc hool of  M edic ine.say s:"G ir ls, y ou ar e not poor  at sc ienc es andmath. Sc ienc es ar e simple. Chang e y our  attitudes." 
Dr  Sophy  Musa na  of  t he N a t iona l A g r ic ult ur a l Resea r c h Or g a nisa t ion,
say s: " A t univ er sity ,plant br eeding  and g enetic s w as believ ed to be hehar dest c our se but I took  it on. I believ ed in my self . I g r ew  up w ith my  tw o elder  br other s, w ho also did sc ienc es. W hen Ir eac hed O-lev el, they  g av e e their  notes, enc our ag ed and helped me." 
Boy s, suppor t  y our  sist er s. G ir ls, sc ienc e is t he g a t ew a y  t o oppor t unit y .
TOUGH TIMES:
Girls are pressured to marry &ng in briderice. ole make comments about their breasts
 
nd other body changes. All this is confusing and distracting.
 
Brideprice
 
 t  houg h t s:
Girls are ressured o marr y b y paren ts 
 
 who  wan t brideprice. 
 Tell us  your s tories o f  wha t  you ha ve seen abou t brideprice.
F ear  of  science
Straight Talkers share stories of what is disturbing girls
 
traight Talk, June 2009
3
 And girls - get serious!
Thepowerof notgiving up
t is cae perseverance.et targets tat you canachieve, such as "I mustread at least two subjectsevery evening beforebed." Make a plan andstick to it until it becomesa habit. You may fail inthe short term but that isok. Good things come totose wo persevere.
Do not Give up
Grace Milly, Tororo GirlsSchool, says:"
Girls want easy things. They
  
 s." This view is heldof you. Oh dear! Donot let love disrupt  your studies. If youre in a such arelationship, get help. Love with teachers iso go area.girls lack a vision for re.Wen you askat they want to be,laugh. They lackdels," says
 Mpindi Halima, 15, S3. Valley Hill SS, Kaliro
a vision of what youo be. Place it wheren see it. Identifyone you admire. Worko be like that person
.
girls spend their 
 
 yidle talk discussing
 
i frds, holiday
 
b iend ing out f 
 
, a g ohi e s
 
, le t yo
 
ate n their stuies
 Rukundo Anna Maria,18, S5, Trinity College Nabbingo.
Girls, time isUse it well.
Oundo Nelson,S3, 18, Busiime SS, Busia,
believes adolescence affectsgirls' thinking. They feel eerieand out of control.
Adolescence is natural stageof growing up. Be aware of your bodychanges and be in control.
Crispus Wanyama of Busia SS
 says girls are lazy and think boyshave to work for their survival. "Inour class we had four girls who usedto say that even if they failed, men arealways struggling with books to cater  for them in future."
Really! Today’s man wants to gethooked to an educated girl who cancontribute to the family income.Anyway, let's not assume. Let's askthe boys to tell us.

Boys, what is yourtake on chics who have the viewsexpressed by Crispus? Is that yourkind of babe or not? Why? Write toStraight Talk, 22366, Kampala.
"Girls spend much time admiringtheir bauty, dimples and bodies inthe ror. They get busy sharpening
 
ir tei e brow pencils rather than
 
e st. ys bath, wear their 
 
 yi.lt and ar 
 
e"
 
off to re,
 
 says
 NRWinnie, 15,S3, DabaniGirls SS.
wenty-eightraight Talkers
 
eed!
 
Hmm, girlsur outer beautycompanied with
 
power and valuess working hardanning your timewell.
any Straight Talwrote to us that isturbed by theiown beliefs, attitudesand behaviour.Thirty-four of you believegirls lack confidence and fear to ask questions.
 JK  Amony, Valley Hill SS, Kaliro
says that even if have not understood, thto ask teachers. "That mthem fail exams."
Hey, you surely know bwho are free to ask quesLearn from them.
Build healthy self esteem
Self-esteem is about feevalued and thought welby others and yourself.
 
.If you do not feel goodabout yourself, search  yosf to discover w 
 
uls ug this. It
 
i asi . lds tat
 
ow te re u o ou see yoself. re yo iner thoughts finding f verything you do? Traito have good feelings.Good self-esteem helps for help, solve problemand do well in school.Fifty-eight of you say love confusesgirls.
"Some girls fall in love with boysand fail to concentrate on books," says
Odongo Denish, 18, DokoloSS. Brenda Baguma, Duhaga SS, Hoima
adds: "
Some girls love their male teachers, so they feel shy to ask
Challenges help youdiscover strengths that younever knew you had.
Dear diary,
In May I had an exciting trto uu wit te team gettipeopes suggestions on tIVID Bi. Bi is aproposed law, which is yet tbe presented in ParliamentIf approved, this willpunish people with HIV whomaliciously infect others.Some parts of this Bill areunfair. I do not agree withtem.I saw Kafu and Karuma fallenjoyed the beautiful rhythteir music.A friend has offered to sellmy crafts abroad. I alsogave some to my love,Carie. e travee toto visit a friend. I misse isn't shifting. I planoney rom crats in ourravan.
 
 Letters to Jane 
ma Eric, St Charlesnga College, Koboko:
What caused the fight and why did your boyfriend goaway for several days?Howdid you get pneumonia andwhat advice did the doctor give you?Why did your boyfriend goto the counselor and why did hecool him down?
. The fight was due toes staying away rom meys minus a ca or a textessage. I was scaretat someting aa appene to im.Due to stress, I could hardly breathe.o te pneumonia starte. My octoravise me to stop worrying, takemeicine an cover myse we wen itis cold.Charles went to see the counselorbecause he was confused. He neededsomeone to talk to. The counselorooled him down because he wasangry and had not realized hismisake.
 It seems you have been living positively since birth. Howhave you been associatingwith other people? Explain themeaning of ARVS and howthey work in one’s body andthe changes they have causedin your life.
Kato James,Central School, Hoima 
James, I was born with HIV. I knewmy status in 2005 after secondaryscoo. But at scoo I use to alsick. I was so tiny. I was nicknamedmosquito. But I didn’t give a damn.I ocuse on my ooks.ARVs means Anti-Retrovirals. These drugs are taken by HIVpositive peope wit a ow CD counttoo ew wite oo ces an toomuch HIV in theblood. ARVsmake the HIVvirus dormant. This helps thebody to produceenough whiteoo ces tofight disease.RVs ave mademe stronger andeatier.
 
  
 S Evelyn, from MIFUMI
Studentof ShamimHigh School,Bombo
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...