This article was first published in New Vision Newspaper in 2021
Bob Kisiki
Let us face it, we cannot say with utmost certainty that we know our children enough to explain where they go and what they do there. No. Before us, they might be the little, innocent angels we want them to be, for which we thank God. But what do they morph into away from our monitoring gaze and in the presence of their peers?
Out there, especially in these times when they barely have enough to occupy their day profitably, they [can] get into a lot of stuff that, if you got to know, would make you want to tether them to their bed posts all day. They do drugs, they drink and use lots of other substances which, when they overpower their brains, limit or completely curtail their thinking, leading them to do all manner of things with their bodies.
The Government has said schools are to open in January. We pray they will. But while you wait for that miracle to happen, why don’t you get your child tested for HIV, just so you are sure? Because HIV infection does not show immediately on one acquiring it, having your children checked now will ensure that you know their sero-status before they return to school.
This is even more critical because now that children are going back to school after a long spell, without the usual medical check-up forms the schools usually hand to us alongside the pay-in slips at the end of regular terms — though parents have found a way of going around this system; abusing what was meant to be a great measure — you can use this knowledge of whether your child is HIV-positive or negative to advise and prepare them accordingly.
If they are negative — as we pray are — you can then admonish them to stay that way, but if they are positive — which is no longer a death sentence, with the advancements in antiretroviral therapy — then you counsel them on how to live a full, positive life, so they do not risk messing up their study time treating wanton opportunistic diseases.
The real danger with HIV prevalence right now is that it has sort of become a mirage, in the face of the rampaging COVID-19. Almost everyone is talking about and guarding against COVID-19, but the human immuno-deficiency virus is still around, taking advantage of the lull in sensitisation to maul unsuspecting people, mostly youth, as they wear masks and wash hands on their way to daytime romps with their peers or, in some cases, with shameless adults who use the youth for sexual gratification.
If you find that your child is HIV-positive, be careful not to make them feel like they just drank cyanide poison, and are on their way to the family cemetery. HIV can be treated, though not cured – yet.
If, on the other hand, your child is still intact, do not sit back and talk about other people’s children whom you know to be infected. Talk to your children about ways they will stay safe. Continue to engage them in things that will keep them busy, because we know the ancient cliché about an idle mind.
The writer is a parenting counsellor and a teacher
