From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:ZIMBABWE: YOUTH PROBLEMS GO LIVE ON TELEVISION
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 22:20:48 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ZIMBABWE: YOUTH PROBLEMS GO LIVE ON TELEVISION


an inter press service feature

by gumisai mutume

harare dec 23 (ips)--  the once taboo topics such as teenage sex
and drug abuse are now receiving attention on zimbabwe
television.

''my mum has never talked to me about sex. all i know is what
i read in novels and see in the movies. i'm growing up. how can
i get her to talk to me?''

''yes, panelists how can the young lady here deal with her
problem?'', responds programme moderator, godfrey tinarwo.

on a hot afternoon in harare, teenage boys sporting
funky-dread hairstyles, earings, and cowboy boots jostle for
positions alongside girls in mini-skirts and lycra tights at
the zimbabwe national family planning council (znfpc) television
studios.

the youths who have come in their hundreds are recording a
television programme called ''lets talk about it'', which aims
to do just that with youth problems.

more than 50 percent of zimbabwe's 10-million people are
below the age of 16.

of the 300,000 school-leavers churned out each year by an
educational system biased towards white-collar formal employment,
only about 38,000 obtained jobs according to a study by the
university of zimbabwe.

the highly impressionable teens are torn between two cultures
-- the hollywood movie image and their own ''outdated african
culture''.

'''basically our culture-crisis stems from over exposure to
western ideas by their very powerful media. now we have no
culture of our own'', says a conservatively dressed innocent
tshuma (19).

''a lot of young girls today want material things, and will
exchange it for anything, even sex'', says mercy magama.

these are some of the emotionally-charged sentiments that
emerge in the the initial recordings of the planned 13-programme
series.

znfpc executive director, alex tinarwo says the programmes
will also discusss teenage pregnancy, youth and aids,
teen-pressures and suicide, street kids and drug abuse.
(more/ips)


zimbabwe: youth (2)

''it is part of our youth advisory service which identifies
areas of youth concern like early sexuality and addresses
them'', he notes.

during a break in recordings innocent attributes youth
problems to ''the fact that parents are no longer there''.

''mum is a career woman, and dad spends all his time at the
club. there is therefore no communication in the family''.

innocent, an a-level student at a multi-racial school, comes
from a ''church going family'' of eight living in the suburbs.
he says he is confused.

''i'm still trying to find myself''.

with a culture that has suffered almost a century of british
domination, he can hardly be blamed.

'''education has alienated us from ourselves. our curriculum
must be changed completely because its just not relevant to our
situation. how can i apply chaucer (the medieval english writer)
to my african environment?'' he asks.

the educational system still in use in zimbabwe today despite
to be changed.

''a kid who stays in the ghetto is more exposed and more
likely to take to drugs than one who stays in the suburbs'',
says 19-year old mercy.

''we have a culture which does not allow openess between
children and parents, leaving us with no one to talk to. others
turn to drugs to relieve the pressure''.

amon gwanzura, a parent, thinks the war has been lost. ''we,
as parents try to bring up our children the african way butthey
go against our wishes. they want 'independence'and call us
old-fashioned'', says gwanzura.

''now the situation cannot be salvaged. the degree of
american influence is too much and each day there is more and
more of it'', he says resignedly.

nevertheless, the youths seem enthusiastic about the
programme and feel it is a step forward.

''the most important thing is that at least we have been
given a chance to express ourselves and somebody out there is
bound to listen'', says innocent. (end/ips/gm/oa/92)