POEMS

Aids, Aids, Aids.

Why are you so wicked to me.

You killed my father, my mother and all my relatives.

You have succeeded in making me homeless.

Now I have no one to call mummy or daddy.

Why aids why.

You wait am coming soon to fight you. With all my strength. and money.

You have render me home less well I will make you useless.

No one to pay my school fees, feed me and shelter me.

Well aids support foundations will do that for me.

Look I have, wait until marriage as my soldiers, condoms as Armour police.

Aids, look the strongest man abstain ace is right behind you.

You are dead. Protected sex and sterilized syringes will help me bury you.

You enter in to my family through daddy as a friend, he first look fresh and hand some

And you started showing your ugly face by making daddy sick, sick, sick, and die why.

You quickly run to mummy pretending to be consoling her killed her too hmmm.

Everyday for thief man one day for master.

Now is my turn and I am not going to spare you.

No, no .no way, I just can forgive.

Wait, where do I start to forgive you. From my daddy, uncle, not mummy.

You have never been a friend.

By Sandra

HIV/AIDS

I am HIV/AIDS

When I am young I am called HIV

When I am fully grown I am called AIDS

I live in the blood cells of the human body, destroying the body mechanism and making the body defenseless against all diseases

Professors in medical sciences all over the world cannot find a cure when I live in the body of men, women, and children

I am no respecter of persons and no vaccine that can fight against me

The only way you can avoid me is as simple as the A B C, abstinence, or being faithful to your partner or condom use

The weapons that can be use to fight against me are people not sharing needles or sharp objects, and transfusion of blood that I live in,

Many people do not believe that I am real but the fact is that I am living and I strongly believe that I shall live in the blood cells of over two thousand people each day

So men be were of me!

By A.B. Martin.

STORY

JOE THE " SHOW" BOY

Joe was the only son of his parents who was the Minister for Agriculture in the second Republic of Ghana.

Due to the wealth of his parents Joe did not take his studies seriously. He joined a group of bad boys who moved from one club to the other at the expense of their studies.

The drunk smoked and also slept with any girl they came across. So was Joe’s love for women that he did care the type of woman he slept with let alone the use of a condom.

Luck run out of the group when the head master and his assistant caught them when they had a tip off about Joe and his group.

They group was dismissed from school and Joe was about to live for home a message was delivered to the school that Joe’s parents had been killed in a plane crush.

The news of his parents death did not put Joe into the right frame of mind and he ended up chilling with the money that was left behind by his parents. He again moved from Disco, night and drinking spots changing girls from left to right

Luck run out of Joe when he started feeling sick and visited the hospital several times without any improvement. The Doctor finally advised Joe to go for HIV/AIDS test, which prove positive.

Had I known they always say is at last, but Joe has put himself together after going for counseling and is doing a great job moving from school to school talking to students on how to stay away from AIDS using

Himself as an example.

By W.A.Elvis.

ARTICLES

HIV/AIDS AND BONGO

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has received worldwide acclaim as the most dangerous disease the world over.

This assertion is yet to get down with the people of Bongo. This is because there is still a high level of promiscuity in this area. What is more alarming is the fact that young girls and boys between the ages of 14 and 17 actively are engaged in unprotected sex. The high rate of teenage pregnancy among girls in this area attest this.

Facts available only point to imminent danger in the near future; the loss of our future leaders. It is against this backdrop that I wish to use this medium to the attention of government and NGOs to help arrest the situation before it gets out of hand.

Available facts indicate that there a good number of people suffering with the disease but prefer to die with it without visiting a health facility due to the fact that the disease is associated immorality.

Bongo is one of the poorest districts in Ghana and this makes it more difficult for the inhabitants of the area to fight the disease alone.

By Alibo R.

CAUSES OF HIV/AIDS IN THE BONGO DISTRICT

I wish to air my views on the causes of HIV/AIDS in the Bongo District.

One of the main causes of HIV/AIDS in the Bongo District is that the youth are not well educated/informed on the dangers of HIV/AIDS. This is to say that, majority of the youth do not use Condoms whenever they are having sex. This goes a long way to expose them to the deadly disease.

Also, another cause of HIV/AIDS in Bongo is that there is a quack doctor in who injects a lot of people with the same syringe and needle. This spreads the disease because using the same needle from an infected person to another person who is not infected can spread it.

Furthermore, HIV/AIDS is caused by the rampant rape cases that we have in the Bongo District. This means that as the men rape the women, they do not take time to protect themselves and their victims from contracting HIV/AIDS.

I wish to suggest that the Government should intensify its campaign against this deadly disease that threatens to destroy the youth of our dear District.

By Titus O.

THE MENACE OF HIV/ AIDS.

AIDS is a menace in our society today. It is a disease that was not understood by many Ghanaians especially the uneducated folks. People held different views as to what actually AIDS is and how it is contracted. While some thought AIDS is not real, others felt it is a curse from God. They believe it is a punishment from God to those who do badly. Even those who thought AIDS is real marginally thought it are only got through sex. However, the people of Bongo are not an exception. This attitude of people concerning AIDS has in no small way contributed to the upward trend of AIDS cases in recent times. It is about time we realize that AIDS is real and a threat to the human race. The statistics available puts everyone at risk. AIDS is not a punishment from God. But a disease caused by a virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus [HIV]. When the virus gets in to your body, it attacks your body defense. System and eventually destroys it. When your body defense system become weak you are prone to much sickness that easily makes you weak. This inability of the body to fight sickness is what is called AIDS.

It is fact that AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease. Which means it is transmitted through unprotected sex. But it is unfortunate to think that it only through sex that one can acquire AIDS. Those who think AIDS is got only through sex turn to behave carelessly towards the other ways of contracting the disease. Besides AIDS can be contracted through the use of infected needles, syringes or razors. Mothers can also pass the disease to their babies during pregnancy, childbirth or breast-feeding. Hay, we are all at risk. But all the same, there is a way out. You can protect yourself from getting AIDS. Use the ABC approach

Abstain from sex.

Or.

Be faithful to your partner.

Or.

Condom use.

Remember we must be careful, AIDS is real, AIDS is a killer and has No cure.

By Timothy A.

THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF TEENAGE PREGNANCIS IN BONGO DISTRICT

Teenage Pregnancy is comprehensively described as a girl becoming pregnant in a very premature age hence the term teenage pregnancy is meaning becoming pregnant before adulthood. The causes of these teenage pregnancies are not far fetched. Firstly, there is lack of parental control. That is to say, parents do not have an ample time to train their children on sex education. Besides, some parents do not care when their children go out and when they come home.

Secondly, poverty has forced most teenage girls to go in for sex where they can make money make ends meet and thereby contract teenage pregnancies. Thirdly, due to fashion, most girls dressing attract men which alone lures men to plot and execute sex with them resulting teenage pregnancy. Lastly but not the least, peer group influence is another causative factor. That most girls are influenced to sex by their peers.

On the other hand the effects of this teenage pregnancies are as follows:

The girls and boys responsible loose their respect from the society.

Respected men may not like to take such girls to marriage.

Finally but not the least, there may be malformation of the unborn child since the girl cannot get proper nutritional care during pregnancy.

Judging from the intensive effects, I wish to urge that parents should endeavor to take good care of their children to remedy teenage pregnancies in Bongo District.

By Michael A.

DRAMA

GIRLS EDUCATION HIV/AIDS AND OTHER STDS.

This is a play about a man who withdrew his only daughter from school on the grounds that her colleague boys in the school will make her pregnant and instead gave her money to do some hawking.

There was a party and this innocent girl attended and got her self-drunk and was raped by some young men who were at the party.

She complained to the mother about pains all over her body and itches on her private parts. She was taking to the clinic and diagnosed as having contracted gonorrhea and also pregnant.

The father ignorantly drove her out of his house and she went to the grandmother at the village.

The grandmother accommodated her as expected till she was ready to deliver.

The grandmother took her to the hospital and met a female doctor. The grandmother was surprised a lady was in charge of the hospital when the doctor told her that her granddaughter had to have a caesarian section (an operation) in order to bring the baby out due to the immature pelvic bones the had.

After delivery, the mother and baby were diagnosed HIV positive. The baby died a month later the mother was now to face the wrath of living with HIV/AIDS.

She met a friend whom she was with in school some years ago looking good and well dressed and after a discussion, she realized the friend was allowed to finish her schooling and presently a headmistress of a secondary school living in a bungalow with a car at her disposal. The friend agreed to take care of her but asked her to take her to the parents whom she has not set eyes on ever since she was driven out of the house.

At home, her father is looking worried and wondering why his daughter never returned to see them since she left with pregnancy.

The girl’s friend (the headmistress) went with her to the parents and the parents were shocked to see their daughter in state of health and how disorganized she looked. Her friend explained all that had happened to the parents and present predicament.

The father regretted his action after knowing that his daughter could have equally become the doctor who attended to her at the hospital or the headmistress who brought her. He also learnt that the girl could have known much about teenage pregnancy and other STDS and how to avoid them if she was left to continue her elucidation.

Finally, he came to realize that women if given the chance could become lawyers, ministers of state, accountants and other professionals.

By Muniru M.