Last week was an exciting week for most young people in Zambia, first with International Women’s Day on the 8th of March and Youth Day on the 12th of March, most young people were out celebrating being young and for some of us, being women.

The general routine on this public holidays is that people get up late, go to their work or school functions to celebrate the day and then off to the clubs and after parties. At the parties they get plastered, maybe pick up a girl or guy, or just go home alone, then wake up late the next day to reminisce about yesterday and last night over a salty meal or more booze in an attempt to kill the hangover.

*photo posed by models*

Right now HIV/AIDS is one of the main causes of death on the planet and the people who are affected most are the women and the youth, so the question is what are we doing about it?? With behavior like this, we are actually perpetuating the very same issues that we are fighting to get rid of.

Most young people are very passive about what is going on around them. One guy told me when I mentioned protecting yourself with condoms that, “God will choose whether I get it or not, and if it’s meant to happen, it will happen even if I use condoms.”

It seems that for a lot of young people so long as they are healthy they don’t feel it’s their duty to do anything.

Another common sentiment is the “I am just one person, what difference can I make anyway?” My opinion is that you don’t have to drain an ocean or find the cure for HIV to save the world. I am young and energetic and obviously there is only so much I can do. But still every little bit of effort counts. For me there is simply no excuse to not doing anything. By talking to my 13-year-old cousins and their little army of friends about HIV and how they can stay safe and treat others who have it, by answering their questions on sexuality that their parents refuse to answer, by blogging about my experiences and discussing with my friends about the issues that are affecting us. That is my small contribution to the cause.

So my question to all the young people out there is what are you doing in your social circles and neighborhoods to compliments the efforts of others? Let me know by leaving a comment below…

This is a guest blog post by Jayne Mazimba, a member of the Ignite Zambia street team.

Boredom and complacency are Jayne’s biggest enemies, so she tries like crazy to make everything she does enjoyable in one way or another. Jayne loves to look good, loves to have fun and loves to be the centre of attention. And her motto is “What’s the point of doing anything if you can’t enjoy and have fun with it?”.