TV show teaching youth life choices
Some of the characters on the show. Courtesy photo
Parents worldwide are wary of that time when they have to talk to their offspring about sex and relationships. In an attempt to ease the weirdness of such moments, parents invest in books, magazines or engage professionals to do the talking for them.
This is why new NTV edutainment show Chicken and Chips is advocating for healthier lifestyle choices by the use of puppets to strike up conversations among young people to think about their lifestyles in regard to sex and relationships.
The show, which airs on NTV every Sunday at 1.30pm encourages young people to not only express their challenges but also gives them access to information pertaining to healthy lifestyles. The show stars Kiki Love, a puppet voiced by Ugandan Fun Factory comedian and KFM radio presenter Veronica Tindichebwa aka Tindi.
Norah Nassozi, a first year student of Makerere University, says the show is significant because it discusses issues of sex and relationships that are relevant to her.
Timely
Dr Christopher Garimoi Orach of the Makerere University School of Public Health says: “Young people have access to so much information from peers and the Internet. The irony is, while we think they are accessing the right information and what to do with it, chances are high that they may not be,” Orach says.
Orach attributes this to the traditional nature of our society that does not allow for conversations on sex to be discussed openly.
It is this attitude which Sarah Birungi, a nurse at a clinic in Wandegeya, says is contributing to the rising rates of HIV. “When HIV was first discovered in the country, President Museveni’s ABC strategy seemed to work well, because not only did it open up discussions on sex and what careless sex could do to you, but people had to be confronted with the truth,” a truth she claims many people have a challenge in accepting.
