By Nevaless Masika, Kasese, Uganda (August)- On August 8th the UCE team traveled to Karambi to visit the reach out to the youth of the region. Now here, we desired to reach the out of school youth so we gathered them at the Church hall. After the arrival of the team, Fr. Peter led opening prayers, introductions then praise and worship, sessions followed.
As a team we have decided to reach mountainous/hilly areas in the district where early marriages, forced marriages of children by parents, polygamy, and high school dropout rates are still very high. Karambi sub-county is one of the areas affected by these practices.
On interacting with the youth some said they drop out of school and marry early because of lack of school fees and other school requirements, others said parents force them to marry because they need a ‘bride price’ [like a dowry, but given to the female’s family] and other parents want to see the grand children before they die.
Influence of neighbors after a girl or boy is clocking 20 years of age and are not married is also a problem. They give them a nickname at the village then the person feels out of place, so they concede to pressure to get married early even though it is not their wish.
We reached them and talked to them. Those who attended pledged to remain abstinent until the right time, and remain in or rejoin school! We managed to get 70 youth who signed chastity cards.
The Chairman local council for the sub-county attended, and in his speech after the UCE sessions in these very words he said, “According to what I have heard and witnessed, UCE advocates strongly for responsible sexual behavior that will pre-empt any risk of HIV/AIDS and STIs. Abstinence until marriage and fidelity within marriage are the surest ways of prevention. It should be seriously noted that the concern of Universal Chastity Education is not simply with the health message of avoiding HIV/AIDS, but also with the theological message of being true to the meaning and purpose of human sexuality. In all aspects of the UCEs’ response to HIV/AIDS, none comes in for more hostile criticism than the promotion of abstinence and fidelity. I from now will take it seriously. Before the youth takes this message, let me take it first. Thank you UCE!”
He added, “It is good for UCE to target young people, and encourage them to prioritize abstinence until they are ready and able to marry and be faithful. In addition, targeting the sexually active adults (married) to promote mutual fidelity is the best way to assure avoidance of HIV/AIDS.”
Glory to You o Lord.
On August 22nd, because we cannot keep the Gospel message only to ourselves, we reached out to the neighboring district of Mbarara. This was a wonderful another opportunity for the UCE Kasese team to interact with the youths outside of Kasese. The attendance was very good, and 300 youth turned up for a conference facilitated by the UCE Kasese team.
It was a very exciting experience for the youth because it was their first time to see and hear from a team of another diocese/district. This alone created fertile grounds for the message to be sown in their hearts.
Upon receiving the message the youth’s excitement could not be measured. They were extremely happy. The team tried its best to use different approaches using local examples from Mbarara. The message reached home very well.
The day was characterized by personal experiences about sexuality, questions, and answers about sexuality. After the wonderful sessions from the UCE team, the youth from different local churches pledged to work with the UCE team in the proclamation of the message of chastity among their fellow youth and to contact the UCE team whenever they have youth gatherings.
The fight against HIV/AIDS and other sexual transmitted diseases starts with ME and YOU.
With the power of the Holy Spirit, we managed to get 240 youths who boldly came out and signed chastity cards.
Karambi youth committing to chastity 
UCE team members and youth of Mbarara