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Planned Chastity Conference to Teach Youth Skills in “healthy” Relationships: Convener

Credit: KCPF

The 2023 edition of the Youth Chastity Conference (YCC) will seek to empower young people with skills for “healthy” relationships, a convener of the annual event has told ACI Africa. 

Tobias Nauruki told ACI Africa that the Saturday, February 11 YCC to be held under the theme, “Responsible Human Relationships” aims at teaching “the young people to be able to engage in relationships well, in healthy ways.”

Mr. Nauruki added that the conference scheduled to take place at the main campus of the Kenya-based Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) will teach the youth “to be able to live by accommodating others.”

The  Empowered Youth Coalition (EYC) Africa regional coordinator said during the Wednesday, February 8 interview that facilitators at the event will guide participants on how to behave when they are not under their parents' watch and when with peers.

“Most young people see living a chaste life, abstaining from sex until they get married, as not that normal. They see having a boyfriend or girlfriend with whom you don't engage actively in sexual intercourse as unusual,” Mr. Nauruki said, adding that the youth “see living a chaste life as a thing of the past for traditionalists.”

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The EYC official said that the digital engagement of young people has also changed how sexual abstinence and chastity are viewed.

It is unfortunate that young people are left out of conversations regarding family life and sexuality, he further said.

Through the YCC 2023, Mr. Nauruki said, pro-family and pro-life advocates will change the mindset of a few youths who will, in turn, spread the message of chastity and abstinence to their peers. 

“We will change the mindset of two or three young persons. We are looking forward to imparting and telling them the truth. We want to empower them to be good ambassadors to the rest of those who may not be able to manage to attend. If we change the mindset of 1,000, the remaining will also be changed through the discussion of these few 1,000 that we will have empowered,” said Nauruki.

Changing the mindset of the youth is for the good of the nation, he said, and explained, “If we are able to change their way of thinking, we will have dependable young people who we can count on as leaders today and tomorrow, who can be good ambassadors and role models for the younger children we are raising.”

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He added that it is important to tell the youth the value of sexual abstinence and chastity so that they remain safe from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), crisis pregnancies, and abortions. 

“It is important to teach young people to engage in their relationships responsibly so that they don’t mess up their future by engaging in sexual relationships at a time when they are not ready,” said the official of the EYC, an arm of the Family Watch International.

He continued in reference to young people, “We understand they have feelings, but we can be able to talk to them and tell them the truth, that is, for them to maintain self-control and we are ready to give them the skills and empower them to abstain.” 

Facilitators at the planned event targeting young people aged between 16 and 29 will address topics such as chastity, human development, the menstrual cycle, and natural family planning, among others.

YCC 2023 is being realized through a collaboration of the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum (KCPF), Linda Uhai Consortium, Pearls and Treasures Trust, and EYC, among other organizations

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Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.