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Oratile_Aisha_Kalake

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Meet Oratile Kalake, a young sexual reproductive health advocate in Botswana

By Maryanne W. WAWERU

By Maryanne W. WAWERU

Oratile Aisha Kalake, 24, is a peer educator and Youth Action Movement (YAM) member at the Botswana Family Welfare Association (BOFWA). Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa with a population of 2.5 million. BOFWA is IPPF’s Member Association in the country, while the YAM is the youth arm of IPPF Africa Region’s volunteer body based within the Member Associations (MAs). Oratile holds the position of BOFWA YAM Secretary.

Oratile, a Public Health graduate has for the last four years dedicated her time and resources to advocating for the sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of Motswana adolescents and youth. In this article, Oratile talks more about her passion for SRHR advocacy work, the insights she has gained through this, and her plans for the future.

My journey as a young volunteer with BOFWA

“I became acquainted with BOFWA after attending a training session the MA had organized for students on the topic of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). During the training, BOFWA talked about the work of the Youth Action Movement (YAM), and the organization’s engagement with young people. As a student pursuing studies in public health, BOFWA’s work with young people appealed to me as I felt that it fit right well with my passion and career goals. Inspired, I made the decision to become a YAM member.

My engagement as a YAM member has been of great benefit to me –at both personal and professional levels. Through BOFWA, I have participated in countless capacity building sessions, such as trainings, conferences, and webinars, where I have increased my knowledge on SRHR issues –particularly among adolescents and youth. In these forums, I have made presentations on the experiences of Motswana adolescents and youth –drawn from my peer education activities as a YAM member. I have represented their voices in influential spaces.

My inputs in these forums have been insightful towards the development of strategies, guidelines and even policies that touch on adolescent and youth SRHR (AYSRHR). This exposure has helped me to become a strong advocate for AYSRHR in Botswana. 

Oratile_Aisha_Kalake

Through YAM activities, I have also expanded my social network as I have been able to meet with admirable individuals in the policy-making spaces, including Ministers and other top government officials. I have met many like-minded people with whom we have exchanged important information and experiences.

Worrisome rates of teenage pregnancy in Botswana

Early pregnancy is a significant public health concern in Botswana and is a major reason why girls drop out of school. Botswana has a high rate of teenage pregnancies, with the UNFPA indicating that the adolescent birth rate per 1,000 girls aged 15-19, 2024 stands at 50 per cent.

I can elaborate the dire situation of teenage pregnancies in Botswana through the experience of one teenager that I know. Her name is Keamogetse* and she is a 17-year-old mother of three.

While Keamogetse had a bright and promising future in her younger years, she unfortunately dropped out of school after her first pregnancy. Her second and third pregnancies happened thereafter in quick succession, with the spacing between all three children being just one year. All her children have been fathered by different men.

I fear that Keamogetse will soon be pregnant with a fourth child. I fear that she may contract Sexually Transmitted Infections (SITs), including HIV. I worry that she will never be able to reach her full potential because of her early motherhood situation.

Several people, including myself, have tried reaching out to her, but our efforts have been in vain. She remains unbothered about our counsel.

I often ask myself: is it that our messages are not reaching young people like Keamogetse? Why aren’t sexually active teenagers taking up contraceptives? Where are the adults in her life? Where are we failing as society? Who is letting adolescents and teen moms like Keamogetse down?

How BOFWA is addressing the teenage pregnancy scourge

The situation of girls like Keamogetse only inspires me to do more, where we try to reach as many of them as possible through outreaches and through the BOFWA clinics spread across the country.

BOFWA has six operational clinics in Gaborone (Gaborone District), Mochudi (Kgatleng District), Kanye (Southern District), Francistown (North East District), Maun (Ngamiland District) and Kasane (Chobe District). As trained peer educators with BOFWA, we conduct outreaches in schools to educate young learners, thus empowering them to make healthy decisions about their sexual lives.

Oratile Aisha Kalake

In 2023, BOFWA reached 2,137 young people with Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). I have had many of them give me feedback about how informative our sessions with them were, and how they are now better equipped to make empowered decisions about their sexual reproductive health.

Our outreach activities with BOFWA sees us participate in regular mobile clinics in rural areas to reach more young people. Through these initiatives that particularly target out-of-school populations, we have reached thousands of youth in the community with sexual reproductive health messages and services. In 2023, BOFWA provided 38,450 services to adolescents and youth. These included family planning services, HIV counselling and testing, STI treatment and management, and abortion care services.

My future plans

My passion for young people’s health and the activities that I engage in as a young volunteer with BOFWA are aligned to my passion and my career goals. My continued engagement with BOFWA is helping me to enhance my skills and experience in the field of SRHR. I hope to become an influential leader in the public health space at a national level, and even move on to the regional and international levels. I hope to be in position where I can be part of the people who make decisions that have a positive impact with regard to community health, and especially the SRHR of young people. Who knows, I might even become Botswana’s Minister of Health someday!

(not her real name).

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when

country

Botswana

region

Africa

Related Member Association

Botswana Family Welfare Association