It has been said that education is the best gift a parent can give a child and there’s no gain saying that sexual abstinence education is the best gift a community can give its youths. These young adults are regularly exposed to pornography on the internet and in the electronic media so; they are under immense pressure to experiment with sexual activity. The only way we can mitigate the awful impact of social media on them is by carrying out extensive broadcasts of our abstinence programmes on radio, on television and on the internet. These are young and highly impressionable youths that need adequate moral clarity from those they look up to. Only a sustained one on one teaching and media campaign would provide the much-needed mentorship that would bring about the positive behaviour change we desire in their lives.
The TeenageLifeMission was birthed at a time the HIV/AIDS epidemic had become an enormous public health problem of immense concern globally In 1986 when Nigeria recorded her first case of the virus, as the pandemic continued to ravage lives. Going by the Sero-prevalence sentinel survey of 2003, the national prevalence of HIV in the country was 5% having risen from 1.8% in 1991 to 5.8% in 2001 and then resting on 5% by 2003. About 3.8 million Nigerians were estimated to be living with the HIV virus then. And 80% of HIV/AIDS infections in Nigeria then weee also attributed to sexual intercourse. And according to the Sero-prevalence survey of 2005 young adults appeared most at risk with HIV prevalence of 3.6% among pregnant 15-19 years-olds and 4.9% among the 26-29 years olds. Every state and community in Nigeria was affected. There was high level of prevalence among women with only primary and secondary education. This was our main one reason for targeting high shoolers and focusing on schools.
The body of Christ had also backslided in the most scandalous way so we began to network with them to sensitize them about this worrisome trend of sexual immorality and mammon worship laced with modern day idolatry.
Project Manager and team leader of this programme is Jessica Obioma (now Mrs. Jessica John Braimah) seasoned broadcaster with over 25 years experience in the print and electronic media, ex- presenter at different times on Bendel Television Benin, NTA Aba as well as IMO Television Owerri, respectively all in Nigeria. She was a pioneer staff of Champion Newspapers limited, one time associate news editor of Concord Newspapers, Chief executive of Destiny Communications limited, acclaimed television anchor woman, and former presenter of Insurance Today on NTA. Sister Jess, as she is popularly called by youths, is ex-magazine publisher and now presenter of the radio programme – Life Encounters – as well as President of the TEENAGE LIFE MISSION. A YouTuber with two channels: Jessica Braimah Channel. and Teenage Life Mission, she is a committed Evangelist.
