Teenagers being Teenagers

Some things about young people's lives are totally different here where we live. There are no video games, no learning how to drive, no part-time jobs at the local Cold Stone, no going to the movies or shopping at the mall, not really much in terms of typical teenage activities. In face the idea of adolescence is still relatively new here, traditionally the kids would go straight from childhood to being adults. One thing that is the same here, and probably world-wide, is the sometimes irrational, hormone-induced behaviors between members of the opposite sex. That is why almost every activity here is segregated by gender. Still, plenty of youth pregnancies, HIV infections, and drop outs from school all testify to the impulsive decisions and lack of big picture vision so typical at this age. Part of our co-ed trip to English Theater was making sure non of the boy/girl crazy youth entrusted to us got in trouble. This meant lots of summer camp-type rules and room checks. Despite our efforts at chaperoning, we had some major teenage drama explode our last night in Chimoio. We had been out celebrating the successful event before dinner and returned to find everyone upset and no one talking to each other. We had to all a major meeting before we could get the full story, which luckily turned out to be not too serious. Apparently there had been some breaking of the no boys in the girls' rooms rule, and even though they were fairly innocent visits, our teams felt that our town's reputation was at stake. One particularly incorrigible young lady from the big city living in our little rural town with her sister acted out of line and disrespected us. She had even arranged a lunch out with our mini-bus driver without telling us during out free time, while others visited the city or hiked the mountain, a very problematic activity in a culture where men enjoy seducing young ladies. She even used her chic modern allure to draw in one of our young 8^th graders into her sketchy activities. Luckily, we got hold of the situation before any irreparable damage occurred. We didn't want to punish anyone, just let all of our youngsters know how important their decisions are on the outcomes of their lives. Being a teenager is hard these days, no matter where you are growing up, but here in Africa life is so precarious even in the best of circumstances that there is an unforgivingly narrow margin for error. We felt a little bit like parents giving a stern lecture, but we have been so happy with our own life choices and we want the same for our kids here.