After it emerged that one in four pregnant women in Gulu are teenagers, the city council speaker Alima Joyce Renee has come out to champion the fight against the vice.
Speaking as the chief guest at Anyira Teenage Rescue Foundation teenagers conference the speaker gave her own example of having given birth when she was a student in senior one, she called on the teenage mothers to refocus and work towards achieving their dreams.
"If you have any problem with your friends, leave them, a person who keeps telling you that your mother is bad because your mother tells you to return home early before dark, leave that person" she said.
Joyce Alima whose son is now in the University studying water engineering also added that teenagers should respect parents and stay in school.
Her close friend Ayee Cindy who conceived at 17 years also revealed that young people should avoid the habit of "tasting life".
After narrating her story in front of the 100 teenagers at the conference, Cindy who is now the female youth councillor in Gulu city called on young people to rather work together with their parents towards financial stability.
"you should not have the children that you are not ready for and you should not enter into marriage when you do not have any resources, because I don't want you to struggle" she emphasized.
With Doctor Baifa Arwinyo the local maternity and new born systems coordinator for Acholi sub region commits to work with the health centers and partners in the region to "rejuvenate the adolescent friendly corners in the health centers" because young people are ignorant of the spaces and services offered there.
She is also concerned especially by the fact that many teenage girls die during child birth " 6.5 percent of the maternal deaths in the region are due to complications of abortion and majority were young people".
While Anna Lawino, the director of programs at TASO Gulu called for teenagers to realize that consent lies in their hands, "a no means a no, sometimes a boy comes to you and says let's first go here and then you say no but you are also going, that is not a no".
With the worrying teen pregnancies in the region Anna also told boys to respect the girls, she further advised teenagers to have journals where they write their thoughts.
"The second thing is reflection, reflect on your actions, this will help you to know yourself better" the third aspect of feedback "other people help you to see things about yourself that you can not, and this will help you to be self aware as you make your decisions" she said.
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With the theme of a self aware teenager for healthy life choices, Ronald Okello the director of Anyira Teenage Rescue Foundation and organizer of the Teenagers conference called on government, and it's stakeholders to support community based organizations that work to introduce sexual reproductive health rights with funding.
He hopes to extend sensitization sessions to teenagers in school and says "schools is where the Teenagers get the most peer pressure, churches and auction days during holidays are some of our target points".
He also warms about the implications of leaving teenagers unattended to during the long third term holidays.
