The Seminary Saint Anne’s Old Girls Association, on Monday, February 14, gave the students of Saint Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan a nice treat during its SSASOGA Valentine’s Day Outreach 2022 with the theme, ‘Keeping the girl child safe,’ sponsored by SSASOGA National.
On that day, the expansive school hall was filled to the brim with students that flocked in from their different classes to grace the occasion as the executive members of SSASOGA and a few other members were on hand to make it exciting.
Medical doctors, lawyers and other professionals were present to charge the female students of Saints Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan on the need to keep their integrity high by maintaining the control of their bodies and asserting the right to say no to abusers who are out to take undue advantage of them.
The SSASOGA team was led on the occasion by Mrs Titilola Ilori, Chairman, Lagos SASOGA, while the speakers who counselled the students included Dr Oyindamola Adeyemi, President of Medical Women Association of Nigeria in Oyo State; Dr Ogunleke Temitope, a Family Physician; Yusuff Adefolake, Doctor in Diaspora; and Earl Alright, a lawyer and President of Alright’s Passion Counsellors Network, who is also the Provost of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan.
Alright, who spoke from personal experience, exposed ‘Some of the lies that boys tell to girls’ to deceive them about love.
He said, “People can always lie to you when you don’t know the truth. First thing for you to always do is to know the truth. Your peers or friends may not know the truth as it seems to you, so ask the older people for the truth.
“One of the lies that your partner tells is, “I love you.” When you talk about love you talk about commitment. The fact is that somebody liking your shape is different from someone loving you. When any boy or girl comes round to touch you, when people tell you that they love you, it is in order to get something back from you.
“If a boy tells you that if you love me, then kiss me. It means it is not you that the person loves but the kissing. We usually tell people, don’t touch my private parts. This is what you should know, every part of your body is private part.
“At eight years old, I was already bi-sexual. At 13 years, I had sex with a cousin. I then asked myself if that was the best way to live my life.
“We are saying this because sex does not need rehearsals. When they tell you to learn to kiss or have sex so that you can know how to do it in future, tell them I don’t need to learn. When it comes to relationships, tell yourself that I would be responsible for my actions. Don’t joke with your life.”
Dr Yusuf told the students on facts about Valentine. She said that “The occasion doesn’t have to be with your boyfriend or girlfriend but someone who positively impact you, like your parents. How many of you give gifts to your parents in appreciation?
“Wrongly, everybody saved their monies and emotional for Valentine’s day. Some people would lose their pride today. There are accounts of many girls who lose their virginity on Valentine’s day. But usually, you end up seeing the man that pretended he loved you a day after with another girl.
“I practice outside Nigeria and I see many bad cases. We need to be careful of the people we keep company with.
“Sex leads to Sexually Transmitted Infections or may lead to premature pregnancy and or emotional wreck. We don’t want any of you to start looking for who to abort for them. Some go to quacks and this is deadly. When you tell your parents, they would beat you, alright but they would help by taking you to the hospital.
“Infections that you had long time ago may prevent you from getting pregnant later in life when you are ready. You can have boyfriend, that is normal but your mummies and aunties are your best friends. Your friends don’t know as much as you think they know. My advice for you today is to stay safe. Be careful, share your valentine experience in a responsible way.”
Dr Temitope Ogunleke said, “Love yourself, don’t let someone tell you I love. Also, know that your parents love you. And, place high value on yourself.
“It is sad that the price tag on some girls is just a bottle of coke. Tell yourself, I cannot be bought cheaply. Place high price on yourself.”
Dr Adeyemi warned about the danger of careless living and dangerous partners, saying, “Tell the person that says I love you that if you love me you will wait for me. If a man loves you, he would wait.
“If you are a virgin here, please keep your virginity. If you have lost it, you can retrace your steps. If you have a problem of infertility as a result of loose sexual attitude, you would regret it for the rest of your life, so beware.”
On why the Old Girls mark Valentine’s day with the students of the school, Ilori said that it was part of the efforts to maintain the sanity and pride of the girls. She stated, “Of course, we have been doing this for the past three years. We realized that on Valentine’s day, so many girls go the wrong ways with boys against their will. Some of them as they come from school on Valentine’s day, would have boys from different schools waiting for them at the gate. They would tell them there is swimming pool party somewhere, come with us and they would follow them stupidly.
“At the end of the day, you will just be hearing foul stories. There was a time the Oyo State Government had to call in the police to hijack the process. We felt we should keep our girls from trouble on Valentine’s day. Perhaps, we can just save a few. Parenting vacuum is responsible for some of these problems and the society had been made to keep silent.”
The students had a memorable day as they took time to ask questions. They were given refreshments and gifts such as bags, purses, toothbrushes with pastes, hand sanitizer, body sprays among other things.
