By Anino Aganbi

With a lot of focus placed on teenagers today, we can indeed say these youths are the future of the country. Gone are the imposed silence placed on abused children as they are now given  voices to speak. A lot may have been done behind the scenes but more people are comingout to say no to rape, child molestation and teenage pregnancies. Among them is a woman  worthy of being emulated by the next generation. Funke Oguntuga is the CEO of Heartminders Project. In her work with youths, she has not only become an inspiration to others but a true leader at heart. Although she is held in high esteem by all who surround her, this has only spurred her to do more for the youths out there. In this chat with Sunday FEMINISTA, she discloses more. Excerpt.

What was the inspiration behind working with youths and teenagers and how long have you been into it?

I started working with teenagers in 2011. I wrote blogs for youths where I talked about relationship, careers and other related issues. My personal experiences as a teenager, decisions I took as a youth and  responses I got through  blogging prompted me to do more because I realized that teenagers don’t know much about the world around them .

Who was Funke Oguntuga before the inspiration that led to the birth of Heartminders Project?

Istarted out as a journalist. I studied Mass communication in the university  and worked as a journalist with the  print media as a writer . I also worked in the banking sector for about eight years. My banking journey took me back to my first love which was journalism. It was at that point I started blogging about relationship, love, sex and marriage which was what gave birth to the teen aspect called heart mindres.

You teach teenagers to be avid readers and crave information; did you have any bitter experience that spurred this while growing up?

Funke Oguntuga

While growing up as a child, there was no internet or  phones. So, the level of exposure to these things was very low. We relied solely on things we were told by our parents, mentors, and probably what we watched on TV. This limited the information that were supposed to be available to help us grow up. I then tried to balance it with so much that the internet is throwing at them. We went from not having enough information to having too much. Everybody can have access to anything they want because it is at the tip of their fingers. I came in to balance it and to share my experiences from having no information, knowing nothing about sex, teen dating, menstruation and other stuffs like that to knowing now that there are teenagers who give birth early and are into making money. We have a lot of child abuse going on and will probably affect upcoming youths and there is a need to put a stop to them. So we need them to balance what they read and those who do not read, we need to tell them what to read and have the ability to balance both.

Is the issue of unwanted pregnancy ebbing in anyway with the advocacies going on around town?

Yes. If you look at the rate at which we had early and unwanted pregnancies, I might not have the exact figures but there are data showing that in past months, the figures have reduced drastically as opposed to what we had years back.  Every teenager is vulnerable. There are so many abandoned teenagers, we have pre-teens that people feel should not know about sex and this keeps killing the information that are supposed to be passed out to these teenagers.  With a lot of advocacies going on presently, teenagers now come out to ask questions and this tells us they have actually been craving information. They want to know more than what their parents or peers share with them. The level of advocacy we have in the country has really helped in reducing the numbers.

How do you plan to empower teens, even though they have not reached working ages? 

Making  choices, communicating and having self-confidence to make things happen does not always come easily.   We all know  we can all be a better version of ourselves but the question is how? Teen Empowerment Program focuses on what is already inside you. You just need to learn how to tap into your own skills and talents. Just  like coupling imagination with responsibility, I encourage teenagers  to develop talents along with education. The idea is to prepare them for the competitive, extremely challenging world. By the time they get out there it will not get frustrating for them. What I do is organize empowerment program to teach them handy work, depending on what they are interested in.  Being a teenager today is risky business. Among the risks are alcohol and drug dependency, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and violence. Consequently, high risk acts may lead to single parenting, prolonged poverty, or physical danger.

What personal experience inspired you to reach out to teenagers?

Funke Oguntuga

I took some decisions as a teenager that I was not proud of neither was I competent or confident acting on those decisions. I grew up in a slum and was abused emotionally and physically yet my experiences are not much as my passion, although, I will admit that as a teenager I was forced to grow up quickly by being abused and deciding to keep quiet about it and that was my personal experience. Those experiences motivated me and my overcoming those challenges made me pay extra attention to teenagers and wanting to always help them anyway I can.

Any challenges

Oh yes, we have financial challenge to start with, some of our projects need financing. We also face logistics issues, we don’t have access to data and accurate figures in term of population of teenagers, number of registered schools, we don’t have access to information that we require to appropriately cater for teens that are not in school. There is no proper documentation of records. We also face sponsorship challenges, companies and government and individuals need to invest in the future and teenagers are the future.

What teenage issues do you address and how are the students’ responses?

Physical Difficulties, social challenges, psychological distress, relationship issues and emotional problems are issues I address daily. Teenagers experience rapid body changes as they transition into adults and may have difficulty understanding and coping with them. In the teenage years, girls usually start their periods and develop breasts and hips, while boys start to develop chest and facial hair and become more muscular. Their voices may also deepen. Although a teenager may already know to expect these changes, they may still be self-conscious, especially if they start to develop faster than their peers.     Teenagers experience difficulties with the physical changes to their bodies, emotional and psychological challenges and social problems at home, school and among their peers. They often need guidance and support through this period from their parents, teachers, counselors and peers.