In Uganda, Violence Is Sharply On The Rise Among Youth.

There are many cases of violence among young people in Uganda today. This year has started with news of people fighting and causing harm to themselves and every time one looks at social media trending

stories, you are sure to see young people engaging in fistfights.

These fights have been rampant among young couples who constantly fight themselves and the reason is that most of them are fighting for love-related issues. On some occasions, girls are fighting with their boyfriends accusing them of cheating on them, in other videos, girls are fighting fellow girls for

allegedly sleeping with their boyfriends. All in all the constant factor in these fights is LOVE.

Among the many videos that have been circulating online, is the video of one Nicole, who is about 14, who has been accused of sleeping with the boyfriend of one of her friends. In these videos, Nicole is seen being beaten mercilessly and so badly, they poured water on her, partly undressed her, and beat her up.

The video is so disturbing, yet her tormentors keep laughing at her and scorning her too.

When you look at the victim, Nicole, she looks so innocent and is visibly young. The girls who are beating her are older than her but also not more than 23. Therefore one wonders how these very young people started engaging in love affairs to the extent of even engaging in fistfights. One of the main causes of domestic violence in the past has been poverty among couples but these ones are young and are not

married, just engaging in casual relationships.

The issue that has been noticed in these circulating videos is how people have lost the aspect of humanity. People keep recording videos of others being beaten up, those fighting, people who are drunk, etc, without any shame. The right thing would be to save those who are in danger other than merely

recording videos to post on social media.

The lack of employment among many youths has also caused so much anger and despair. Many young people are currently unemployed and underemployed, as a result, young girls who can’t meet their basic needs have chosen early marriages as a solution to their problems. The boys that they live with are not any better. Therefore constant fighting in these young families is the order of the day, and the

videos always end up on social media.

Lack of parental guidance has also caused many youths to lose direction in life. Many parents are busy looking for money and so they leave home early and return late. The time for their children is almost not

available. As a result, children lose direction.

If we look at the case of Nicole whose video has been circulating online, her mother says that she ran away from home and went to live with her friends. This

move is so dangerous and as a result of that, she has ended up with a beating of her life by friends.

The country is yet to see more and more of these videos online if we do not fix certain aspects of our lives. I suggest that parents should care more about their children by guiding them and counseling them

whenever they go astray. This will help to keep young people moving in the right direction.

Young people should not rush into marriage as an escape from their miserable life. They should rather keep in school, look for formal employment, or engage in co-curricular activities to avoid making wrong

decisions.

We pray that there is peace in our families and in the country as well. God Bless

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