When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Sources

Teenage Pregnancies Spinning Out Of Control In Burundi

The UN's back to school program in Burundi (UN)
The UN's back to school program in Burundi (UN)
Stany Ngendakumana

Full statistics aren't yet available -- but even with partial numbers, it is clear that teen pregnancies are on the rise in Burundi.

So far this year, 30 students from the Budahunga communal school in the Kirundo province have already been expelled for being pregnant. Ten others from two private schools of Bujumbura have suffered the same fate. The Bafashebige coalition, an organization promoting education for all, says the situation is spiraling out of control, and won't get better until teenagers start using condoms.

Many Burundi teenagers believe condoms to be unpractical; others just don't feel confident about using them. One student from Rohero High School says they're too much of a hassle: "Condoms need a lot of concentration. You must check that it isn't torn, that it's correctly placed, that it doesn't slide off during intercourse."

But "using a condom is a matter of life and death," assures an official of PSI Burundi, a health NGO. For him, the country is past having a debate about whether or not to use condoms, especially since young people are so much more active sexually these days. The key is to make them understand that condoms are the only way to prevent pregnancy and transmitted diseases.

Unfortunately, even those who want to use condoms -- and whose parents are supportive -- are ashamed to ask for them in public in the few stores and health centers where they can be found. In order to get around the taboo, there is an urgent need for condom dispensers in school bathrooms, for teenagers to be able to get them without feeling embarrassed.

Not enough sex education in high schools

Most school officials don't agree. "Distributing prophylactics is against school values," says the director of a Bujumbura high school. He believes contraception is the responsibility of other institutions -- and of parents.

A former director of the Musinzira High School believes there must be more sex education classes, but agrees schools shouldn't encourage teenage sex by distributing condoms to their students.

For the secondary school education planning board (BEPES) -- whose goal, among others, is for schools to be at the forefront in the fight against AIDS --preventing pregnancies in high schools is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently.

Until then, pregnant teens will continue to be expelled from school -- to be reintegrated only when they present a medical document attesting they have given birth.

Read more from Syfia in French.

Photos- UN Photos

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

food / travel

When Racism Poisons Italy's Culinary Scene

This is the case of chef Mareme Cisse, a black woman, who was called a slur after a couple found out that she was the one who would be preparing their meal.

Photo of Mareme Cisse cooking

Mareme Cisse in the kitchen of Ginger People&Food

Caterina Suffici

-Essay-

TURIN — Guess who's not coming to dinner. It seems like a scene from the American Deep South during the decades of segregation. But this happened in Italy, in this summer of 2023.

Two Italians, in their sixties, got up from the restaurant table and left (without saying goodbye, as the owner points out), when they declared that they didn't want to eat in a restaurant where the chef was what they called: an 'n-word.'

Racists, poor things. And ignorant, in the sense of not knowing basic facts. They don't realize that we are all made of mixtures, come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. And that food, of course, are blends of different ingredients and recipes.

The restaurant is called Ginger People&Food, and these visitors from out of town probably didn't understand that either.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest