Show Me Your Friend!

“Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are”.  That the popular parlance our parents/guardians use when they want to warn us against keeping bad friends. But the truth of the matter is that we cannot do without friends. We all need someone to lean on; somebody to share our lives, joys, sorrows, challenges and successes with.

For youths, especially girls, the need is more pressing. This was the topical issue at the September edition of our Girls Summit. Many shared the experiences of how friends have helped them to improve in their academics as they studied together.  Others also said friends have been supportive at the time of need and even when they were discouraged.

One of the girls, Hope testified of how her friend introduced her to keeping late nights with boys until she got raped. She warned that girls should be very careful because some so-called friends are actually enemies in disguise. “They have missed it but don’t want to be alone in their evil deeds, so they look for girls that are well-behaved and lure them into evil too.”

The facilitator, Aunty Lolade advised the girls to make friends with people that will add value to their lives, not those that will pull them down or cause retrogression.