The Woman Member of Parliament for Gulu Municipality has urged parents in the  Acholi sub region to break their silence on sex education in order to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people. 

MP Betty Aol Ocan said that most parents still consider the subject of sex to be a taboo, but it is high time they open up and teach their children the dangers of engaging in sex at an early age. 

According to the legislator, it will be a great mistake if parents turn a blind eye to the inappropriate behavior of their children, which has been resulting in the spread of the deadly disease due to lack of awareness. 

Aol Ocan said that before the war, it was the role of the aunties to keep an eye on children, especially girls. Now, children have been left to their own devices to do as they please without any notion of nobility. 

Gloria Ajok, a counsellor working with teenagers in Gulu town, noted that counsellors have assumed the responsibility of parents in educating young people about acceptable sexual behaviours. 

The Acholi Cultural Institution says that it is faced with the huge task of reviving cultural values and norms after decades of the war. 

The brutal conflict between the government of Uganda and LRA may have ended and more than a million people have finally resettled back in their homes from internment camps. However, the revival of Acholi culture, the real task, is just beginning. 

Leaders say that the collapse of traditional cultural practices gave rise to the emergence and development of new practices like children becoming heads of families, alcoholism, lack of work ethics, and prostitution. These had been alien to Acholi culture. 

Okema Lazech Santo, the Project Coordinator for Ker Kwaro Acholi (Acholi Chiefdom), says that they are moving to restore Wang OO (fire place) in every home in Acholi sub-region. 

Wang OO was the traditional “classroom” for children in Acholi region, where families sat together to share historical teachings, folklore, tradition, stories, and ideas. 

He says that Wang OO was a forum that provided families with the opportunity to bond, learn new values, impart and receive instructions, and take stock for the day in order to plans for the next day and future generations.