Whitney's kiss

 

Dairy entry 1:About the author 

Onne Vegter is a teacher and a writer with so many years of experience of working with young people in multicultural context. As an instructor and later Training Manager at Outward Bound. Onne he is originally from from Dutch but he calls South Africa home because he grew up there. He gained first experience of AIDS education and youth development. His concern regarding the AIDS epidemic and it’s victims grew significantly while he was coordinating Outward Bound service projects at an AIDS orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal in the nineties. Onne is an entrepreneur and also manages the Wild Wings Educational trust, a non-profit educational organisation based in George, where he lives with his wife and three children. Whitney’s kiss is his first novel in the three series novels about Whitney. 

Diary entry 2: Summary of the novel

Whitney’s first kiss is a experience she will never forget. The innocence of childhood is replaced with the fire of youth romance, the excitement and passion. It all seemed so perfect but her favourite teacher ms Pillay, warns her that there is another side in the thrill of teenage life. Thirteenth year old Whitney soon encounters this other side first hand-the pain of loss, the stab of betrayal and the bitterness of rejection. She come face to face with the reality of HIV&AIDS, and finds herself having to make difficult and life changing decisions.

Diary entry 3: My favourite character 

My favourite character was Ms Pillay because she was always there for Whitney and teached her about the teenage life n how confusing it could be. She was a mother to Whitney something that her mother couldn’t do. Ms Pillay was the one who supported Whitney the time she faced rejection, betrayal and the loss of a loved one. I love Ms Pillay because she is a good example which shows how a mother should treat her daughter even though Whitney was not her real child and how a mother and daughter relationship should be like.

Diary entry 4:  The character I dislike

Tha character I disliked was Lucky because he tried to force herself on Whitney and also for taking advantage of her, because she was younger than him. Lucky was this popular good looking guy who was too good to be true. His goal was to sleep with Whitney because he wanted to be healed. So he heard a myth that when you sleep with a virgin you’ll be healed.

Diary entry 5: The massage of the story

To help teenagers understand the risk of HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy and to also help the youth understand the inter-relatedness of systems and problems in young person’s world of school, home, community and relationships. And it also illustrates the importance of preventing to those who are at high risk of contacting with AIDS.

Diary entry 6: Qoutes which motivated me in the novel

1. It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

 

This is the only quote which really inspired me as a teenager because it tells me to be brave to face adversity and take risks and persuit your dreams and goals and to also step up from the comfort zone even if I’m facing fear or uncertainty.

Diary entry 7: How I felt when reading the novel

I felt sad because Whitney didn’t deserve what happened to her and how things turned out because she was still growing and she was still a teenager who wanted to experience things. So parents need to be patient with their teenagers and just try to guide them because they will make mistakes. 

Diary entry 8: What I liked about the novel 

What I liked about the novel is that it had a happy ending and it was also very educational. I learned a lot of things which were adolescence and how it could lead us in doing wrong things and how we should learn from them and try to correct them. I also learned that most people who get infected with HIV&AIDS is teenagers because of their eagerness of wanting to try new things. 

Diary entry 9: What I didn’t like about the novel

What I didn’t like was the introduction because it was very confusing and really hard to understand and also the part of Whitney’s dad because it was not really educational. 

Diary entry 10: Why would I motivate teenagers to read this novel

The reason why I would encourage them to read this novel it’s because it was very educational and it also have much to offer for youth that is facing many challenges in growing up and navigating life throughout their high school years