It's all about making good decisions about sexual health and rights.
That’s the goal of Dlalanathi, a non-profit organisation that has partnered with South African-born Hollywood legend and UN messenger of peace Charlize Theron, who was in Pietermaritzburg this week to spend time with some of the young women helped by her charity, the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project.
Theron started her organisation in 2007 to help the youth keep themselves and their peers safe from HIV/Aids.
“Today’s youth remain one of the most affected demographics as they face challenges that inhibit their ability to protect themselves from the virus.
"The young people I meet are inspirational. They are driven, resourceful and want to be heard. We absolutely must bring them into the room and into the conversation,” said Theron.
Describing the scourge of Aids as “not over - not even close”, Theron said: “Aids remains a threat to the lives of children and young people and more can and should be done to prevent it.
"Complacency threatens the lives of our young people. We need to act. We hope that we can have an impact by continuing to support our programme partners who do great, great work because they really listen to and engage with their communities,” the Hollywood star said.
Thobeka (surname withheld), 14, who participated in a workshop on sexual health through Dlalanathi’s "youth in action" programme, said: “My future is in my hands. I own my future and this depends on the decision that I make today about my sexual health.
"My education depends on this important decision.”
She added that she was outspoken on the matter both at school and at home, even though her mother said “these were conversations she should be having at school with her teacher”.
But Thobeka persisted, saying it was important to share the information with her family and among her peers.
Dlalanathi chief executive Rachel Rozentals-Thresher said: “Our work aims to reduce the prevalence of HIV infection and unplanned pregnancy among vulnerable youth by empowering them to make healthy decisions for themselves.
"This makes our partnership with the outreach project a natural fit.”
UNAids announced in November last year that although remarkable progress had been made in HIV treatment worldwide, the challenge was replicating that impact among children and adolescents.
If current trends persist, 2030 will see 3.5million new adolescent HIV infections, or nearly 300000 a year, according to projections from the 2017 Unicef statistical update on children and Aids.
Research indicates that progress in preventing new infections among adolescents - and improving testing and treatment in adolescent populations - has been too slow.
According to the study, in 2016 alone 55000 adolescents aged 10 to 19 died from Aids-related causes, with 90% of those being in sub-Saharan Africa.
And for every five adolescent boys living with HIV, there were seven girls with HIV in the same age group.