Shuga recap

Our award-winning drama series SHUGA is back again! Isn’t that one exciting piece of information?

Shuga is a drama series with great story lines that shed light on the daily experiences of African youth. Over the years, Shuga has provided the Shuga fam with life-saving information about HIV/AIDS, and has enlightened our young minds about the on the challenges of heartbreak, love, lust, peer pressure, rejection, sex, and how to deal with them. With Shuga 3 ready to drop, I’m having a Shuga reload on all episodes in anticipation for the new series. If by any chance you didn’t get to watch Shuga while it aired or you can’t remember some of the characters, here’s a summary:

Series 1:
This series showed us the lives of college students in Nairobi, Kenya. Shuga series 1 had characters such as Ayira, Violet, Sindi, Kennedy, Skola, Leo, Virginia, and Ty. Let’s talk about some of these characters.

Ayira was an ambitious college student. All she wanted was to be successful, she wanted to get the best from life. She was a hard worker, but she put all her energy in the wrong direction, sleeping with much older men and using sex to get what she wanted. Ayira had a boyfriend, Ty, who was madly in love with her but she just wasn’t ready to settle down, she wanted more from life. She believed love was a trap..

Ayira later got a job at a firm as a junior executive and got into a sexual relationship with her boss who was suspected to be HIV+

Sindi was a college student with a very cool and quiet lifestyle. She shared a flat with Ayira and Violet. Throughout series 1, she was shown to be the good friend who advised her loved ones on how to live their lives without getting into trouble. Sindi pasted pamphlets containing information about HIV/AIDS all over the apartment. She was the virgin who carried packs of condoms everywhere, telling her flat mates to have protected sex or better still, keep their panties up.

Beautiful Violet was the fun loving, party rocking girl. “’Panties dropper’” as she was fondly called. Violet was a heavy drinker and she always acted on impulse whenever she was under the influence of alcohol. She had multiple sex partners and most times, had unprotected sex because she was always drunk. Her wild lifestyle put her in a mess as she became HIV positive.
Leo is one cute and lovable guy. His best buddies were Skola and Kennedy. Virginia was also a college student, she had a womanizer for a father and she lost her mother to pneumonia. Leo and Virginia were in love with each other but she was too scared to tell Leo about her HIV status but when she finally did, he made sure he supported her and they both tried to make their relationship work.

The ever active Skola was a radio presenter and college student. Violet was his ‘friend with benefits’. Skola had multiple sexual partners and had unprotected sex most times. Unknowingly, Skola infected Violet with HIV, he didn’t even know he was living with HIV.

Episode 2 and 3 had the Shuga Fam on the edge of their seats as Leo, Skola, and Kennedy found out they all had sex with Violet. We were all happy to see Skola back and stronger after he got to know his HIV status after disappearing for a few days.

Series 2
In this series, the main themes were sexually transmitted disease (STD), sexual abuse, and transactional sex (ie, having sex with someone in return for money or goods). Characters from series 1 reappeared such as Leo, Violet, Skola, and Kennedy, and new characters like the stunning MissB’Have, Angelo, Kipepeo, Baby, Dala, and Femi were introduced.

Baby, a 16 year old girl, lived in the same building with Violet, was abandoned by her father at a tender age, and lived with her mother, stepfather, and stepfather’s brother, Uncle Joe. She begged Violet to take her to club DNA so she could meet her celebrity father and escape her mother’s nagging and Uncle Joe’s sexual advances. She didn’t get far with that as she ended up being raped by uncle Joe. Violet had to challenge Baby’s father, convince him to take responsibility and rescue Baby from sexual abuse.

Violet got a job at SWAG magazine but she still had problems of her own. She faced total rejection from her father when she revealed her HIV status to her family. To Violet, “love is a survival instinct”. She became stronger and was supported by her mother and her many friends. Dala and Leo were in a serious relationship. Leo was a radio presenter, and he had the chance to interview the beautiful celebrity, MissB’Have. They liked each other immediately and began an affair. MissB’Have did not like the idea of being an option so she told Leo to make a decision. Leo kept both relationships, and Dalla began to feel lovelorn, and slept with Leo’s best friend, Femi putting them all at risk of STDs.

One question the Shuga fam have been asking is how Femi, Dala, and Leo’s story would turn out. Would they still maintain their friendship? I can’t wait to find out too. Shuga season 3 promises to be full of suspense for the Shuga fam. I’m looking forward to December 1, 2013! #TeamMTVShuga

Written by guest blogger Adebola Aduwo