am a 14-year-old boy who is writing to you on the behalf of my 14-year-old cousin. She is very depressed because she has "been" with many different guys, one who is 16, two who are 17, one is 18 and another who is 19. I can tell she wants to stop this, but she is under a lot of pressure. Not peer pressure though because her friends have no idea. She has now started to smoke and attempts suicide a lot. These guys all are unfaithful, but only one unmentioned one was true to her. He was 15, but he left her for one with a lot of finance and in return he took something from her. Don't get me wrong her body is like a 17-year-old girl. She wants to leave these guys alone, but she doesn't know how to do it politely. I've told her she doesn't need to be polite because they are not polite to her.

Can you give us some advice, please.

M.C., St Catherine, Jamaica

Dear M.C.,

Your cousin needs to understand that it is not advisable for a girl to start having sex when she is very young. It has been proven that women who become sexually active at a very tender age often suffer from cancer of the cervix. Secondly, the age of consent is 16, therefore although she is having sex, she cannot consent. I recognise that these guys are also teenagers, but older than her. They can be charged for abusing her.

Your cousin needs counselling. So encourage her to talk to a family counsellor. I have her address and her name. I cannot write to her because you are the person who wrote to me on her behalf. I will drop you a line and suggest to you where you can tell her to go for counselling.