Prevention

Written April 15th

This week did not have the greatest start. Monday was a typical boring Monday, but was also the Monday of a full week, which made it even more tedious - the previous Monday we were on our site visits, so we didn’t have the blues that are usually associated with Mondays, so this week started extra slowly. On top of that, Monday and Tuesday our technical sessions were about behavior change, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation. You can probably imagine how those sessions went. They were about as exciting as waiting in line at the DMV (or in our cases, as exciting as waiting in the immigration office in Tegus!) We had the session on behavior change and mentoring because obviously those are going to be big roles for us here in the Peace Corps. We are going to be trying to change peoples behavior whether it is to encourage people to use condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV and STIs, and to prevent teen pregnancy. We are also going to be trying to change people’s behavior by changing their eating habits. We want families to have a healthy balanced diet so they (especially the children) are at less of a risk of malnutrition. So, yes, behavior change is something we are all going to be working with a lot. And in addition, as Peace Corps volunteers we are placed in the position to be mentors. Whether we want it or not, our behavior is monitored by everyone around us so we always need to be conscious of what we are doing. We will have plenty of opportunities in our sites to be actual mentors to someone. In the case that we decide to be someone’s mentor, we went over all the qualities that we will need - Active Listening being the most important! So, after two days of wanting to pull our hair our, we were able to move on to the exciting part of the week.

Wednesday marked the beginning of training for the health initiative: “Ya Te Diste Cuenta” - this initiative is about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent transmission! So, what goes along with teaching about how to prevent the transmission of HIV - using a condom (condón). So, Wednesday and the first part of Thursday afternoon, two volunteers presented the initiative to us. They gave us the charla as if we were a group of high school kids, who the charla is intended for, so we could get an idea of what the information was and good ways of presenting the information for when it comes time for us to give the charla.

The condom demonstration was definitely the most fun activity in the charla. We were paired off and given a condom and a plantain, which here in Honduras are quite gigantic.

Just in case you are unaware, there are ten steps to using a condom!

1 - Make sure there is air in the package, and check the expiration date.
2 - Open the package with your fingers (not your teeth or scissors or anything that could damage the condom).
3 - Take the condom our of the package and make sure it is not dried out.
4 - Make sure is right side out.
5 - Pinch the tip so you leave some space.
6 - Leaving that room at the tip, unroll the condom little by little over an erect penis until it is at the base.
7 - Have sexual relations
8 - Before pulling out, grab the base of the penis where the condom ends and remove it from the women while the penis is till erect.
9 - Take the condom off be rolling it back up the shaft of the penis, being careful not to let the semen spill out.
10 - Wrap the condom in toilet paper and throw it in the Garbage.

There you have it - the 10 steps to proper condom usage!

So, how it works here in training, we are given charla as a training method, which then prepares us to give that same charla to other people! So, the second half of Thursday afternoon, we were broken into four groups and given all the materials we needed to prepare to give the same charla to a group of high school students. We had three hours to create all the handouts for all the activities - words, definitions, drawings, etc. We also had to make our charla papers (basically posters) with all the information about HIV/AIDS, how it is transmitted, and how you can prevent it. We broke up all the sections of the charla so we each had an equal number or tasks we were in charge of.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t like getting up in front of people, and when you add not feeling confident in my language abilities, that means I am REALLY nervous to get up in front of people and talk. So, Thursday night I spent hours writing out what I needed to say for each of my sections of the charla and practiced it many times.

As all the luck would have it, Brian and I were in charge of the condom demonstration! OK, in reality he and I both offered to do that one. I don’t know what I was thinking. I thought it would be fun/funny.

So, Friday! We had a class of about 20, 14-15 year olds. I personally think that we really lucked out. Our group participated and had a lot of energy, and seemed to enjoy all our games and activities. We went through all our activities fairly smoothly. I had some trouble with my first one because I had to coordinate the discussion at the end of it, and after asking the questions I needed to ask, I was not able to actually understand their responses due to my limited Spanish. So, that part of the charla was a little bit rough, but we made it through. Everything else was great, I think.

When it came time to teach the correct condom usage, I had my doubts in the beginning. We had the 10 steps to use a condom cut out and they had to try and put them in order, which proved to be quite a difficult task. The four of us in my group all ended up helping them get it in the right order. Once they had it in the right order, they read each step allowed and Brian and I re-enforced why each step was important. We realized once we had finished that one of our steps had actually disappeared, so there was only 9, but I read what the 9th step was (that was the one that was missing), and it seemed to work out ok - meaning they understood why it should be there and why it was important.. After this activity Brian and I had them all sit down, and we told them it was time for a demonstration. We posted charla paper with the steps, and brought out our condoms and plantain. We read each step and demonstrated step by step. There was a lot of giggling, from Brian and I, and from the students, but we made it through - and they didn’t have any questions at the end of it, which in this case was a good thing because they all understood the steps.

Now it came time for big question: Did any of them what to try it out? Initially, we were only allowed to show them, they were not actually allowed to try it themselves because the director of the high school said so, but apparently he/she changed his/her mind and said that if the students wanted to try, than they could. So, we asked them after we demonstrated it, and we actually had two volunteers. I was so surprised. I did not expect any of them to have the courage to stand up in front of the class and put a condom on a plantain. I sure wouldn’t have when I was in high school. Also, it was two guys who volunteered - another shocker. I would never have expected two guys to demonstrate it together. Muchismo is such a large part of the Honduran culture that I would have expected them to refuse to do it with another guy. But, to my surprise, we had two guys that were willing and able to demonstrate it. Obviously there was a lot of giggling, but they made it through with no troubles!

Overall, I was actually really happy with how the charla turned out. I was really nervous going into it because that is just how I am, but other than the frustration with my first section of the charla and not being able to understand the kids responses to my questions, everything else went pretty smoothly. We gave a pre-text and a post-test, and for the most part, the questions that were answered incorrectly on the pre-test, were answered correctly on the post-test, which means the kids actually learned what we were teaching them. One question on the post test that some people still marked yes was shocking for us - It was that peeing after having sex would lower your risk of being infected with HIV. So, obviously we did not enforce quite enough the ways of transmitting and preventing the transmission of HIV. However, they got the important aspects correct. Por ejemplo: There are only four fluids that can transmit HIV (blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk) and that there are only three ways to transmit it: Sexually, maternally (mother to baby), and by blood. I don’t know where they got the idea that peeing after sex was a prevention method, but, not we know for next time to specify that particular detail. One question tat most of them marked as true for the pre-test was that mosquitoes can transmit HIV, but thankfully on the post-test, they had marked it is as false!

Now, it is Friday again. Which means we only have 18 days left here in La Villa. And, next week we only have three days of classes because it is Semana Santa - a 4-day-long celebration of Easter for Catholics. Apparently, here in Honduras Semana Santa is huge. Right now, because it is the last Friday before Black Friday, there are people walking down the street singing and reciting prayers on every corner. With the Virgin Mary being carried on a cart through the street, people joined in the procession as she passed their house. Next Friday, Black Friday, processions and reenactments will be going on all day. There are a lot of things the catholic do in preparation for and during Semana Santa, but I have yet to learn everything about it. I know though, that alfombras (rugs) made out of flowers are a very important part of the celebration, but don‘t know yet why that is. This year, Tegucigalpa is trying to beat the record for largest rugs for Semana Santa in the Guinness Book of World Records.

No buses run on Black Friday, which is quite disappointing. I would like to go to Comayagua to see the celebration they have their because I have heard it is pretty fantastic. But, alas, I will not be able to. Here in Villa, a smaller version of all the same events will be taking place, and I’m sure it will be just as beautiful!