"Then came the real pot of gold. I think I may have found my calling."

This was the day only a few months into my service (back when I lived in the Anglophone region of Cameroon) that I fell in love with teaching reproductive health, a love affair that has only gained momentum since then, and which I'm excited to start talking more about.

The other day my landlord asked me what the funniest thing to happen to me in Cameroon has been, and I could not come up with a good response off the top of my head. One of the top contenders is bolded below : )

I've found so much joy and satisfaction teaching reproductive health ever since

March 16, 2011

"I taught at two schools today, and each session was one of those could-not-have-asked-for-more experiences that make you want to shout "YES! I'm doing it! This is why I came!" The moments you realize why those who are back doing development policy in Washington DC miss being in the field.

The first class was of the oldest students in the elementary school - quite well-behaved, eager to learn, and super good at the whole "Good morrrrrning Ma DAMME!" stand up ritual when I walk through the door. Never gets old! We did the activity where I pass out slips of paper, one with an x, and have everyone shake hands with 3 people. We pretend that the person who had the x had a virus, and you ask those who shook their hand to stand up, then those who shook their hands, on an on until everyone is standing…really demonstrates how fast illnesses and viruses can spread when we don’t wash our hands (or for older students, wear a condom).

Then we did an activity on gender, making lists of what we know about men and women. I was worried they would be nervous to be stereotyping, but they fell right into the “trap!” Women sew dresses, plant seeds, braid hair, cook the food, take care of children, have high voices, have breasts, breastfeed, carry baskets and clean the house; Men split wood, build houses, climb trees to get palm oil, like soccer, drink beer, go to the farm, are stronger, lead the family, have a deep voice, have no babies.

We talked about which ones cannot change, and which could, possibly. SO INTERESTING!! Some things they could see could change. Men COULD sew dresses, women can also go to the farm. Even once they saw that the other gender could also do perform some roles, certain flip-flops were very uncomfortable for them. “Could men ever take care of babies?” A resounding “NOOOOO Madame!” Can men wear baskets? NO. Why, they cannot also put on a basket? “Madame, it’s our culture.” Winner! Really cool to lead them to that point of recognition.

Then we talked about how at different times and in different places men and women have different roles, many of which have been determined by culture, and which can shift over time. Women wear dresses, but I am wearing pants today, as a woman. Some women even in this town are working, and the man helps take care of the children. It was so neat to see the children give different responses as the student next to them, then look confused about who was right? They got totally into it, and by the end understood that some things will never change (men can’t breastfeed, will always be generally bigger) and some can depending on time and place. Even the male teacher brought up how one of the Cameroonian tribes depends on women to build the thatched huts, not men. Score!

Then came the real pot of gold. I think I may have found my calling. It has come seriously to my attention that students of middle and high school age in my town receive NO sex education, and the principal, parents, students and other teachers have informed me that lack of awareness is rampant around HIV and other STD’s, puberty issues of all types, male/female interactions, pregnancy, contraception, and their own changing bodies.

So in addition to bringing many of these topics into my weekly lessons with the Health Club, we decided to start a special program for Form 3 and Form 4 girls – about 9^th/10^th grade level – many of whom become pregnant and drop out of school. We kept the boys away and I spent a couple hours talking to them about how I know they have so few options for getting information about these really important topics, and I wanted to create a place where we could be open and honest about all the things girls face as they are becoming ladies. When I walked outside at the end of the workshop, I was stunned to realize I had no idea what time of day or day of the week it was, I had been so absorbed in the moment, so blown away by everything that took place…and all I wanted was to do it again.

We played a Jeopardy game, in which between all the teams (at least sixty students), we could not come up with the four fluids that transmit HIV, no one knew what the clitoris was, and we ran into a serious problem of how to respond to traditional belief answers. With the question “What are three important things for a pregnant woman to do or not do” we got “Make sport (exercise), go to the clinic, and keep having sex so the hole for the baby will not close up”. This is something many of their mothers and other women of the village entirely think is important, yet has no effect on if the baby will actually come out…the biology teacher who co-led the session warned that not counting the answer as correct would cause a massive loss of faith in our other teachings.  We ended up counting the question as right overall, though I emphasized that no one should go searching for sex during pregnancy thinking that the baby needs it. Team B ended up winning by that one point! That caused a small riot, but all in the name of learning.  

Hilarity ensued when the answer to one question was“erection” and girls did not know that word. Election? Connection? Correction?, the girls proposed I might mean. Teachers here often use the method of letting the kids say the last word of a sentence, such as “We need to wash our hands with soap and ____” WATER. The kids are very attuned to saying aloud what they think the missing word is. So as the teacher goes to expand on the concept of an erection, she said “When a boy has an erection, it means he is all ready to have sex, so you need to” and before she even indicated a pause, about 10 of the younger girls, looking terrified at the prospect, burst out “RUN!”

I lost it. YES, RUN. Great answer, keep it for many years please!

I also turned an old powdered milk tin into a Question Box, with a cut-out in the cover for paper slips to go through. I handed out paper bits but worried that the girls would be too shy to ask anything, or not know what to ask…but pens were scribbling furiously with an outpouring of long-pondered questions and every girl submitted at least one.  Reading them was like reading kids’ letters to Santa, they were so touching and sweet and poignant for the very real issues they revealed the girls are struggling with without anyone to talk to. I’m looking at a few I’ve just pulled out: “Why so much menstrual pain every month?” “What is love really talking about?” “How to answer boys who are disturbing you?” “How can I control myself from having unwanted sex, and why do we have unwanted feelings for boys?” “How to do with boys who are approaching for sexual activities?” A LOT of menstruation questions – pain, understanding your cycle, if skipping months is normal, and a lot about boys, pregnancy, and how to manage sexual feelings. Welcome to womanhood ladies – menstrual cramps and dealings with men! Very Judy Blume stuff, it was great and brought me back to 6^th grade – yet NO one talks to these girls about any of this, and they don’t have a library, magazine rack, health center hand-outs, or the internet to help them figure it all out. I can’t wait to keep working with them, they seemed really eager and got so much more comfortable by the end. I loved being real with them, telling them I am here to make sure they have information. At the end the bio teacher said to them “Listen, we are not here to kill those already having sex” (umm, yeah I should hope not). I love my job!

Being able to do this all in English, which they understand well, is such a blessing – allows me to be so much more intimate with them and really get specific. But when we went over the male and female reproductive systems and I contexualized that all these parts are located between your belly button and between your legs, there were fits of giggles and whispers. Yes, ladies, I did say penis. But one girl bravely raised her hand and, giggling, asked me to repeat the name of “the thing on your stomach”. “The belly button?” They BURST out laughing! “Madame, it’s called a naval.” Made my day. "