Unfortunately the girls only training was cancelled (not enough female counterparts, it’s hard for women to leave their families on their own for a week!) AND THEN the co-ed training was cancelled because of the protests going on in Ethiopia (Google this, don’t ask us). Fortunately, it was rescheduled and I was able to attend with Birhan, the only other female teacher at my school. The interactive aspect of the training was great but the cultural differences that played out through the activities and discussions were a challenge.
Birhan and I ran our program at our school (grade 11 & 12) November and December. Our biggest challenge was scheduling. It seemed no matter what there was always something going on that would pull the students away. It was extremely frustrating. Our school has a tutorial schedule, each day two subjects are taught again in the afternoon as extra support for the students. Most teachers however don’t show up most of the time but then, randomly, they do. This created a lot of conflicts for our students. Sometimes Birhan and I would sit and wait 30 minutes-1 hour before we could start. Anyways we ended up with 21 students graduating. Originally 100 had signed up but we knew most students just wrote their name because their friends did.
Let me share one activity with you to give you an idea of the program. Each session starts with “Take a Stand,” a statement is read and everyone closes their eyes and agrees or disagrees with the statement by putting their hands on their head or hips. Then we discuss! Example statement: ‘It is common for people in my community to have more than one sexual partner.’
To learn about how circumcision and condoms can greatly reduce the risk of HIV transmission we had two teams take penalty shots against each other’s goalkeeper. At first the goal cones were labeled “uncircumcised” and “no condom” and were 6 meters apart. So a lot of students were able to score, scoring represented being infected with HIV. For the second round the “uncircumcised” sign was changed to “circumcised” and the goal cones were brought closer together so fewer students could score a shot. Finally, for the third round “no condom” was changed to “condom” and instead of just one goalkeeper the team had four! The opposing team had a very slim chance of scoring and being infected with HIV.
There was another, similar activity where students dribbled two balls to the goal while being chased by “HIV” representing how having two sexual partners (the balls) would increase your risk of being infected by HIV before reaching your life goals (the soccer goal).
I felt like the students were really on board with most of the knowledge presented; the one risk that was difficult for them to understand though was the risk of older partners. In our town, and probably most of rural Ethiopia, females tend to marry older; usually for economic reasons I am told. Our curriculum stated that older partners may have had more sex in their lifetime, increasing the risk for HIV. There being older also gives them more power in a relationship which can be a risk (not wanting to use condoms, etc). A student justified the practice (marrying older) by explaining that the girl’s family will investigate the man’s past before they allow their daughter to be with him. An adult (with limited English, so perhaps I misunderstood) I spoke with about this said that women stop having sex as they age so that is why it is good to marry an older man so he’ll cheat less.
A couple of unexpected great moments in the program happened when we were done for the day. Usually we would play football or volleyball (just in a circle) photo. It was really great to see male and female students playing together; I really didn’t see this at my school before. Most of the time the boys take over in the classroom during the school day so it was really fun to see the girls get aggressive with the ball. A few other times we’d have some great conversations on our walk home. One male student asked me the difference between love and sex…..oh, look! There’s my turn (:
GRS has definitely been a highlight of my Peace Corps service. It was difficult but it really allowed me to get closer to my students and have some conversations I may not have otherwise been able to. After a few sessions into GRS Jimi and I happened to observe what seemed like a sexual assault on a bus when we were traveling for Thanksgiving. We tried to step in but didn’t feel like the situation was resolved. I was extremely upset and when I asked teachers about this they said that it is common and people don’t help the victim (afraid of getting in a fight). This made me even more upset, another sleepless night. Fortunately, I was able to talk to a student about it and even eventually discuss it at a GRS session with many students. Their responses and willingness to help in such situations gave me a lot of hope that perhaps things are changing with the next generation. Maybe just in thought and talk for now, I don’t know, but perhaps in action for the future then.
If I can have any impact here I just hope that my female students see my confidence and find theirs whether in the classroom, community or in one of these types of situations.