Live with Passion: A,E,I,O,U. condoms. Good Eats.

YES. Vowels, Sex Ed and food - all musts in life.

School has finally begun after 3 weeks of it being open and nobody sending their kids. Crazy, I know. The school opens and all the parents automatically know when each family will send their kid – no one wants their kid there alone so they all wait and pounce when everybody else sends their kid – this whole process takes about 3 weeks. The first day of school was supposed to be mid-August. Were almost done with September and on our 2^nd week of school.

I knew the Dominican education system was constantly failing but this was just too ridiculous. I decided once and for all to open up and start my Learn How to Read classes with kids in the community who were interested….have I EVER taught reading? NO. Do I know anything about teaching? NO. However, I am confident that I can teach this kids something the education system here probably never will – critical thinking, school can be fun, teachers are here to help, etc. This is my mission – to show these kids that learning doesn’t have to involve getting beat by teachers, rote memorization and overcrowded classrooms with kids within a 10 year age range in one grade.

I looked up how to teach kids to read and found a Peace Corps manual called “Yo Se Leer”. PERFECT!! Made a few copies and made my students each a folder. Each one of them gets a box of crayons when they come to my class to color in different drawings of objects that start with the letter that we are working with that day – trying to develop creativity too.

CONDOMS. Where do I begin? I have unrolled about a hundred of condoms in the last 3 weeks. I have come to that point in my youth group where we are doing condom demo’s, charlas on family planning, condom contests (how many condoms can you put on correctly to a banana in 5 minutes), etc. This has been my focus recently. It has been very successful as a few of my youth have admitted to me that they have had condoms break or get frustrated and just don’t use one for lack of knowing how to put one on correctly. Due to all these recent charlas, I have had more people come to my house to ask me questions and advice about their sexual relationships. In big groups they all joke around but separately it has been incredible to help them out and answer questions. A lot of the guys here are actually very mindful of the teen pregnancy issue and its negative consequences.

My youth group is due to graduate in mid-november and I have selected about 7 leaders who will move on to give their own charlas – making our network of youth health promoters wider as the time goes on.

Doing a role play of how a couple negotiates condom use

Thank you PEACE CORPS, USAID AND PSI for providing us with a wooden penis for demo purposes

Discussion about family planning methods

Family Planning activity

Each group had to campaign why their method is the best one

o, yeah..all this by flashlight and candles

presenting

My young adolescent girls group is wrapping up. Chicas Brillantes graduation is right around the corner and I will be making them a cake and giving them each a bracelet for graduation. During graduation I will motivate them to continue spreading the word about women's empowerment, self-esteem, good decision making etc. This has been my most successful group so far and I will miss knowing that I have quality time with them once a week...

Learning how to take care of our bodies

nutritous meal after my nutrition charla with the Chicas

Every day is a challenge in terms of figuring out how to vary my diet. You see, as volunteers we are limited to a stipend. This means we are given just enough to cover food, rent, transport, work materials and other basic house necessities. Because of this my diet consists of Auyama (a vivere similar to squash), eggs, ham, rice, wheat, beans, some veggies (tomato, onion and peppers). Very rarely do I get other viveres (starchy, potato like food). Avocados are in season so I am eating a lot of those now. This is pretty much what I have available to me so…I have no other option than to get creative in the kitchen! This is what I have done so far…..