I recently heard that Diabou, who is currently 15, is
pregnant. My heart dropped when I
heard the news, because I knew how much it meant to Mbamoussa for her daughter
not to follow along the same path she had. Diabou is a good student and was selected to be a Student
Relais for the training Ian and I had planned. My head was full of questions, and I didn’t know what my
role should be in the situation. Mbamoussa and Diabou had been keeping the pregnancy a
secret, so I felt uncomfortable confronting either of them about it, and I
didn’t even know if it was my place to say anything.
That night, I found myself sitting alone with Mbamoussa
outside the compound, and I decided to just ask her straight out if Diabou was
pregnant. I told her I noticed
Diabou was getting a little bigger and wondered if she was pregnant. Mbamoussa confirmed what I already
knew, but it was better to hear it from her. Right then, some others walked over and sat down, so we
stopped talking about it. Later
that evening, when I returned to my hut for the night, Mbamoussa followed me
and knocked on my door. This was a
big step in our relationship, because she confided in me and explained her
fears and worries. With this
conversation being in Malinke, I probably wasn’t as useful as I maybe could have
been, but I think we both understood one another. I asked her if Diabou planned to stay in school, and she
said she didn’t know yet. I think
Mbamoussa wants her to continue school, but she doesn’t know how that would be
possible. So many girls drop out
due to pregnancy or early marriage.
Only 3 girls have made it to the final year of middle school this past
year. I told Mbamoussa that I
wanted to try to help as much as I could to convince Diabou to stay in school.
Ian and I have been planning the Student Relais training for
the past 4 months, and we planned to train 12 students (6 girls and 6 boys) to
teach others about Sexual Education, Family Planning, HIV/AIDS, STI’s, Early
Marriage, Teen Pregnancy, and the Importance of Education. We knew that these areas were important
for students to know about, but it became a lot more real to me once I found
out Diabou’s news. I realized that
these students need to be educated about sexual health. If we had done the training earlier,
maybe things for Diabou would be different.
The 3-day Student Relais training just ended yesterday, and
it’s a relief to have that under my belt.
Ian was an amazing work partner, and the training was very
effective. Planning was a
challenge though. I think the most
difficult aspect of putting this training together was the village and health
system politics. A few weeks
before the training, some villagers told us that we should have put together a
committee of villagers for the event and that there had to be a committee
meeting before the training could happen.
Unfortunately, no one had told us this earlier when the information
would have been more useful. Ian
and I received grant money from USAID, but they require a community
contribution as well. The chief
did not seem to understand this concept and was unhelpful. The week of the training, we finally
put together a committee, had a meeting, and figured out the final preparations
for the training. We had to
organize for a group of women to cook lunch each day and had to mobilize the
community to come to the graduation ceremony at the end of the training. So many little things came up that
needed to be done that I never would have thought of. For example, I had to find students to search for bunches of
wood in the bush for the women to make fire with to cook the lunch. Getting the T-shirts we had made in
Dakar was a fiasco. We had to plan
a menu and buy all the ingredients from various places for the lunches and
coffee breaks. We had to get money
out of the bank to pay for everything, and both ATM’s in Kedougou were
broken. On top of that, Ian and I
had to plan the curriculum and work with the head midwife at the hospital to figure
out exactly what the students would learn.
Finally, the day of the training, I thought we had
everything in order and that we were set for a smooth training. Wrong. The morning of the training, Sarr dropped a huge bomb. He pretended everything was fine right
up until the training was about to start, and then he refused to come and told
me he could shut our training down since Nafadji is within his health zone and
he is in control of all the health activities that happen. He was angry that I had asked the head
midwife in Saraya to lead the training instead of him. He had offered zero help the entire 4
months leading up to the training and was all of a sudden saying I made a huge
mistake in not doing everything through him. I was furious.
Ian and I had worked so hard to get everything together, and the
students were excited for the training, and now Sarr was making it all about
him and his authority. Through
gritted teeth, I apologized for not involving him more, and he seemed to accept
my apology. He no longer
threatened to ruin our training, but he still refused to have any part in
it. But, the show went on.
We got an amazing group of 12 students for the
training. They were excited and
motivated to learn. We did a pre-test
before the training started to gauge their base knowledge, and we found that
they didn’t know much about sexual health. By the end, they were able to answer every question and
showed phenomenal improvement. The
head midwife in Saraya was a great leader and taught the students about
Puberty, Sex, Family Planning, HIV/AIDS, and STI’s. Every one of those students now knows how to properly do a
condom demonstration, and they are excited to teach their friends. Along with the midwife’s lessons, Ian
and I led games and other activities throughout the training. My favorite part was when we did a tea time
health talk, where we all sat around, drinking tea, and talking informally
about health. We learned how much
the students were retaining, and listened as they taught us all about
everything they had learned. The
last day, we did a “Draw Your Future” activity, where each student drew where
they wanted to be in 10 years. A
lot of them want to be doctors, teachers, nurses, and midwives. We had them write out a step-by-step
plan for how to achieve their goals, and I hope they get there!
Having Diabou as a trainee made me feel a little awkward as
the head midwife talked about the risks of teen pregnancy and how bad it was
not to protect yourself. I was happy
to hear her talk about how important it was to stay in school even if a girl
becomes pregnant. She said that
the girl had made one mistake by getting pregnant but didn’t need to make the
second one by dropping out of school.
I hope Diabou was listening.
Ultimately it’s her life and her choice, but I would love to see her
become a teacher, which is what she said she wanted to be some day.
This training really opened the lines of communication about
sexual health in the village. We
had a great turnout for our graduation ceremony, and our trainees sported their
new green “Jeune Relais” t-shirts.
The community knows what these students have been trained in and sees
the value in the training. Too
many young girls get pregnant or married too young, and now more students will
have knowledge about how to plan and protect themselves.
Ian and I are very excited to work with this group of
Student Relais in the coming year.
We will continue to give them homework assignments and work with them to
educate their peers and local communities. This weekend, they will be doing a health talk in front of
the community about some of the subjects they learned. Within the next month, each Jeune
Relais will teach at least 5 other friends about something they learned. Slowly, the knowledge will spread.
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| The Jeune Relais Group |
