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Talking about Reproductive Health Projects
Negombo, Sri Lanka – By Tuesday night, the RHIYA youth had clearly put cultural and social differences aside. Following a programme of song, dance and drama presented by the several of the delegations, some rhythmic music started playing and the whole room was up dancing. Wearing saris and sarongs and sundresses, t-shirts and panjabi and tunics, jeans and khakis and loose flowing pants, baseball caps and scarves and tupi, traditional gold jewelry, piercings and tattoos, the young people from across Asia and Europe were clearly having a good time, as rain poured down outside and the buffet dinner awaited.
By eight the next morning, a number of buses were lined up in the driveway of the Chinthana Training Centre campus to take groups on field trips to a number of RHIYA project sites handled by nine RHIYA partner organizations.
One of the projects visited was the Girls College Dankotuwa, where a model programme of reproductive health education was introduced several years ago in a school system that has been slow to address these issues.
Next stop: the Friendship Centre, a welfare organization set up to serve the young women of a free trade zone near the airport. Free trade zones are the heart of Sri Lanka’s booming garment industry, which has been spurred by globalization. The garment workers are mostly young, single women. Many are from small towns and villages, and work long hours six days a week to send money back to their families.
The Friendship Centre has recently added a programme of reproductive health awareness to its other activities. And to “even things out” as a presenter said, it began offering similar programmes to the military men stationed nearby. Both are critical target groups – young, mostly unmarried and living away from home for the first time.
The young women were unable to get out of work to come to the centre, but a contingent of military personnel were on hand to answer questions.
And some of the RHIYA youth, especially those who are working on a newsletter, were quite keen to interview the military men about their programme, and the impact it has had. Their questions were direct and pointed.
“What are the major reproductive and sexual health problems here in Sri Lanka?”
“No problems.”
“I think you must have problems. What about early marriage? Do you have arranged marriages or love marriages?”
“Both.”
“Mostly arranged or mostly love?”
“Mostly love.”
“Are you married?”
“Yes.”
“Do you use contraception?”
“No.”
“No? How many children do you have?”
“Two.”
“Do you want more?”
“No.”
“But if you don’t use contraception, then you will have a big family.”
According to some of the young people, this kind of exchange was similar to the techniques used in peer education. “You have to be authoritative,” said Fauzul. “Otherwise they might think you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
For more information contact:
Thierry Lucas: tlucas@unfpa.org
Galanne Deressa: deressa@unfpa.org
This section was posted on 10 November 2004.
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