Thursday, July 16, 2009

Yoga, sex, and an ambulance

What happens when you put sixty Beninese (teenage) girls, seven Peace Corps volunteers, and matching t-shirts all together in a semi-cramped yet wonderfully available tissage center? Girls Camp! That's right: one full week of group discussions, defining objectives, sports (think: dodgeball!), learning computer skills, talking about sex, games, and camp songs sung at ear-piercing levels in French.

The highlights for me? Firstly I led the yoga session in our "Managing Stress" segment. It seemed to go over fairly well although space was limited, the girls were giggly, and the idea that it was not supposed to hurt didn't quite carry itself across. Secondly, after having a head maternity nurse come in to answer any questions pertaining to reproductive health we realized that most of them didn't even have the basics down (e.g. what is a uterus? why do women menstruate? etc.). In fact that information isn't given out until the 3eme grade--which is roughly equivalent to freshman or sophomore year of high school. Our girls were more like middle school. So, Rut (my postmate, also a health volunteer) and I quickly drew up some matter of fact diagrams of a naked woman and man, explained the uterus and menstruation, the mechanics of sex, and different methods of contraception. Afterwards everyone said that our talk was a lot clearer for the girls and that they were all very interested in what we had to say.

Talking about sex...I've been asking around in my village and the end consensus is that people don't. Parents especially almost never talk to their kids about sex, although they complain quite often and loudly that the youth of today have no morals and its all they think about. This unfortunate taboo goes for other subjects as well, such as menstruation. In a culture where you learn not by asking questions but by silently watching and copying, finding out about such topics becomes a little tricky; some things you just can't observe. A further complication: as I mentioned above the "sex talk" isn't delivered in school until about high school at which point kids are given a run-through of human anatomy and the barest sketch of the other stuff. In most cases this is way too little way too late since, especially in smaller villages like my own, many if not most girls drop out of school long before the 3eme and many are already having sex. In a situation like that, with no one to tell you any different, who knows what sort of explanation you might come up with on your own...

After the camp I was looking forward to a few days of relaxation and then of preparation for some upcoming Care Group meetings. Not so. The very last day I woke up with a splitting headache that refused to go away. Once home I tried eating something to see if that wouldn't help things a bit...I threw it up. Then I threw up water and was dry-heaving. I had a fever. I called the Peace Corps doctor who wanted me to spend the night at the health center so I wouldn't be alone. One terrible night later an ambulance was called in from Parakou that took both myself and Rut (as moral support) down to Cotonou. After having an IV the entire way down I felt a lot better and quickly recovered in the days that followed. The doctor thought I had malaria even though it didn't show up in the blood test. But I might just tell people I did...malaria sounds much more interesting than the flu.