This is my new job.
To explain: another volunteer left Haiti unexpectedly. Her dog got sick. This means that 1/3 of the conversations I have with other Haitians falls into a line of questioning that could be characterized as “what Americans would and would not do for their dogs.” If you know me, you know I come from a line of dog folk. Clifford, a friend of mine who is practicing his English, was confounded: “You could not let the beast lie with you in bed. Tell me it is not true!” Oh, it is true. I withheld the fact that my sister used to, at times, sleep on the floor with our dogs for another day.
So I have some new duties tacked on to my old ones, one of which is coordinating the Next Generation of Healthy Women Responsible Sexuality and Soccer Program. It is a really great program. What do Soccer and Responsible Sexuality have to do with each other, you ask? Well for one, you can’t play soccer if you’re pregnant. That’s against the rules. Secondly, if you are between the ages of 13 and 18, female, and live in a village that is censused by the foundation, (and aren’t pregnant) you are eligible for the program. First, you must attend a 5 day sex education training program given by my friend Marc-Antoine, a nurse educator. Then you must pass the exam. Secondly, you must attend the Girls Health Day, at which you get entered into our medical system. We check the girls’ blood pressures, BMIs (for malnutrition), and take blood samples (for anemia and iron deficiency). Instead of women entering the medical system when they become pregnant, we can better track the girls’ health from an earlier age. Why do they go through all of this hullabaloo? Because then we give them uniforms and cleats and soccer balls and help them set up a seriously awesome soccer league throughout all of the Grand Anse! Girls only!
As you can see from the photo, the people come out for the matches rain or shine. Girls don’t generally get the opportunity to play sports here, so folks are pretty excited about it. Because we get the girls entered into our medical system, we have begun tracking prevalence of STIs and <18 y/o pregnancies in girls who did and did not receive the training—the results are pretty staggering. I’ll post some numbers when I get a chance. Currently, I am very busy helping 3 other individuals in the gargantuan task of organizing distributing school books and supplies to 1,200 children. Tèt chaje!
