Teaching Taboo: Advising The Next Generation

Students at New Hope perform a range of role plays on resisting peer pressure.

I have been teaching weekly Adolescent Reproductive Health and Lifeskills classes at two local primary schools. At New Hope Primary School, I teach approximately 100 students from standards 5 through 8. At Budalang'i Primary School, I teach approximately 60 students from standard 8. This has been yet another opportunity to work in a field which I have no prior experience in. As time has gone on, I've gotten more and more comfortable with teaching and have come to rather enjoy it.

Answering questions from the students at New Hope prior to beginning a lesson on HIV/Aids.

This class is strongly needed here in our community, where too many teenagers as young as 13 suffer from pregnancy, or even HIV infection. The right information just isn't readily available, and parents and teachers alike generally feel uncomfortable broaching the subject of sex.

These two students at Budalang'i Primary absolutely nailed this role play where the boy is asking to have sex with his girlfriend, refusing to use a condom. The girl insists upon condom use, explains her reasons, and stands her ground.

I had asked each school to assign a teacher to my class, such that they would be gaining experience while assisting me. Not only is the material important, but the whole setup of the class is unusual for Kenyan education. It is interactive by design. It isn't about a teacher lecturing and students copying notes into their copybooks. It is participatory; teaching using open-ended questions to facilitate discussion, playing educational games, performing role-plays, amongst other techniques. This way, the students actually come to their own conclusions, making learning and behavior change much more likely. And at the end of each class, students are able to write their own questions anonymously for us to answer during our next session.

Students at New Hope performing a skit where a group of friends discuss various myths associated with HIV/Aids.

As an example of the discomfort teachers in Kenya feel handling topics such as sexual intercourse, last month while taking turns answering students' questions at the beginning of class, Titus, the teacher I work with at New Hope, pulled me aside. He told me, 'Mike, I don't think I can answer this.' The question was simply 'What is a condom?' I asked, 'why, school rules?' 'No,' he said, 'I just don't think I can.' So I took the question from him, exchanging it with a random question from my pile.

I had to laugh as I handed him my next question, 'If you have sex with a condom and it bursts, can you get HIV/Aids?' He read it, but I began to answer right away, asking the students if they know what a condom is. I explained what it is, where to get it, and the importance of using it if you do choose to engage in sex. I explained how, with proper storage and use, it is highly unlikely to break. But more importantly, after I first tackled the issue, Titus seemed to open up and began answering their questions on such taboo issues.

Students at New Hope perform a role play on how to resist peer pressure to smoke cigarettes or 'bhang' (marijuana).

The questions we receive, ranging from drugs and alcohol, sexual intercourse, pregnancy, relationship advice, and vocational advice, seem to validate the importance of such a class. Therefore, I am absolutely thrilled that both schools seem dedicated to continuing these classes after I leave.

One of my favorite activities involves simulating sexual activity with handshakes. Each student is given a small sheet of paper, all of which say 'Follow all of my directions,' except three, which say 'Don't follow any of my directions'. One student has a small 'x' written in the corner of their paper, one has a small 'y', and three others a small 'c'.

I instruct the students to stand up and shake hands with three other students, signing one another's papers at the same time. Once finished, I ask the students to sit down, the students with an 'x' and a 'y' to stand. The first is infected with HIV, the second with gonorrhea. Then, everyone who has their signatures is asked to stand. Next, everyone who has their signatures, and so on. Soon, everyone is standing with the risk of having been infected by an STI, except those which hadn't followed any of my directions. They practiced abstinence. Then I ask those with a 'c' to sit down, they are safe because they used condoms. The activity really gets the point across.

Students at New Hope perform a role play on how to resist peer pressure to attend 'discomatangas,' or late-night funerals where drug use and sexual promiscuity are rampant.

Titus, my good friend and teacher at New Hope Primary School, told me a couple months ago that they have already added the Lifeskills class to their curriculum for all students. And last week, Madame Celestine, the teacher now assigned to my classes at Budalang'i Primary School, told me that she would like to not only continue teaching the class in my absence, but expand it to classes 6 and 7 as well. She said she would just be at school anyways, might as well teach and help their kids!

Students at New Hope perform a role play on how to resist peer pressure to drink alcohol.

I hope that I am having an impact on the lives of those students I am currently teaching. But I am moreso thrilled that the teachers who have assisted me will continue that impact in my absence, touching more lives than I ever could. Behavior change is a slow and difficult process, but at least we are helping to bring these issues out from the shadows. And who knows, if enough schools take up these sort of courses, underage pregnancy and HIV infection may one day be a rarity in Bunyala.

Group photo with my students at Budalang'i Primary School.

Group photo with my students at New Hope Primary School. So many kids!