1 year in San Isidro and 15 months in country

March-April, 2010
I started a series of Sexual and Reproductive Health classes in the high school. This series of classes includes themes such as self-esteem, communication, leadership, puberty and adolescence, the reproductive system, teenage pregnancy, birth control/family planning, STDs and HIV/Aids, Gender, domestic abuse and sexual and reproductive rights. I have decided to give these classes to the students of the night school from 1st year through the last (5th) year in the local public high school. My rationale for choosing the night school students for these classes came from the results of a sexual and reproductive health survey that I gave last year in November. The results of this survey indicated that the majority of the students who lacked awareness of sexual health issues were those that took classes in the night. These students are also generally older (17 through mid 30’s in age) who work during the day because there families are poorer and need the extra income. Some of the results in my survey included: only 37.5% of the 80 surveys filled out knew that abstinence is a method of birth control, whereas 94% knew that condoms are a birth control method. This information suggests educators of sexually health should not forget or ignore the fact that abstinence can always be an option for younger students who do not want to be sexually active. Likewise, only 32.5% of the students who responded in the survey knew that abstinence is a way to prevent STDs, whereas 84% knew that condoms can prevent STDs. Oftentimes it is assumed that all adolescents are sexually active and so sexual health educators ignore the option of promoting abstinence education. I believe that it is important not to ignore abstinence education and to include this option in sexual health classes. Another question from the survey asked, If you have initiated sexually relations and 48% of the 80 contestants responded yes, with the average age of these respondents being 18.5 years old. This further justifies the need to talk about the option of sexual abstinence or at least the option of delaying your first sexually encounter for as long as possible in addition to promoting the other birth control methods such as condoms, the pill and injections.

My health survey also included questions on HIV/aids knowledge. 80% of the survey respondents knew that HIV can be transmitted via blood, 74% semen and 71% through vaginal sex, and 66% knew that the virus can be transmitted during the pregnancy from the mother to baby. Only, 49% knew that the virus can be transmitted through breast milk; only 21% knew that it can be transmitted through vaginal secretions, and only 55% knew that the virus can be transmitted through anal sex. The survey also asked if the person has been tested for HIV or for any other STD. Unfortunately these numbers were extremely low with only 10% for the former and 9% for the later had been tested for a STD. This information suggests that the ministry of health needs to promote the tests for HIV and other STDS more strongly.

In regards to other aspects of my work that does not have to do with boring numbers (yet numbers with great significance), I fortuitously met a retired medical doctor who has an hour radio show on health themes on Sundays, in the nearby town of Sebaco (about 10 minutes away from San Isidro). Upon introducing myself and my role as a PCV, he invited me to be a guest on his radio show to talk about public health issues. I told him that I would like to bring along some of the high school students who were in my youth group from last year to impart their knowledge on health. He obliged and we did our first radio show a two Sundays ago with Jose Ramon a 19 year old 4th year high school student and Juana a 16 year old 4th year high school student. We talked about domestic and intrafamilial violence and the systems of support which exist especially for teenagers in regards to this topic. At the end of the hour show the co-owner invited and encouraged me and my youth to solicit our own hour of youth programming. We agreed along with the doctor that this would be a tremendous idea and I am now looking for funding to make this a reality.

An overwhelming amount of Nicaraguans are Roman Catholic and so one can only expect for the Easter holiday to be a heartily celebrated occasion. Well, this assertion is correct and they transform the whole week beginning the Monday after Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday into daily masses and many hours of confession and sitting or kneeing on hard, wooden uncomfortable pews. 6 other PCVs and I took this week to see the sights of Nicaragua as tourists. We went to view and witness the beautiful San Juan River which serves as the Costa Rican/Nicaraguan border. The mouth of the river originates at the southeast end of Lake Nicaragua and it empties into the Caribbean Sea. We had ambitious (perhaps as my parents hinted in a phone call, overly ambitious) plans for spending the 4 days on the river canoeing and kayaking from El Castillo to San Juan del Nicaragua (the port town on the Caribbean coast). Needless to say we only lasted one day of kayaking and canoeing making it to the town of Boca de San Carlos (appears to be a little less than half-way to the sea). There were multiple factors that impeded our advancement and actualization of our plans. I did not want to continue after my partner and I capsized in the very first minutes of the trip as we tried to navigate the rapids and rocks of El Castillo. I was the only one to have my backpack and all my clothes in our canoe and everything get wet with water despite the plastic bags that lined my backpack. My camera also got soaked despite the ziploc bag, which it was in. So after the first night in Boca de San Carlos, I returned to a hotel with Craig who was badly burnt and in pain from extreme sun exposure, and with another PCV who had lost desire to continue as the odd person out (had to kayak alone in a 2 person kayak for part of the 1st and only day of kayaking). Needless to say it was a great learning experience and I was able to get about three days of photos, mostly of our long trip getting to the river, as we crossed the huge Lake Nicaragua in a Ferry boat that took 14 hours from Granada (45 minutes Southeast of Managua) to San Carlos (the mouth of the San Juan River).

P.S. Canon digital cameras (PowerShot SD 1100 IS) seems to be a resilient brand because my camera seems to work and function almost as good as new after a week of drying out in the sun!

Follow this link for photos

P.P.S. I also posted two photos at the end of the makeshift Weights that I lift with a friend from my town..I haven't been real regular in my lifting routine.. but at least Im trying to stay in shape. There is no "gym" in my site.. there is one 10 minutes to the north... but I find it a good socializing activity to lift with my friend's makeshift weights! I also admire his creativity for making the weights!