Ira Glass Watch Out: An Expert* Radio Interview with the Coordinator of a Nicaraguan LGBTQ Center

Lucy (Health 61) lives in a medium-sized and highly conservative city in the valley of Matagalpa. Lucy participates in a weekly radio program that addresses sexual and reproductive health topics. She and the staff at the station wanted to cover the topic of sexual diversity, or LGBTQ issues, but people who identify as part of the LGBTQ community in their town do not feel comfortable speaking about the topic on the radio. Isabel (Health 61) works with an LGBTQ center in León, a slightly more liberal city, and knows a few outspoken LGBTQ activists who jumped at the chance to bring their cause to a larger audience. Isabel asked Helen Alfaro, the coordinator of a local LGBTQ center, La Casa de Colores, to be interviewed, then sent the recording to Lucy, who broadcasted it on the radio with commentary from Milo, the host of the program, and with commentary from Lucy herself.

PCV Project: Torneo de Billar

Generally when we work in sexual and reproductive health we focus on youth and pregnant women. This makes sense in that they are a sexually active population, or soon to be sexually active and they are often under-informed or misinformed about their sexual health and rights. Also, they are fairly accessible populations here in Nicaragua, what with casa maternas and high schools in every town.

But there is one very large and powerful population that we too-often forget about, MEN!

They are half of the population after all, and in the machismo culture that exists in Latin America, men often hold most of the power within their relationships, families, and communities. Because of this, working with men can be intimidating and uncomfortable for a lot of volunteers. One idea that came out of the manual Aquí entre nos from Peace Corps Honduras is the Billiards Tournament.

The idea is simple, gather a group of men in the local Billiards Hall and hold a Tournament. The only catch is that the tournament also includes presentations about HIV/AIDS and condom use, and in the final game the players have to answer questions based on the information from the presentations.

During the Health 63 practicum week in my site, we pulled off a very successful Billiards Tournament. It was definitely one of the most fun and rewarding events in my first year of service. Here are a few things that went well with the tournament that we hosted.

Non-machinsta things to say to young boys

A lot of our work as volunteers when it comes to gender focuses on young girls and how we can elevate their self-esteem, and motivate them to study, work and avoid pregnancy at a young age. But, by ignoring half of the population (young boys) we are missing out on a group of people that are equally involved in and harmed by cultural standards that dictate what people should do or feel according to their gender identification.

With that in mind, here are a few ideas of things we can include in our interactions with young boys to change the machista dialogue they often hear. These ideas come from things I’ve heard around my community and especially in the classroom…

•  “It’s ok to cry.”  They, like a lot boys in the US, are told that boys and men don’t cry. Not only does this encourage boys to bottle up emotions instead of finding healthy ways to express themselves, it also suggests that crying, which is ok and expected from girls, is a sign of weakness.

Converting English games into Anatomy Activities

In the English classroom we all have some go-to games that are helpful for reviewing all types of new vocabulary and information. A golden rule in the second-language community is to teach no more than 7-10 new words in any given class. As a TEFL volunteer preparing a charla on the reproductive system for 5^th and 6^th grade girls, I was struck by how much vocabulary is involved and how little practice I had originally planned into the session.

In light of that, here are 3 games I easily adapted to help the participants (girls ages 10-13 in this case) become more familiar with the new information about their bodies:

1. Busca el (los) órgano(s) que…

This activity is adapted from the common game “Find the person who…”  and is a good follow-up to the presentation of different organs and their functions. It gives the participants a chance to actively investigate and review the positions and functions of different body parts.

Resource Overview: Teaching English to Prevent HIV Manual

Education is a key to preventing the spread of HIV and reducing stigma and discrimination against those who are living with the virus. Teach English to Prevent HIV: A Teacher’s Manual is designed to enable PCVs to teach English while also providing students a safe space to learn about HIV/AIDS and develop life skills that reduce their vulnerability to infection. The curriculum focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on speaking and listening skills and aims to achieve a measurable impact on students’ knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, intentions, and behaviors.

Props to the HIV-AIDS Taskforce for sharing this information in their monthly update!

Program Design:
This manual is designed for school-based programs targeting students ages 13–16 with an intermediate level of English language proficiency, but could be adapted for an intermediate community class, a group of college students studying English or even a class with English teachers.

Most lessons last one hour, except lessons 10 and 11 which require project work and more time; however, all lessons could easily be extended to an hour and a half with more time for review and language reinforcement activities. 

PCV Project: Pinto para Aprender

In Peace Corps we give a lot of charlas: charlas about teaching strategies, charlas about how to start a business, charlas about how to use a condon, charlas about how to give good charlas, but we all know this isn’t the only way to share information or explore a topic with a group of people. In this blog post we’ll share details about three health volunteers that used art and creative expression to engage girls and boys in topics of sexual health, healthy relationships, and positive lifestyles.

PCV Project: Garden in the Casa Materna

Want to improve women's nutrition or generate money for women's health?  Consider doing a garden project at a Casa Materna! Read this post for some ideas on how to get started and some tips based off my experience working on a garden project in Rio San Juan.

 

Resource highlight: Yo Merezco and Yo Tambien Merezco manuals

Peace Corps Volunteers in Honduras created the Yo Merezco manual with the idea of reaching out to young women, ages 10-15, through a course that would encourage positive decision making, especially when it comes to their bodies and sexual relations. After the successful implementation of the manual around the country, health volunteers developed a twin manual for boys: Yo También Merezco.

The four goals of the program are to: 1) postpone sexual relations, 2) empower adolescents and promote self-respect, 3) lower the number of youth who become pregnant, and 4) decrease la rate of HIV transmission and the stigmatization that people living with HIV/AIDS face.

Each chapter is comprised of a different topic with its own objective.

NGO Highlight: Pro-Mujer

According to their website Pro-Mujer is “una organización de desarrollo de la mujer que proporciona a las mujeres de bajos recursos de América Latina los medios para generarse el sustento y labrar de un futuro para sus familias a través de las microfinanzas, la capacitación en negocios y el apoyo en salud.”

Dia contra la violencia hacia las mujeres

This past week, on November 25^th, Nicaragua celebrated the Día Internacional para la Eliminación de la Violencia hacia las Mujeres with marches, radio reports, and other events across the county. El Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres (MAM), which brings together all the feminists organizations in Nicaragua, led the march in Managua that not only spoke out against violence against women, but also against the recently proposed constitutional reforms.

Mochila Educativa: Autoestima

The Mochila Educativa is a resource developed by MINSA and Nicaragua Avanza “as an educational guide that allows adolescents to learn about a series of themes concerning sexual reproductive health in order to apply and share the information with other adolescents, young people, family members and community groups.”

This Spanish-language guide offers activities and plans for teaching youth about the following themes: