  
Date:
21st December 2004
Venue:
Jhorabahal, Lathikata Block, Dist Sundergarh, Orissa.
Topic:
Reproductive Health
Target
Audience: candidates of marriage preparatory class
Facilitator: Dr. Manju Kerketta
Foreword
The
pre-marital classes for couples held in the cities are professionally managed.
The villages are not so lucky in terms of access to correct information,
resource persons and professional touch. We wanted to share & impart the
same knowledge back home as we do in the cities. We wanted our people to have
first hand information from professionals. I took initiative and decided to do
it on my own.
Preparation
The
preparation for my first time session in the village began about a month ago
(November) in Mumbai. As I had decided for a visual presentation on a LCD or an
OHP (Over Head Projector), I had started collecting the material in terms of
visuals.
The most difficult part for me was to
identify the Hindi words for medical terms. Another problem for me was the fact
that I was not conversant with the people’s language that is ‘Sadri’
(Common adivasi language in Chotanagpur). My constant worry was this language
barrier.
I prepared a
list of the technical terms and asked my father-in-law to translate them into
Hindi. It was a difficult task for him also, but he managed to locate a Hindi
book, which was usually used by priests for the marriage preparation classes.
Since the terms used to describe the reproductive organs were new to me, it was
difficult for me to memorize them. Since I had no other alternative, I had to
use them for my presentation. Ultimately I decided to prepare the pictorial
presentations by drawing on chart papers.
My charts
depicted the following
-
The puberty
differences among boys and girls (points)
-
Pictorial
depiction of how a boy differs from a girl in the external anatomical
structures right from childhood to puberty to adulthood
-
A detailed
explanation of the male and female reproductive organs (pictorial)
-
Process of
menstruation (pictorial)
-
Process of
conception (pictorial)
-
Methods of
spacing the intervals between the childbirths – temporary and permanent
methods (pictorial)
-
Pregnancy and
antenatal care
-
The danger signs
in pregnancy and labour
-
Breastfeeding
-
Newborn and
infant care including immunization and weaning, danger signs
All the
pictorial charts were labeled in Hindi, with the terms that I found in the
Hindi book.
Programme
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9:30am
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Introduction
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10am
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Session-I
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Puberty
|
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Male
& Female Reproductive Organs (external/internal)
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Menstruation
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Conception
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***
Break ***
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12noon
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Session-II
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Pregnancy,
Ante-natal care
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Intra
& Post-natal care
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Breast
Feeding
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New
born & Infant care
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Family
Planning
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***
Break ***
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2pm
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Session-III
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Open
Session
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Brain
storming on myths, practices
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No of
Participants: 50 (25 boys and 25 girls), 3 Nursing Mothers and 1 retired school
teacher
The session
started with the parish priest leading in prayer followed by formal introduction
of the participants and then my introduction. I started by greeting them,
disclosed my inability to speak in ‘Sadri’ and asked them if they were
comfortable in Hindi. I also requested the participants to interrupt the session
anytime to clear their doubts and to ask for a break whenever they felt the
session becoming too heavy.
I made the
sessions as participatory as possible and constantly urging them to ask
questions whenever they had difficulty in understanding the terms. The parish
priest and mother superior also helped during the session by motivating the
participants to ask questions.
We took a
break after we had discussed about pregnancy, during the break I had an informal
chat with girls, where it was encouraging to know that they were interested in
acquiring knowledge on such issues. They were hesitant in asking some questions
in the common forum example ‘can one have sex during pregnancy?’ for which I
encouraged them to put up such questions in the common forum for everybody to
learn and understand.
Towards the
end of the session the boys took courage to ask questions. And it is commendable
to say that the questions asked by them were of equal relevance, for example
questions from ‘sex of the baby’ to how is AIDS/HIV transmitted.
Conclusion
An important learning - the session
was much more participatory and interactive as compared to what we have
experienced in the cities. (The reason for such a disparity/ difference could be
their first time access to such type of information by a professional.)
With this
first experience, I came to know the difficulties in taking such sessions
especially where language is an important factor. We need to devote more time in
explaining these topics to the future participants especially in this setup, as
this is their first contact to such scientific information from a reliable
source, though they might have come across it through a number of unreliable
resources.
We plan to
put in print a small booklet (hindi) with pictorial representation and
explanation of the contents. The church can use this user-friendly booklet in
their marriage classes.
We plan to
incorporate myths regarding pre-marital sex, safe sex, STD, ill-effects of
smoking and drinking.
In the cities
due to time constraints the classes are held over a one or two days. In the
villages classes are held over prolonged durations spanning 2-3 weeks, with
greater emphasis on spiritual motivation. We plan to devote more time in
specific areas and reorganise our Programme.
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