Saint Martin de Porres / Hinche

09/03/2020

It was just the three of us, we were excited to get this started. We were also anxious. We got there at around 10 , received a very warm welcome from the kids. Were we expecting to be in a room with 45 children,? No. But how do we say no to kids ? "The needs are tremendous, children need role model we are not sure when we have to maximize the opportunity" said the school director. Of course we struggled with logistics, who wouldn't it was our first time. We had about 30 girls and about 15 boys age from 9-12 . We completed two topics in 1h30 minutes . We started with a session on reproductive health to our surprise the kids had so many questions , we did our best to answer all of them. The second session was about self esteem , we know how self-esteem is a key tool to survive teenage years. OMG ! it was intense , they had so much to share. I, myself shared many of my own experience with loving my body. I also shared how I grieved the loss of some of my loved one. Believe me kids want to talk , please give them time , space and a voice. We were more than satisfied with out first session. Lets hope we will someday go back to this same school where we started and maybe implement a stronger program for young girls.

Ruth Altagrace Domond MD