Tackling Teenage Pregnancy with CLI

Saying that teen pregnancy is a big issue where I live is an understatement. Students as young as 12 years old are pregnant and rates only increase with age.

Girls here become teen mom for various reasons, although as far as I can tell there are 3 main ones:

1. Culture. The girls’ moms, aunts and neighbors were also teenage moms. Family sizes are big; there are little, naked babies running allll over the place. Social stigmas prevent girls from using birth control or getting tested. Machismo manifests not only the men’s lack of respect for women, but it also perpetuates traditionalist female roles of housework and raising children.
2. Poverty. A girl who knows that she is able to attend higher education and has dreams of becoming, say, a doctor, waits to get pregnant more often than a girl who plans to sell phone minutes on the street after graduating from high school.
3. Lack of knowledge. There is no sex education, and so although condoms, medical clinics and the internet are at students’ disposal, they know nothing. Students learn appropriate sex behaviors not from reliable sources but based on what they hear on the streets.

How to even begin to tackling teen pregnancy when it is so prevalent and so intertwined with other issues? With “Chicas Lideres INEDSORistas,” or CLI (the girls’ leadership and empowerment group that I started for girls at my school), we started with the basics. First we discussed "sexuality" followed by reproductive parts and functions. Right from the get-go, I was blown away by the girls’ lack of knowledge. Not only did they know next to nothing, what they thought they knew usually was incorrect. There is no sexual health education offered to youth in my school or neighborhood.

Labeling female reproductive parts

The following weeks we learned about menstruation and fertilization. Again, background knowledge was next to nothing. The girls literally shrieked as they put tampons in cups of water and watched them expand. Hilarious. Tampons do exists here, but women exclusively use pads. Now the girls at least know how to use one and therefore can go swimming or do other activities when they are on their period that they couldn't before.

The next week we capitalized on the fact that Olga, Peace Corps' project manager, was in town by holding a guest speaker presentation. Along with Olga (who was a teenage mom), Jairo (a teacher at my school who had his daughter at 14) spoke to the group from a male’s perspective about the realities of being a teen parent. In addition, Gabriella, a current, pregnant 11^th grade student spoke to the group about her experience. 

Gabriella, Jairo and Olga talking about their teenage pregnancy experiences

Finally, it was time for pregnancy prevention methods. But again, how...? Realistically condom use is not a likely option. Sure, the supermarket next to my school sells condoms, but at 15.000 pesos, or around US $7, for a pack of 6 condoms. Not happening; waaay too expensive. More influential however is machismo. Men don't want to wear them and although cheating and having multiple significant-others is widespread, if a women asks to use a condom, it means she must be sleeping with others or doesn't trust her husband. 

So we started with pregnancy prevention methods currently popular in the neighborhood. I compiled a list of common practices that people from school and in my neighborhood told me about and gave it to the girls. 

Here are some examples:
Women cannot get pregnant the first time they have sex or on their period. Washing out your vagina, drinking hot beer, drinking excess water and urinating, “pulling out” before ejaculation, taking a bath, and drinking plant juice with lemon are all effective methods of preventing pregnancy. Furthermore, if a girl does not bleed the first time she has sex she is not a virgin and people who are sexually active commonly have curved legs.
All are false (to a ridiculous extent for those of us who didn’t grow up in poor Cartagena, yes?), but nevertheless to girls in CLI, many were thought to be true. Some even protested when we told them a particular practice was ineffective, saying they knew of people who did the method and swore by it. (High teen-pregnancy rates are much more understandable after realizing that people think that they cannot get pregnant if they drink coke mixed with wine afterwards...)

Although condom use is a difficult behavior to implement, I thought it still a valid topic due to its effectiveness in pregnancy and STD prevention. The following week we learned the seven steps of how to put on a condom, with the help of 30 condoms and seven wooden dildos borrowed from the Peace Corps office. None of the girls had ever touched a condom before. The US drinking game “flip cup” was recreated where girls got in two teams and raced putting on and taking off a condom. Furthermore, the multifunctional dildos were made into microphones to judge the condom races and even a little karaoke-esque singing.

This week we are moving onto other types of birth control, such a pills and injections. Although not as effective in protecting the girls against STDs, realistically these seem to be what the girls may actually use. Moreover, these forms of birth control give women more control. To finish off the sexual health unit, the plan is to learn about STDs and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Teen pregnancy, lack of education, poverty, violence, gangs and drug use in my neighborhood will continue with or without my presence. It drives me crazy to see a woman take back a homeless, inept man who she knows has other wives and girlfriends and who has provided nothing but an abusive, alcoholic image of men to her children. It is overwhelming and daunting at times, especially with so much need but no pre-existing programs in place to educate people about these issues. Empowering girls and women may be one of the best ways to make my neighborhood, and the world really, a better place. Girls become moms who head families and pass their beliefs onto future generations. A woman who understands the value of an education will see to it that her children study hard. A mom who knows the importance of nutrition will find a way to feed her kids a healthier diet.

As a group, CLI has already gone through some trying situations. I am awed by the actions some girls took to protect the others. More than just a way to gain knowledge, the group is a support system. Especially when there are very few organized activities outside of school for youth (especially girls) to partake in, the group gives them something constructive and fun to do. The girls come back to school every Thursday night not because someone else makes them or gives them extra credit. They come because they want to be there. This has been one huge factor in the group’s success—the girls who do show up are truly motivated to change themselves and their neighborhoods for the better.

Candy's Quinceanea

A girl’s 15^th birthday, or quinceanera, in many parts of Latin America, including Colombia, is a big, big deal. While a boy’s 15^th birthday is also celebration-worthy, for girls, turning 15 is serious, quasi wedding-esque business. We’re talking the whole shebang: full-blown reception, gowns and tiaras, dinner, professional photographers and videographers, cake, dancing, bands, and guest list. Wealthier families can afford bigger, more lavish parties, but even those with economic strains go big and pride themselves on throwing their daughter an amazing party. 

I have been to three 15^th birthday parties in Colombia, but this last one was extra special. Candy lives next door to me and is a part of the big family that has adopted me into theirs. She is one of my favorites and many a night we sit in rocking chairs as she explains the intricate happenings of scandalous Colombian reality TV shows to me. 

Guests (140 of them) arrived and one-by-one male friends and family took turns dancing with the birthday girl. 

Next guests watched a slide show complete with lots of Celine Dion music, ate cake and drank champagne until the Mariachi band arrived (Mariachi bands are originally from Mexico but appear at all quinceaneras I’ve been to...?).

 Candy with the Mariachi band

Back to more talking and champaine until… “La Hora Loca!” My favorite! “The Crazy Hour” is a 60 minute dance-fest upon the arrival of another band, complete with booming drums and trumpets. Everyone, from infants to grandmas gets their groove on. And I mean everyone--the neighbor with terrible arthritis was even hoisted up in her chair. Being the "gringa", I pulled into middle and forced to “sacalo, metelo”, aka partake in awkward hip thrusting movements that no white-girl can pull off. 

 The three ladies I live with: Aura, me, Celia, and Edith

 Candy and cousins

 I live with a bunch of party animals...

Gringa getting down during "la hora loca"

The next day/night, about 40 family members made their way (usually just down the street) to my house where we prepared sancoho soup. Sancocho is a common, traditional soup of potatoes, corn, yucca, yam, beef, chicken, and carrots (whatever's in the pantry, really) that was created by throwing together scraps of extra food and leftover animal parts to make a hardy meal for African slaves.