A DAY TO REMEMBER

Sumudu Siriwardena
22/08/2012
Post 2

“Health education program”, it surely was something new for us. But to be honest I was getting more nervous and scared as the days closed by. First of all we were supposed to speak in front of a group of people including our lecturers which i was completely uncomfortable with. And making the matters worst we girls were supposed to wear sarees.Irony is the topic we selected was stress management, and I was so stressed out, that in the previous night didn’t had much of a sleep.

As this was a school vacation we were sent to an orphanage instead. We were divided to five groups and our group was given the age group 18-22 which includes 6 girls. We got ready to talk about stress management and few associated problems common to their age group. We mainly focused on education, day to day problems, love, affection and thought of educating them about some stress relieving methods which they could practice daily as well. We had some reseals and got ourselves prepared for the day.

Somehow that big day which we all were waiting for arrived. All the girls were wearing sarees and looked prettier than usual. All seemed to be getting ready for their part. Around 8 we came to Silpa children development center. As we step inside we realize that it was totally different from what we expected. The environment was clean, tidy and peaceful. We were starting to get relax and at the library 6 smiling faces welcome us warmly. With no time we got to know each other and started our presentation giving them an open question, what are the problems they are having in their mind at that moment. Well surprisingly there was none. To be honest we were relieved so we could stick to what we prepared for. But as we go on we realized that they want to talk about menstrual cycle and some of the medical problems regarding it.What a blow it was, we weren’t ready to talk about it, but somehow we three girls were able to give them a basic idea on menstrual cycle.

 

As been raised in an orphanage, realizing these girls were in an vulnerable position to get abused, we thought of talking them more on regarding love, sex and affection. At first we thought they would be uncomfortable when we speak about that subject and were more careful in selecting the content. But surprisingly they were more interested and responsive towards that topic. We girls were also bit uncomfortable as we had to talk about it in front of our colleagues but fortunately on their special request we had to ask our boys to remain outside which also put us on ease. With no time it converted in to an open discussion where we educate them about current legal state in Sri Lanka on rapes, abortions and other sexual offenses, about unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitting disease with statistics, paper articles and photographs. There were much more to discuss but due to lack of time we had to stop our discussion. By that time we have become good friends and were more closer to them.More we talked to them more we realized the strength and character hidden behind those beautiful faces and their determination to make their life a better one.Some of them showed great personality and charisma which sometimes surprised us We were quite happy with ourselves for what we have done, but only realized what it really means to them when we received a thank you letter from them. It was a pleasant surprise and was a really emotional moment for all of us. They have not only touched our hearts deeply but also help us in understanding our duty towards the society to make it a better place…….