A lesson for life....

Tharindu De Mel
22nd, August, 2012

"Thari............. Its almost been half an hour now. Have you fallen asleep inside the bathroom.." Well that was my mother yelling at me. Now you must be wondering what I was doing inside the bathroom for so long. I wont tell u now. Ill simply leave you in suspense for the moment.
    

Wednesday, 22nd of August finally arrived. All the 5 members of our subgroup were bit nervous but well prepared to educate a group of students at a girls orphanage aged 18-22 on the topic "Stress Management". We didnt have much time to prepare for our topic as we had taken quite a long time to select a topic which was of importance to our age group and also which we could tackle ourselves.

Once the topic was finalized, we divided it into subtopics and each of us had to prepare ourself for the subtopic. And thats exactly what I was doing in the bathroom while having my wash. I was giving my part of the lecture to an imaginatory group of students and I went on to realize that it is the best place to practise any kind of speech.

After the introduction provided by Dulanjalee, I had to speak to them on how they could cope with day to day problems and related stress they would encounter in life.  I suggested a simple 5 step theory which they could follow. It is as follows.
1. Identification of the problem
2. Problem analysis
3. Identification of the root cause of the problem.
4. Finding the solution to the problem.(At times there could be more than 1 solution)
5. Implementation of the solution.
I have to admit that though I was quite nervous at the start I did pretty well with it.

Then came the climax of the whole health education programme. Chamathka started on the subtopic  "Management of stress related to the reproductive system". I used the word "climax" because quite unexpectedly it got an overhelming response from the audience. But to our utter dismay Thusitha and me, the only boys in the group were asked to leave the hall. It was in fact a very polite request made by the girls to us.

From the outset you would wonder whether this was gender discrimination. Another could argue that we had failed in our duty to gain the confidence of these girls. But you have to realise that this is in fact Sri Lanka where cultural norms come above everything else. According to our very conservative culture there is a certain fear and shyness of girls to discuss topics related to reproductive health in the midst of the oppsite sex. The fact that this was a girls orphanage and the fact that they haven't had alot of experience dealing with males may have contributed too.

So from here on I wont be able to give a first hand report on what really happened. After the lecture on our way back I asked Sumudu what topics they had basically touched on. Because of the overhelming response all 3 girls had taken turns to talk. Menstrual hygiene, Sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and abortions, the law of rape in Sri Lanka, were a few topics been touched upon. A few even were needed to be seen by a gynaecologist and they had arranged it too. We were the last to finish our lecture, and at the end the girls were really grateful to all of us for what we did. In fact it had been "A lesson for a successful life" in their own words.

It dawned on to me that the increasing number of rapes sexual assaults and other related crimes are due to the lack of awareness of girls, so they fall prey to unscrupulous elements trying to gain undue advantage. I feel that it would be wise if the law makers of this island nation introduce a subject related to these issues into the school curriculum wiping out unnecessary cultural barriers so that girls wont be caught unaware.

This was in fact a great experience for all of us and the Department of Community Medicine has to be commended for giving us this opportunity.