Foro de Salud Sexual y Reproductiva

Today was the Foro on Salud Sexual y Reproductiva. I have some words to share about this event. So yesterday we met at the Municipalidad for an 8 AM meeting with the mayor. He came into the meeting around 9:30 AM only to deny the group’s request for money. Today the event was held in the Plaza Nueva, or Parque San Miguel. Things didn’t get underway until almost 10 (it was supposed to start at 9, and everyone was to arrive at 8).

The MC introduced the people in attendance – there were representatives from the Department of Education, centros de salud, human rights organizations, NGOs, etc. Overall, a professional group gathered on the plaza to inform the public, especially youth, about sexual and reproductive health. One woman offered some words on unplanned pregnancy and how having a child at 15 can really limit your opportunities and kill your dreams. She was pretty good. This was followed by about one and a half hours of folkloric dance and music performances. A theater a group of teenagers came on stage to dance and represent a domestic violence relationship. The kids were so convincing it was disturbing. This went on and on. Then they got onto the ground and passed around a yellow ball. I kept looking at the other people on the stage, sure that someone would catch my eye and smile at me or roll their eyes in agreement about what a waste of time this was and share in my confusion. No one did. I finally asked the guy next to me who was more or less in charge what that was when it concluded. He looked at me. “No sé!” But it didn’t seem to phase him that we were wasting time on nothing related to the event. I was briefly distracted by a girl climbing over the fence to the Teatro Municipal (I thought she was going to impale herself) who then proceeded to run back and forth to capture a chicken that had escaped through the bars of the fence.

Then, finally, people on stage to help educate the public were called up and thanked and we proceeded to discuss point number one. These people talked a lot about the importance of education. “Yes, sexual and reproductive health is a very important topic.” “This is a very INTERESTING topic.” “It is very important to be educated on this subject.” People waxed poetic on the beauty of education, but did nothing to educate. Until I finally was called up. (The one bit of guidance I was given about my speech was to EDUCATE.) I went up to the microphone around 11:45 AM (the event was scheduled to conclude at noon) and defined HIV/AIDS, gave statistics for Guatemala, then talked about transmission. I used real vocabulary. Then I had the students in attendance participate. I had one of my fellow companions on the stage hold a card that says “Sí Da” (play on words – SIDA=AIDS, “sí da” = yes gives) and another hold a card that reads “No Da.” About 10 students were given cards, each with a different image. They had to come on stage and say whether the action depicted could transfer HIV/AIDS or not. Images included getting tattoos, shaking hands, showering, blood transfusions, etc. Then I talked about the means to prevent HIV/AIDS since there is no cure. Then to wrap things up I asked the audience some true and false questions and briefly explained the responses. About halfway through the list of responses, I was told we were wrapping up so to conclude things. It was then exactly noon and I thought, wow, impressive, we are trying to respect other people’s time by concluding at the designated time. Wrong. Mr. Theatrical who really should have been kicked off stage hours before (I know I’m being negative) was invited back up and had everyone create a crescent moon shaped semi-circle to watch MORE DANCING. I was pretty pissed off at this point. I started chatting with the guy next to me. He said the work I’m doing is really great and that Guatemala has a lot of problems and needs that don’t exist in other Central American countries such as Nicaragua or Costa Rica. I was intrigued. He said it’s because Guatemala has so many different cultures and such a large indigenous population. That got me thinking a little, and attempting to be more kind in my thinking. I realize the importance of valuing and preserving culture, and can see the necessity of including folk dances in events likes these – when talking about such a taboo subject I can see it’s important to show that we’re educating and advancing, but not at the expense of tradition.

That being said, the baile and theater were excessive. I’ve begun to feel like an efficiency analyst. Every time I am at one of these endless meetings or events I can’t help but think, OK, that ramble we just listened to for 2 hours could have been cut, that presentation could have been condensed from 45 to 5 minutes, mmm let’s see, overall we could have all saved ourselves 5 hours. But I don’t think this occurs to anyone else. Also, at these events, I am amazed at how random things can be. Who would have thought we’d have dancing, burning candles, and the tossing of a yellow ball in a circle at a forum on sexual health. When the event was about to start I had a good feeling about it – the sun was hot, the sky was blue, there was good energy, the stage, the plaza were prepared beautifully. There is no question that people here are creative and know how to create an aesthetically pleasing backdrop for the events. But then I see these gaping holes. Por ejemplo, the utter and obvious lack of content for an event whose details were so painstakingly planned. I am constantly glancing around trying to pick up on the mutual feelings of those around me, but it just never comes. I am just not on the same page as anyone here.

I thought maybe my words were a little too blunt, but after, all the people who collaborated in the event complemented me on a presentation bien bonita and wanted copies of the resources I used. They wanted me to join them for lunch, and I really should have gone, but I had an English class to teach in one hour, and since you never can know in advance at what hour things will end, I just had to opt out.