Pasos Adelante Conferencia

Pasos Adelante (Steps Forward) is a sexual education program of the Peace Corps with the goal of training a group of youth to be promoters of sexual health in their community.  The program begins with sessions to teach the students about sexual health and the prevention of HIV/AIDS, STIs, and teen pregnancy and then continues with teaching the students how to promote health in the community and teach their peers about sexual health. I will start working with Pasos groups the beginning of the next school year in March or so.  But for now I have been helping with other Pasos groups in my region.

On October 5, I helped other volunteers in my region to put on the first Regional Pasos Adelante Conference.  The conference is an opportunity for up to 6 students from each community near the end of the Pasos training to come together and reinforce their learning but really to focus on how to effectively promote sexual health in their communities and be a peer counselor in their schools.  The socios that help lead the groups – usually obstetricians and sometimes teachers – also come and have the opportunity to network and learn new activities and ideas from other groups.

The conference took place at Universidad de Senor de Sipan – one of the national universities in our region of Lambayeque.   So it was an added bonus for the kids to see the campus and university campus as many of these students from small rural pueblos have never been on an university campus. 

The obstetrician from my community, Guadelupe, was able to go with me to participate in the day’s events.  I never saw myself as a sex ed teacher per se (I mean, who does?!?!) but Pasos is an effective and needed program.  In the senior class at one high school I work with, 5 of 25 16-year-old girls will not graduate because of pregnancy.  That’s 20%! The most rapidly growing population of those infected with HIV in Peru are married women – a result of the machismo culture that allows men to sleep with other women as well as their wives and to never use a condom, as that is seen as “unmanly.”  So clearly we have some work to do here and the youth are the place to start.  I am looking forward to working with Guadelupe to improve sexual health and prevent HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy in Mocupe!