JAN UARY 15 - 19
WWW.R E ACH A H A N D. O R G
W E E K
T HR EE
INTRODUCTION We are in week 3 of the academy and we are beyond excited for what this week has in store for us. From a range of inspirational speakers to good meals, to informative topics like gender based violence and contraceptives, week three was nothing short of AMAZEBALLS!
Day 9 kicked off with Winnie Akeso
Winnie pointed out that as peers,
facilitating a session on sex and
we need to
sexuality. She tasked the participants
have different goals and interests at
to write down what they think
particular times and stages in their
when they hear the word sex and
lives. It is okay to say ‘I don’t want’ to
explain why they wrote that. Most
seductive or flirtatious people. There
participants classified this in terms
is a misconception that when people
of gender, sex the act and the right
dress in a certain way, then they are
to have sex. Winnie went ahead to
calling for sexual advances which is
state that human beings are sexual
false and we need to address. When
beings and sexuality entails values
you dress up, dress up to please
which begin from within the person.
oneself so be comfortable in your
Furthermore, Sexuality is about
skin. Winnie cautioned our peers not
being confident in oneself, knowing
to take advantage of an invite from
who you are and how you relate with
a person who has trusted them with
others. It also requires one to take
information.
care of their reproductive systems like keeping clean.
realise that people
DAY 9
DAY 10 The participants also learnt the do’s and don’ts of using a reusable sanitary towel that include; wash it in cold water, do not use detergent, do not iron and put it in the sun so that it dries or else it will smell. When using cotton, put a gauze on it so that it can be held in place and wear a tight knicker that will not allow the cotton to move but don’t wear suffocating trousers. The menstrual cap can be inserted if one squats or raises one leg up and inserts it there. Warm bottles are used when one is in periods and help ease blood flow and relieve pain. But if you don’t have one, you can use an ordinary bottle but cover it with a cloth because it will burn you if used directly.
We kicked off our morning with our facilitators Lillibet Namakula and Catherine Naluggya Guntesse from Public Health Ambassadors Uganda (PHAU) who engaged the participants on menstruation and pregnancy. The session started with participants sharing their expectations on how to wear a sanitary towel, understanding the menstrual cycle, the misconceptions associated to menstruation and other options apart from sanitary towels and how to wear them. The team went on to display and illustrate different products for example pads, menstrual caps, cotton wool with a gauze, toilet paper and reusable sanitary towels. The session had our participants engage practically as they demonstrated to each other how to use sanitary towels during menstruation.
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#PEA2018 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
In our last session we had Anne Praise Niwagaba a former peer educator who interacted with the participants and told them the importance of venturing into entrepreneurship while still a student. Praise is the founder of Annellah Agency, an ushering and marketing company. She started this while studying and during her time as a peer educator at RAHU, she looks forward to going into digital marketing and others with her business.
DAY 11 The day’s session started off with first
is so because there are people try to abort
aid lessons. Our second session on
on the assumption that they are pregnant.
post abortion care was by Dr. Fred
He went ahead to state that there are safe
Charles Kiggundu, an obstetrician and
and unsafe methods of abortion and what
gynaecologist. The session was aimed at
causes the former- informed doctors and
equipping the participants with knowledge
the latter – quack doctors who use poor
on abortion and what every peer educator
methods of abortion. Safe post abortion
should know about it. Dr. Kiggundu noted
care includes; medical, comprehensive,
that the act of sex may lead to procreation.
emotional, social, physical, psychological
Some of the procreation may be desirable
care. Post abortion care; support offered
or undesirable. To trigger the debate, he
after, during an abortion. – it should be
asked questions like when people have
immediate emergency, it must be high
sex, it is for procreation and pleasure? What
quality, and the aim is to save life and
factors influence removal of pregnancies?
reduce complications. He listed the signs and symptoms of unsafe abortions which
Furthermore, he stated that abortion is the
include
same as miscarriage. A miscarriage shows
damaging of the cervix, damaging of the
the stereotype attached to abortion. It is
uterus, chronic pain, death.
complications
like
bleeding,
the termination of a pregnancy of less than 7 months. A baby born before their time is
When concluding, he emphasized young
premature. He further noted that before
people to always make informed decisions
you abort, you must be pregnant and this
every time they want to decide to have sex.
DAY 12 Day 12 of #PEA2018 was led by Doris Tuhirirwe from Marie Stopes Uganda educating us on family planning and contraceptives. Birth control, fertility control and contraceptives are methods and devices used to prevent pregnancy and some to prevent STDs and STIs. Planning, making available and using these methods is called family planning.There are hormonal and non hormonal methods of contraceptives. Hormonal methods contain progesterone and oestrogen. Safe sex practices like condoms and abstinence as birth control methods also prevent STDs like HIV and others. Emergency contraceptives are for short term use only with specific time frames of use. We had the pleasure of hosting Ministry of Education and sports to talk to us about the HIV epidemic and how prevent it. Most importantly, abstain, if you can’t abstain, use condoms. If it’s not on its not safe. You can’t tell that a person has HIV/AIDS simply by looking at them. Go for testing and find out the status of your sexual partners. However, if you contract the disease, it’s not the end. There’s life after HIV! Live positively by taking care of yourself, take your ARVs as prescribed, eat healthy and exercise and avoid stigma.
#PEA2018 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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DAY 13 The last day of the week was led by Safepal (an initiative by UNFPA Uganda) that talked about gender based violence. The discussion centered around understanding what is sexual gender based violence. Another key thing noted was that marital rape is wrong and has been overturned. Any sex without consent is rape. The law protects women against rape. Respect a woman’s no. it’s not an invite for persuasion. Most rapists are normal people. They are not necessarily mentally ill. UNFPA encourages young people to visit their offices and share their ideas so that the Program can help bring it to
The Safepal team further noted that as peer educators, engage and counsel
scale and turn it into a real product.
others in our community over the dangers of gender based violence through the SafePal application that be downloaded and used to report cases of GBV. The inspirational speaker of the day was Mr. Timothy Egweru who encouraged the peer educators to be very confident in themselves and always have a positive attitude. He went on to state that disability is not incapability.
For more information about the Peer Educators Academy 2018, please visit our websites www.reachahand.org and www.sautiplus.org or follow us on our social media platforms; on facebook at www.facebook.com/reachahandug or www.facebook.com/sautiplusuganda, Twitter @REACHAHAND & @sautiplus Instagram: reach_a_hand and join the hashtag #PEA2018