General Meeting: A Club Update

General Meeting: A Club Update by IPP LezelNess Copo

Rotaract Club of Raha Sulayman Volunteers

Last Sept. 19, Transformational President Jayson Reyes made several announcements that will help the club transform and elevate.

In the past years, I can describe our club as a carefree one - doing projects, partnering with other clubs and organizations but not putting any pressure of responsibility towards our members. If one is unavailable, we just let them be. Later on, those kind of members are most likely to end up inactive. This year, TP Jayson, together with the other club's Past Presidents have decided to change this. We formed several club policies that aim to boost members participation for every activity especially since most of it are held online.

One of the policies is if a member cannot join an activity, he/she needs to compensate for it by either sharing his/her knowledge on a certain topic or donating to the club fund. There will also be fellowship games online after every meeting and the winner will be given a prize. Most importantly, the club's most active Rotaractor everymonth shall be recognized and rewarded.

Membership dues were also discussed as this year will be the first time for our club to collect dues. The members have several packages to choose from: membership only or with pins and polo shirt. There is also a special consideration for the student members, a discounted amount. We also gave a warm virtual welcome to ourthree newmembers. We gave them shortorientation about Rotaract and the club itself. All ofthem were excited forthenextclub activities and events.

Lastly, we ended the meeting with a short fellowship. We played Spin-the-wheel and the three lucky winners were given load worth P50 and P100. It was indeed a fruitful and fun meeting!

Let’s talk about SEX…ual Health by DRAR/ PP Gianina Maria Ciriaco

Rotaract Club of Pasay Cyber City

Nowadays, young adults would often come across different topics surrounding individuality, relationships and health. But there’s one topic that they feel awkward discussing and is a combination of these three. Sex. Sexual Health, can be a pretty challenging discussion but the Rotaract Club of Pasay Cyber City is fortunate to have partnered with Xavier University- Ateneo de Cagayan Interdisciplinary Studies Society and the Rotaract Club of Balintawak, and host Usapang InterSEXyon: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sexual Health.

Usapang InterSEXyon is an online panel discussion about Sexual Health with esteemed resource speakers, Ann Sumalpong from the Commission of Population and Development, Jeron Laurino Osiana of the Department of Health Educator and Counselor for the College of Medicine of UP - Philippine General Hospital, Jayson Barcelona Fajardo from Red Cross- San Pablo City Chapter and Enrique Niño Patricio, Nurse and Executive Director of the Oro Pia Community Center. Another guest that joined us was Hon. Sol Aragones, Representative of San Pablo, Laguna who also shared a special video presentation. Each speaker answered as many important questions (even bizarre ones) from students and Rotaractors.

Opening up and discussing Sexual Health can be challenging, but according to our speakers the minimum age range to discuss the basics is between 8 to 10 years of age. With the help of our local Department of Education office, special curriculums that support the subject are taught in schools. Likewise, matters that involve sex should also be the responsibility of any parent or guardian. It is also their responsibility to make sure that home is a safe place to have these talks and foster good overall wellbeing. Parents should guide, empower and educate their young ones to protect themselves from sexual harassment, sexually transmitted diseases and other threats to their sexual health.

As young and seasoned adults, we also learned the best resources to get help and spread awareness of having a healthy sexual knowledge, practice and protection. For every phase in life, we gain something new and as we get older we know better. We go from being

learners or simply someone curious about it, to teachers, advocates and experts because of the support from all these helpful organizations.

Many myths about sexual health have been debunked too. These different misconstrued concepts about sexual health such as the misrepresentation and exploitation on media, transmission ofHIV, whetherthe act of sex needs to be in the context of love or whether one cannot exist withoutthe other, concept ofvirginity, to name a few, were discussed candidly and handled in such a way that people can have a better, clearer perspective and feel empowered.

It is worth noting that our experts shed light on hot topics like sexual reassignment surgery for transgender men and women, availability and different types of contraceptives, STD medication, and most importantly, teenage pregnancy. With news ofthe increasing numberof underage pregnancies, it is important to protect and educate our youth, know where they can get professional help and otherformsofsupport.

This project would not be possible without the help of our sister club, Rotaract Club of Balintawak, our partner schools, Interdisciplinary Studies Association ofAteneo de Davao University; Interdisciplinary Studies Association of Ateneo de Zamboanga University; Alliance of Public Health Advocates (ALPHA); Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng San Pablo; Tecarro College Foundation Inc., Pamantasan ng Cabuyao - Psychology Society; Laguna College of Business and Arts –Psychology Society, co-host Rotaract Clubs, RAC Angono, Balayan Community Based, Candelaria, Daiangas Community Based, Downtown Batangas City, Downtown Davao Tecarro College, Downtown Ibaan, Iligan South, Lucena North; Lucena South, Manila Metro, Metro Mandaue 2006, Metro Mauban, Metro IloIlo, Olongapo, Sacred Heart College, SFDM Malaya Achievers, Sta Rosa Centro, Tayabas Central and various Red CrossChapters all overLuzon.