By Amina Evangelista Swanepoel | Project Leader
Tarol gave birth to her daughter when she was 15. When this happened, her childhood and innocence abruptly came to an end and she was forced to become a mother. She was dating a man rumored to be 20 years her senior, she didn’t understand how she became pregnant and was living in a slum community outside of Palawan’s capital, Puerto Princesa City. Although Tarol is a young mother with few resources, she feels a new sense of hope for her future. Thanks to Roots of Health, she is now protected from becoming pregnant again. When our clinical team visited her community, we provided her with reproductive health information, family planning counseling and contraception. “I got an implant for three years because I’m scared of giving birth again,” says Tarol. She has the dream of starting vocational school, as she was only able to complete her grade six studies. “I want to work hard for my baby. I want to raise her well. I will try my best to send her to school, so she won’t be ignorant, and she won’t end up like me who got pregnant at a young age.”
Stories like these are why we educate young people about their reproductive health. With correct, age-appropriate information comes understanding. With understanding comes healthy behaviors. And this means we see more teens with diplomas and fewer with pregnant bellies.
In 2017, our goal was to teach 18,000 students with our sexuality modules, however, our teachers reached 19,241 high-schoolers and college students about their sexual health. We also taught 169 of the student’s teachers and school principals, so that they would be more supportive of and empathetic to their students needs. Despite some of the teachers unease with the subject matter, everyone in those classrooms wants the same thing: for the students to realize their dreams.
Thanks to your contribution to Roots of Health, in 2018 we will be able to teach more students about puberty, reproductive health, contraception, STIs and HIV/AIDS than ever before. With your support, we’ll be rolling out an additional module of our comprehensive sexuality education to 5th and 6th graders and we’ll be traveling to some of the most underserved schools on the island. Just today, our teachers headed to Brookes Point, one of the southernmost municipalities on the island, to teach students in 10 different schools.
We’re also noticing an exciting trend with the number of young people that are availing our contraceptive services. Last year, our clinical team provided modern forms of contraception to 17,893 unique women and adolescents of reproductive age; that’s an almost 300% increase from 2016. Thanks to your generous donations, we are able to reach women with our services through our Puerto Princesa City clinic, weekly outreach to 12 communities and by traveling to the most marginalized parts of the island.
We’re expanding our reach, so that more young people understand their bodies and how to protect themselves. You are part of this change--we wouldn’t be able to do it without you.
A heartfelt thank you from all of us at Roots of Health. We hope you’ll continue to follow our journey and support our work!
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