The Health Seminar

[The following is the most recent post from my blog.]

I am completely elated! I just got back from the Health Seminar that we had been planning for our scholars, and it went wonderfully! To be honest, the entire event was all Amit and Priyanka: former S4Si Exec board members (they graduated as I finished my first year), they are both rising second-year medical students who were working together this summer at a clinic Mwanza (western mainland Tanzania) and holding health seminars in the secondary schools there. While preparing for our trip this spring, Amit and Priyanka contacted us with the idea to hold a similar seminar for S4Si’s scholars…and today the entire planning came to a refreshing result! Alison, Nida and I coordinated the day, time and location of the seminar; and Amit and Priyanka led the 3-hour, 4-session seminar. They started off talking about diet and nutrition, complete with food pyramid and mock-plate serving sizes. They then discussed the female reproductive system, menstrual cycle, and common infections (UTIs and yeast infections). The third portion was all about STIs and STDs, particularly HIV/AIDS. They dealt with the ways in which HIV can be spread (not by holding hands or hugging); and addressed the bad stigma that is attached with the virus, mentioning the important fact that just because someone has AIDS does not mean that they did something wrong. Priyanka and Amit finished by discussing breast cancer: what it is, what the risk factors are, and how to conduct self exams to check for lumps. The girls knew a surprising amount of the information, but even the girls who answered many of the questions told us later that they learned so much and were so glad that we held the seminar! Amit and Priyanka seemed blown away at how much the girls knew compared to the students they had been teaching all summer in Mwanza. For me, the entire time was super encouraging and motivating, especially since the students were so engaged and weren’t uncomfortable at times when I suspected hesitancy. Two of our three mentors were there during, and they also expressed great satisfaction. Twenty of our 42 scholars were able to come to the seminar, which is pretty impressive for a Saturday morning function. In addition to all of this, it was so incredible to see Amit and Priyanka on Zanzibar!!

An update on the scholar selection process: We completed all 58 interviews on Tuesday morning, and selected twelve finalists on Thursday night. We then scheduled times to visit these girls’ homes on next Monday and Tuesday; so we anticipate selecting S4Si’s eight new scholars by Wednesday!

- Hampton