Reflections about the Boy’s Health Management Program
This fall, Femme introduced the Boys Health Education program and ran a pilot project with students at a secondary school in Kahe. Below, BHE Coordinator Christian reflects on his experiences as Facilitator.
The Boys Health Management program was designed to complement the Feminine Health Management program, and the pilot project was implemented with Form 2 and Form 3 students at a secondary school in Kahe, Kilimanjaro Region.
As the Facilitator, I covered a wide range of material including: essential hygiene, gender, consent in life and in relationships, male anatomy and different sexually transmitted infections.
The workshops were active, sometimes run by the boys themselves as we encouraged participation to foster activeness among the students. Sometimes they had to stand, come to the board and fill out diagrams or help explain to their fellows their understanding of the lesson. The workshops as a whole ended with the provision of a gift, the boy health kits. The kits include all the necessary equipment that a man/boy needs to ensure they keep their bodies clean from different infections like fungus.
The success stories
It has been an amazing experience with the boys! We have learned that when impacting knowledge to an individual or group of people, the process should go hand in hand with the real life examples, whether from the individual’s experience, facilitator’s experience or from other people’s stories. The workshops are built from practical real life experiences; this style of workshop allows us creatively impact the knowledge of the participants. For example: on the topic of gender, we created charts that asked the participants to come up to the board and fill out the different roles or duties belonging to a mother and father. Further into the lesson we asked the students to fill out the roles and responsibilities of a single mother and father. The purpose of this being we wanted students to challenge the way they think about the differences in gender roles.
Also, it has been a good experience as the facilitator. I am getting a lot of feedback from the boys as they have reported to me saying they are using the kits and it has been good for them in keeping their bodies clean because “they fill heavy when they are dirty but very light and comfortable after bath/shaving.”
It has been an amazing experience with the boys! We have learned that when impacting knowledge to an individual or group of people, the process should go hand in hand with the real life examples, whether from the individual’s experience, facilitator’s experience or from other people’s stories. The workshops are built from practical real life experiences; this style of workshop allows us creatively impact the knowledge of the participants. For example: on the topic of gender, we created charts that asked the participants to come up to the board and fill out the different roles or duties belonging to a mother and father. Further into the lesson we asked the students to fill out the roles and responsibilities of a single mother and father. The purpose of this being we wanted students to challenge the way they think about the differences in gender roles.
Also, it has been a good experience as the facilitator. I am getting a lot of feedback from the boys as they have reported to me saying they are using the kits and it has been good for them in keeping their bodies clean because “they fill heavy when they are dirty but very light and comfortable after bath/shaving.”
Christian Massawe, BHM Coordinator
