It’s been a long time coming but we’ve finally put together a workshop for boys to run in tandem with our very well-received Reproductive Health Workshops for Girls and Women. Tentatively called “Health and Hygiene for Young Men” the workshops will feature frank and open discussion about the changes that occur to boys’ bodies during puberty, as well as advice on hygiene, toothbrushing, proper diet, and so forth.

We will also talk about self-esteem, communicable diseases, and respect for others.  Currently the workshops are for boys aged 10-14 or so but we expect that we will also offer information sessions for older boys that will talk about STDs, birth control, sexual health and so on.

 

We’ve put together a basic hygiene kit as a give-away to the boys. This will include toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, a flannel for washing, and a comb. In total the kit costs about 6000 USh each (say $3 CAD). This week Erika, Andrew and I spent part of a storm-tossed afternoon assembling the kits. We have 108 right now and will organize about 5 dozen more before next week when we are scheduled to make our first presentations.