International Bulletin - Spring 1997
Fiji Report
Our greetings and warm wishes from all of PPSEAWA/Fiji.
We held out 1997 annual general meeting on March 13 and the following executive committee members were elected:
Lavinia Padarath President
Eileen Dilawar 1st Vice President
Paulini Blakelock 2nd Vice President
Mridula Sainath 3rd Vice President
Mavis Basawaiya 4th Vice President
Luisa Moce Secretary
Luisa Nute Treasurer
Anna Padarath, Titilia Naitini and Sala Radaniva, Committee Members
The wife of our Prime Minister, Mrs. Sulueti Rabuka has been approached to be our new Patron. She has tentatively agreed. We are very pleased to report that for the first time a new chapter has been set-up in Lautoka, Fiji's second largest city. Ms. Kabu Bulamaibau, the newly elected president of the chapter is the senior matron (head nurse) with the government's second largest hospital. Her Executive Committee members are all prominent community activists including the wife of Fiji's Deputy President, Lady Tavaiqia.
The month of April was an extremely busy time for us. For two successive Saturdays, we held workshops in Nadi and Suva on the subject, "Young Women: Sexuality and Sexual Health." The following Saturday, our third workshop was held in Lautoka on the topic "Teenage-Family and Health."
We are happy to report the success of these workshops. From their evaluations, one thing is clear, we need to do more to provide our young people with the correct information and to listen to their concerns. We need to provide young people with factual non-judgmental information about sex, sexuality and AIDS. We need to encourage open and honest discussions between young people, parents and teachers. Most participants expressed the need to hold more similar workshops and to target other groups such as young men, parents and teachers.
Some Suva schools refused to send their students to participate in the workshop. However, teachers were told that they could attend if they wanted. Administrators of the schools felt that students would become promiscuous because they would become more aware of 'safe' sex techniques, not respecting its moral aspects.
Unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, have become increasingly common in recent years. The factors that contribute to this are numerous, but are largely due to the fact that sexuality is a taboo subject in Fiji's culture. Many parents will not talk to their children about sex, and teachers add to the problem as they will not discuss it as they believe it to be the parents' responsibility.
Reports of the workshops are still being compiled and the output will be a booklet entitled, "A Brief Guide to a Young Woman's Sexuality."
PPSEAWA/Fiji has been featured several times recently in the local newspapers because of these workshops. (note reprinted article). This has also helped with our membership drive.
Since we have been inundated with requests for more of this type of workshop targeting different groups, we have sent our project proposals to some funding sources.
Some of us look forward to the meeting in Malaysia and making more new friends.
Ni sa Moce! Loloma!
Last Modified: June 05, 2010