Botswana Baylor Adolescent Program

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When life gives you lemons…

When life gives you lemons – make lemonade!

Teens making lemonde with an adult volunteer!

The August Teen Club opened with a celebratory circle as the teens sang and participated in interactive games. The teens were quick to show solidarity as each newly-arriving teen club member joined the enlarging ring. Seeing the youth gather in a circle showed the strength of a unified teen force!

The August Teen Club exposed some of the “lemons” tempting and trapping youth of the day. Specifically, the teens discussed the risks and realities of multiple concurrent partnerships, transactional sex and intergenerational relationships.

The younger teens engaged in a dynamic discussion to define multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP). The youth decided to simplify each word in the MCP phrase with their own definition to really slice n’ dice the lemon into understandable terms: “multiple equals many, concurrent means same time, and partnerships means physical union”. The youth then drew graphs to represent serial monogamy versus multiple concurrent partnerships. Some of the youth mentioned that MCP may be an accepted norm in certain cultural contexts, so they were eager to discuss the emotional, physical, and health challenges/risks that may motivate them to avoid MCP in their own lives and that may help them protect their peers from MCP. The teens then decided to compare “transactional sex” to a Barclays bank ATM transaction (receiving funds or material gain) to help them understand the concept of selling/renting one’s body or heart or emotions in exchange for material return. Rather than judge those engaged in transactional sex, the youth expressed sensitive concern for those who may be financially or socially vulnerable enough to participate in transactional sex. The youth also discussed the dangers of intergenerational sexual relationships, specifically expressing concern for the potential power differentials and gender struggles involved in those sexually active between a wide age gap. An MCP Project Officer from the Botswana-Baylor COE initiated a slide presentation for the youth to help orient them to the topics. The dynamic and energetic Teen Club Leaders were awesome about keeping the conversation interactive and keeping the teens engaged!

The younger teens learned about multiple concurrent partnerships, transactional sex, and intergenerational sex by viewing a 77-minute video which depicted the social scenarios of each context. They then described the temptations, challenges, and consequences faced by each character portrayed in the films. The teens were reminded about the Baylor Clinic being a safe space for them to discuss any social concerns in their own lives during clinic appointments or with scheduled visits with the Baylor social workers and Baylor psychologists.

The older teens were eager to learn about entrepreneur alternatives that could protect against fiduciary dependence (the teens recognized that MCP, transactional, and intergenerational sex is sometimes motivated by vulnerable people facing economic hardship enough to fall into risky lifestyles). A guest speaker from Stepping Stones International (an innovative after-school and community outreach program serving orphaned and vulnerable adolescents in Gaborone) lead the teens in a discussion to brainstorm small business ideas, to learn about the resources available to turn an idea into a project, and to explore the personal attributes required for entrepreneurship.

The teens then divided into small groups to turn boiling water, sugar, and fresh lemons into delicious of fresh lemonade. Through an interactive project, they brainstormed marketing strategies for advertising and selling their lemonade. The teens gulped down their successful drink recipes with their afternoon lunches.

Teens enjoying their lemonade at the end of the day!

Life has a way of handing out lemons. For example, many of the usual teen club youth were unable to attend teen club this Saturday due to their having to attend weekend school to make up for missed classroom days during the extended teacher strike. In a context of a “one-in-four” HIV population rate, a loss of guardians, academic challenges, social stigma, and financial barriers facing many of the youth – sometimes it feels like tart challenges and sour trials abound. But, the teen club youth show an incredible perseverance, a remarkable resiliency to chase joy, and a committed to ensuring a better future for themselves and for their peers. As the teen club youth helped each other cut up lemons, add sugar to one another’s recipes, and stir in solidarity… we were reminded of the refreshment of teamwork and life skills.

Meaghann Weaver, MD

Botswana Teen Club Hosts Multiple Concurrent Partnerships (MCP) Training

*For more information about our 2010 Fundraising Drive, please visit our Donations page.*

The following post is courtesy of one of our Adult Volunteers for Gaborone Teen Club, Anisha Varghese:

Participants at the first Botswana-Baylor Teen Club MCP Training.

It had only been a few days into the start of my three-month internship at Baylor as a Teen Club Project Assistant when I was given the opportunity to attend a four-day workshop on multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP). The workshop was hosted at Baylor, and was sponsored by the Botswana-Baylor Teen Club and National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA).

I got to mingle with the attendees – social workers, nurses, and lay counselors – who hailed from various

Check yourself! Break the chain of Multiple Concurrent Partnerships (MCP)!

health facilities and NGOs across the country. Each organization did a presentation on who they were, what they did, and what challenges they faced on a daily basis. It was pretty evident to me that each and every person at the workshop was passionate about improving the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS. The purpose of the workshop was to educate the attendees on the impact of MCP on the HIV epidemic in Botswana.

The workshop was supposed to help give each of the attendees the knowledge and the tools to train adolescents to be peer educators on the topic of MCP. I also learned that the MCP initiative as a whole was designed to help achieve the government of Botswana’s goal of zero new infections by the year 2016. I’m not sure that six years is enough time to achieve that goal, but I definitely have a great deal of respect for any and all attempts that try and get there.

The workshop involved a mixture of presentations, small-group discussions, brainstorming, and role-play. The interactive nature of the workshop kept us alert and interested. Various speakers gave overviews of the developmental stages of adolescence, and tutorials on effectively communicating with adolescents. Of greatest interest to me was the in-depth exploration of Botswana’s HIV epidemic and, in small groups, the participants reflected and debated about its possible causes.

Then, the focus of the workshop turned towards MCP, its causes, and how it is the major culprit in the HIV epidemic in Botswana. Ponder these facts (they shocked me!): the United States has a lower average age at first sexual experience than Botswana, as well as lower rates of condom use and HIV testing. How is it, then, that Botswana still has a much higher rate of HIV infection than the US? Part of the problem (and the reason for this workshop) is that the rates of concurrent partnerships in Botswana is much higher than that in the States (rates of circumcision among Batswana males is also significantly lower). After we gained a bit more of an appreciation of why MCP was so problematic, we started to reflect on whether it could be changed. People were saying that, on the one hand, MCP is deep-rooted in culture, traditions, and gender roles. On the other hand, however, even the most ingrained of cultural practices can be changed. Culture is essentially created and sustained by a network of individuals and, as such, a cultural revolution (of sorts!) would require each and every person to be engaged and committed to the cause. The positive news is that the MCP campaign is one of the important first steps in this change.

On the last day, teens from the Teen Club were the special guests in a workshop on sexual networks. We worked with

Training participants discuss Multiple Concurrent Partnerships in a small-group discussion session.

some teens from Teen Club to brainstorm a way to best communicate the concept of sexual networks, and their responsibility in spreading HIV at a rapid rate. After engaging in role-play (i.e., adults explaining to teenagers the problems with MCP), the participants used flannelograms and pictures of people to illustrate the spread of HIV through sexual networks. The main message: HIV can spread like wildfire in the context of sexual networks. On the other hand, faithful, monogamous couples “break the chain” of HIV and limit the virus from being spread.

In sum, the workshop was a great success! The success of the role-play and small-group discussions was a pretty good indicator that the participants had gained tools to take the message of the MCP campaign back to their respective organizations.