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| Director/Coordinator of GNAP Monica Alexander (left) and Advocate Judith Regis (right) |
The Grenada National Abstinence Program (GNAP) is need of individuals
to serve as Abstinence Advocates. This person, male or female, must be committed
to promoting the faith based stance of abstaining from sex before marriage, and are
living a life style that is not contradictory to that message.
According the Director and Coordinator of GNAP, Monica
Alexander, the aim of the program is to encourage behavioral change and bring
about awareness of the social and personal responsibilities surrounding sex,
the physical effects of non-committal sexual activity - in particular sexually
transmitted infections (STIs).
Additionally the goal is to bring this message to children in grades and
low as six as more and more young children are engaged in sexual activity
without even being aware of what they are actually doing.
“I say to my advocates that this program can be taught to
any age group within the school system.
You just have to bring it down to the level of the kids and get it across
there. The younger for us the better, because I suppose long ago you could say,
“What a little five year old would know about that?” I still say what do they know about that, but
the only difference is that they are practicing some of the things we don’t
expect them to. So whereas they may not
have a full understanding of what they are doing, they are actually involved. And if we don’t try dealing with it there,
they [will] grow up thinking it is normal for them to behave like that. So it is important to start as young as
possible, so we can cut out and curb some of the values that we really don’t
want them to be developing.” said the Mrs. Alexander.
There are numerous sexually transmitted infections that affect
individuals worldwide, some even when condoms are used or used incorrectly. A
popular STI is the Human papillomavirus (HPV),
which certain strains can cause gynecological cancers and throat cancers. Dr. Francis Martin, the Director
of Primary Health Care within the Grenada Government's Ministry of Health said that a lot of persons who contract HPV
do so during their teenage years. “It is
well understood now that HPV has a significant effect on the female population,
as it relates to cervical cancer leading to the discussions about HPV vaccinations.”
said the Director of the Primary Heath Care program. “There was some research done in the past
years especially in the United States which reported that a lot of young men
were dying from throat cancer. And when they tested to see what was the cause
of the throat cancer - that caused fatality in men, they found HPV to be the
cause.” said Dr. Martin. He added, “And interestingly,
the men population had more throat cancer than ladies in the last 10 years in Grenada
from the data that I have collected.”
Mrs. Alexander insists the GNAP’s intent is not to scare
people, “The aim of the program is not to scare people to death. It’s definitely
not. What we want to do is first and
foremost is to make them aware of what is happening out there, in terms of what
can be detrimental to them. That is the bottom line. So it is an awareness program first and
foremost. Do you know that these things are out there? Do you know the statistics that are available
based on people’s life style? The age group that is most vulnerable to it and
things like that. We use the program to
educate them.” It is her desire to see the program expanded outside of
classrooms and into the community as adults also need to be aware of the
benefits of abstinence. She is also open
to teaching parents so they in turn can teach their own children.
Judith Regis, who has been one of GNAP’s advocates for the
past three years echoes the sentiments of Mrs. Alexander, “I would really
encourage anybody to get involved because our young people are faced with a lot
of challenges and they need help. They may not say the words, “I need help,”
but by their behaviors they are crying out for help.” She added, “A lot of them, yes they belong to
homes but are not guided. They are not
directed. A lot of them are just left to their own, and that’s how they are
growing up. So they are just picking up
things, by the wayside. There is no definite pattern for their life. So they definitely
need people to stand in the gap, or to be there for them. They need mentors,
they need advocates, they need people to come up and say, there is a right way
and this is the way.”
Under the GNAP program the goal is to have self-sustaining abstinence
clubs in every school and for them to participate in special projects and yearly activities.
Samantha Dixon-Roberts a guidance counselor, and educator at T. A. Marryshow
Community College and lecturer at St. George’s University, who has been an Advocate
since the program’s inception views it as an opportunity to assist young adults
with decision making and conflict resolution skills as many of them engage in
sexual activity as a means of survival. “We have been bombarded by the issues
of poverty and other things that fuel transactional sex for example. And so you find a lot of young people coming
and saying, well Miss if I had better choices, if I had better circumstances I
would have not found myself in these circumstance to have sex for money, to come
to school, to pay for transportation, to get food, to do my hair and all the things
that come up.” She closed by saying, “It
does not make it right, but a lot of them, the circumstances that they face
socially and economically kind of fuel one of the reasons why they have not
deliberately remained abstinent.”
GNAP was adapted from a program developed in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana called the Governor’s Program
on Abstinence. It covers a 12 lesson
format that discuss topics such as:
Sexually Transmitted Infections, Myths and Infatuations vs. Love, Parental
Relationships and Communication, Dreams and Goals, Dating, Courtship and
Marriage, Peer Pressure and Choosing the right friends, Media and Pornography
and Renewed Virginity to name a few.
For more information contact: GNAP at 473-440-2542
This article was written by
Roslyn A. Douglas, MA - Founder of Central Health - Grenada. Central Health is a faith based initiative that focuses on educating the public about chronic diseases.
