Today we visited the Robinson Pitalua public high school school in Monteria, in the north of Colombia. Profamilia peer educators were conducting games/exercises to bring accessible sex, health and violence prevention information to their fellow students. These peer educators get over 100 hours of training. I was immediately assigned to a team of three 13 year olds. The first game was to throw a dart at a dart board and then answer a question on contraception depending what ring you hit. The next game was a version of Concentration where we had to match questions and answers on violence. Another game involved rolling dice and having to answer a question from the square where you landed. My question was whether an IUD could cause uterine cancer. I had to think for a second. My team was probably thinking, why we’d get this guy? But I said ‘no’ and won a lollypop which I gave to my team. If it had been a chocolate prize, the scene could have gotten ugly. In the final game, I had to spin a wheel and answer a question. Mine was on economic violence and because of Monday’s session at the school with the Profamilia Wamba rock band, I was able to answer to great cheers from my team and high fives all around.

I was so impressed that the kids knew their stuff on sex ed. The girls were really empowered. When one girl on my team, age 13, won a condom as a prize, the boy next to her took it from her; she grabbed it right back and put it in her pocket. You go girl!