My Work At AHI: The Journey So far [@tewarebecca]

Driven by my passion and motivation towards young people, I decided to do a volunteer work at Action Health Incorporated as a youth assistant. Action Health Incorporated is a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting young people’s health and development.

Action Health Incorporated has been a leverage for me to do what I love doing best, which is to reach-out to young people and adolescent girls. Through this organization, I have conducted outreaches to various schools and talked to adolescents about sexual and reproductive health related issues such as teenage pregnancy, abortion, sexual harassment and so much more.

I have continued to learn about critical issues about Growing Up and the challenges that young people face.  Some adolescents, especially the girl child, are sexually abused. There are recorded and unrecorded cases of rape, early marriages, sexual harassment etc.
Some young people don’t know or understand what HIV/AIDS means or how it can be contracted. Therefore, these outreaches have been a platform for me to reach-out to young people and create awareness about sexuality education. The outreaches has also helped to enlighten young people on live skills such as negotiation skill, assertiveness skill, communication skill etc.

Commemorative days such as Female Genital Mutilation Day, Valentine’s Day, International Women’s Day are programmes which I have anchored in the organization. The observation of these commemorative days is to create awareness about the importance and the impact they have in the lives of adolescents and youths. On this day, presentation such as drama and dance are presented by the students and this helps to create an atmosphere of relaxation and fun for the adolescents.

Action Health Incorporated also publish quarterly newsletter called “Growing Up” magazine. Copies are distributed to students in various public schools in Lagos. The contents of this magazine feature topics on sexual and reproductive health that concerns adolescent. It also entails how to acquire life changing skills. Growing Up magazine help young people gain more knowledge about sexual and reproductive health issues.

 

About The Author

Rebecca Tewa is currently on the Youth Skills Development Programme at AHI. You can follow her on Twitter to learn more about her work: @tewarebecca

 

ABOUT YSDP:

The Youth Skills Development Programme is a salaried one-year internship programme that engages fresh secondary school leavers aged 16-19 years, to serve as Youth Programme Assistants within the organization. The programme provides them the opportunity to develop the core competencies and skills required for transition from adolescence to a healthy and productive adulthood. For more information, visit:http://www.actionhealthinc.org/getinvolved/ysdp.html.