Teaching About The Birds & The Bees In Southeast Asia
April 16, 2019 by admin
Just before I left Vietnam to return to the U.S. last Fall, I met a lovely thirteen-year-old girl who spoke very good English. She wanted to practice her English skills; but it turned out that she had a far more serious reason to engage me in conversation.
After practicing the alphabet, she asked about Boys and Relationships. But, what we soon wound up talking about was sex and how babies were made. She didn’t have a clue, even though her menstrual periods had started at age 12. She was very worried about a friend who hated her own year-old baby so much that she wanted to kill it. Neither of them knew how this pregnancy had happened in the first place or how to prevent it from happening again. They knew nothing about eggs and sperm.
The religion is Spiritism, so they probably felt that Spirits just jumped into a girl’s or a woman’s body. Maybe, her parents didn’t know, either?
I drew pictures and wrote down important words, which I suggested that she look up on the internet….and share with all her friends: “This is how all the animals make babies. We do too! It’s merely Science!”
My parting advice was not to “fool around” sexually with any boy, or even to marry, until she is good and ready for a baby. We didn’t have much time together but I do feel that our short and direct conversation will be a turning point for her.
But, she had obviously had a great deal of training in the English language by some very competant foreigners. Why had she not asked them for this advice? They could have helped in many practical ways. Perhaps they were men??? Anyway, I’m glad she trusted me.
If you are ever in such a conversation, do not bow out because of embarassment; but do the best you can under the circumstances.
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