posted
Hi, people. I would like to ask for Hatrack's help with some problem I stumbled upon. I know there are fine minds around here,and people who are compassionate. So, please, give it a thought. I wrote in my other thread ("A Teacher's Story) that I had a talk with my work's supervisor yesterday's night, where she told me about one of my student's new baby. Well...that wasn't the only thing she told me. My supervisor also told me that many girls where I teach (in Rio de Janeiro's "favelas" - slums - ) get pregnant because of some "parties" called "swing parties". It's like a party where the lights are not turned on, so people can...well...you know...have sex to anyone they want during the party. I learned, much to my dismay, that such parties are held in the same building where I teach over there, possibly in the same room where I teach. (on Saturdays, I guess). It seems to be a very filthy business, if you ask me. Minors are allowed and they do not seem to use preservatives at all! Man...one of my students is only 18 and already has five kids! And she does not know the father of they youngest one. They call this kind of children "Son of seven fathers". Well...of course I know these parties are not the only oportunity to promiscuity (there is such a word in english?) they'll have, but...I don't know...I wish I could advise them somehow. You would think it is simple, but think with me: I teach in a building owned by the "Community's Association", by leave of the Association's president. If he's profitting from these parties, and the students tell him that teachers are speaking against it, the blurb could compromise the whole community education program. There is other problem, of course: as I told you, the "favelas" can be prety dangerous if you piss off the wrong people (e.g. drug dealers). Since I don't know who is involved in it, should I put my hand in such wasp's nest? I thought about calling the police from my home and tell them about the "parties", but somehow I think they would not do much. Even if they did, people would not suspect the newcomers (the teachers who came just a month ago)?
As you all can see, I'm in a moral tough spot. Any advice you could give me would be well received.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Is there any way you could give them information on birth control or how to use them? If the men aren't up to using them, at lest the women can use diaphrams or something... Satyagraha
Posts: 1986 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I'm not sure that there is any good advice that won't get you hurt or in trouble. The only thing I can think of is to attack the problem one person at a time... getting to know them, trying to understand the culture surrounding the activity, and then MAYBE attempting to advise against such behavior in the future. I would advise against doing anything that could get you hurt...what good would you be to them then.
Are there other teachers with whom you can share your concerns? Maybe they would have some insight into what's been done before to stop these parties from happening.
posted
Thanks for the idea, John, but see...I teach in the slums. I do not live there, but that's were I teach. Here in Rio de Janeiro there are many buildings and houses where motion-sensitive lights could be found, but I do not think they would let me install such things (even if I had the money - I don't) over there. Anyway, the people who run the building (a building that was given to them by the government) are probably profitting from the parties, so it's a moot point.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Since it's your room in the morning, why not rig a camera with a very bright flash to go off -- by timer -- around midnight? j/k
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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1 -- Speak out against it. You might get in trouble, but you'll be doing what you feel is right.
2 -- Do nothing, keep your job safe, and maybe feel a little cowardly for not doing anything.
3 -- Find some as-yet-undiscovered comprimise that incorporates the good aspects of 1 and 2.
Assuming you cannot discover a 3, I would say the correct thing to do is 2. Of course, that's easy to say, because *I* don't have to deal with the problem.
That is a sad situation. I remember one woman (girl?) I ment in a favala on Curitiba. She was 16 or 17, and had three or four children with the same man. She moved in with him at the age of 12! The thing that shocked me was that while she was 16 or 17, she looked like she was 30. I guess if you grow up really fast, you grow old fast too.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Camera's and expensive lights won't help. They would most likely be stolen. Besides, the problem isn't that the parents don't know. The problem is that their are powerful people in the community who place their profits over the care for these children.
Brazil is also a very Catholic country, so the whole idea of contraceptives is frowned upon, and possibly illegal. To give away condoms or even advice may get you in more trouble with the law than the drug dealers face.
There are some sources on the internet and elsewhere for abstinence promotion. Signs and movies depicting not only the problems of teen pregnancies, but the horrors of venereal diseases. You may do a search for these, see if they will send you some information for free, and use that in your classes.
If the building owner complains to you, or if the dealers complain, then you can quit, knowing you've done your best.
Even spraying the room with disinfectant the day after one of the parties, and explaining to the kids in the class why (the deadly disfiguring, un-manning diseases such an orgy spreads), might be a way to subtley get the word out.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
People...the parents don't care...let me see if I can explain the "favelas" to you. Imagine a near city-sized place where some streets are so narrow you must squeeze trough them if you are a little overweigh or have wide shoulders. Now imagine that each side of said streets have tiny wooden huts literally pilled one upon the other where families of 8 or more people live togeter in a place smaller than a decent-sized bedroom. I'm talking squalor. Poverty. The extreme "I don't have food" kind of poverty. People over there carve out a harsh life. They are opressed by the police. The true government is the traffic. Most people threw away their moral standarts long, long ago. I couldn't tell one of their parents, because...sheesh...because nobody would care! 15 year olds are considered adults! And to tell you the truth I only know my way over there up to the building. The place is a Boch's maddening maze made flesh. About hidden cameras...let me tell you: two years ago, a well-known, preety famous brazilian reporter called Tim Lopes went to a "favela" with a hidden camera, so he could register the open drug fair going on, with people crying out loud the price of their wares. Well...Tim Lopes was abduced in the midst of it. His body was cut to pieces with a katana (a japanese sword). I know...seems like a bad action flick, but it is not. Welcome to third world. It caused a big uproar, of course, and the police hunted down the guys who did it, in a giant manhunt that turned most Rio de Janeiro slums outside down. Maybe a teacher's death would cause much sensation, but to tell you the truth I'd rather keep my head between my shoulders. Tsc...to tell you the truth, I just wanted some tips of how could I pass the message that these people should have a little respect to themselves and their own bodies. Man...imagine the AIDS rate over there!
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Dan, the government is trying to spred the use of contraceptives. Of course, the high and mighty "mother church" frowns upon it. Our cardinal even said that rubber preservatives would not help against AIDS because "the virus is so tiny that it would slip between the rubber pores". Talking about contraceptives would not get me in trouble with the law. Maybe it would get me in trouble with the priest across the street, and he would convince some students that I'm not a very good Catholic (I'm not even Catholic, but I don't think advertizing the fact would help my case), but that's all. I guess I'll give it a try, tonight.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
We can send you condoms if you have somewhere we can send them to. I could even see about donations.
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Eduardo, have you thought of mentioning this to that priest across the street? Just let him know what you expect is going on...
He might disapprove of the idea of contraceptives, but I'd be willing to bet he'd hate what is going on even more. Perhaps then he'd figure out a way to marshal the local people into cleaning this up.
You could even use the anonymity of the confessional to speak with him. Rather than confessing, simply say that you've got a situation going on and need his advice.
Just a thought, but more than anything Eduardo, don't do anything that will get yourself hurt. In America, life guards at our beaches are taught to save people's lives, but they are also taught that if a person they are rescuing is going to pull them down with them, to let the person go. Understand?
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
First of all, Eduardo, don't do anything that would endanger your own life.
I was going to suggest that you get the local or national press involved, but I guess that's been tried and failed. What about the international press? News shows like 20/20 here in the US do exposés on things like the favelas regularly. Maybe it would embarass the government or community into taking action.
I understand that the Catholic Church is opposed to contraceptives and birth control, but I can't imagine that they condone prematial sex or illegitimate children, either. Do the local Church officials know what is going on? If so, have they taken any action?
Also, it seems to me like you don't really have to worry about what the local priest tells the community about you. They're obviously not listening when he says to be abstinent until marriage.
Lastly, would international charity or relief efforts be well-received?
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Can you mention it to the Community Association's president? That way, if he is in favor of these parties, at least you will know. And if he is against it, you might get a pass or help to do something about it. Maybe they don't care about it, but then again, there could be a chance they might agree with you.
Another option is preaching against open sex like that, without specifically mentioning the parties as the reason for your concern. Leave it up to the kids to make the connection that maybe the parties are a bad idea. Not only does this allow you to avoid giving the impression that you are opposing the parties directly, but I think people often take messages like that better when they are given to them in a general way and allowed to draw conclusions for themselves, rather than told flat out that X specific action that they are doing is bad.
Posts: 2432 | Registered: Feb 2001
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quote:Also, it seems to me like you don't really have to worry about what the local priest tells the community about you. They're obviously not listening when he says to be abstinent until marriage.
That's a shakey argrument. Often people pay no attention to things that their spirtual leaders tell them if it's hard or they don't want to do it, but hating and possible attacking a teacher that a priest condemns from the pulpit may sound appealing and fun.
As for the rest of this thread... my only fully thought out response wasn't very constructive, let's just say it can best be described this way:
posted
Hello, people. Thanks for your help! I'm really thankfull.
Let me tell you how things are going:
First of all: The Association's President DO know about the party. The Association profits from the beverage, which he sells (mostly alcoholic beverage, mind you. Even to minors). Thanks for offering help with sending preservatives, but it is not an issue. As I said, the government provides free preservatives (condoms or pills) to anyone who wants it. Health Care people are often in the favelas giving condoms for free. Let's say that the problem over here is not a material one, but a moral one: they just don't care! Many of them think it is funny to be a mom or dad in such an early age, even if they will not provide or simply recognize their sons and daughters. See...over there, if you are a 13 or 14 year old boy or girl, and you are going to be a father or mother, you are seen as an adult by the community. There may be much fighting (sometimes there is killing involved) about the girl's honor, but if the boy and girl in question survives (they usually do) they are treated like adults from then on. Sometimes they marry each other (at least for a while). Most of the time, they don't. I was talking to some students, this week about children, pregnancy, etc. One of them asked me if I did not have any children. When my answer was negative, they were very surprised, and asked me if I didn't want to leve a heir. I told them that me and my girlfriend are not married yet, and that we feel that we don't have the means to properly support a child, but they just could not understand why "not having money" would be an obstacle to father a child. About the party: everyone know. There are announcements spread everywhere. It seems that there are many other "Swing Parties" over the place, not only where I work. Of course they do not advertise it as the orgy it is. They just call it "Swing", say it is really fun, girls do not pay entrance, guys who bring at least two girls do not pay either...this stuff. But everyone seems to know what happend over there. The kids talk openly about it among themselves, even if I (or other teacher) am around. Girls do not use any underwear when they go there, so they prove they are willing to engage anyone who aproach them. It is horrifying. I talked with our biology theacher, and we agreed to choose texts and subjects jointly, in order to show them what could go wrong if they make sex and do not use any kind of protection. For now, it seems we'll try the soft approach. About the priest across the street: I never saw him. I don't even know how he's like. The church over there do not have a resident priest. A priest always go there on sundays to celebrate mass, but that's it. Since I'm not there on sundays, I never got no meet him.
About my safety: do not worry, people. I am too much a coward. I'll never put my head on the line if I get to avoid it.
I liked a lot the "get the press attention" way. I'll write some letters to local newspapers and tv stations. They also love to uncover such stories. Hmmm...but them, how do I manage to remain annonymous? I the press and the police start showing, wouldn't the involved suspect the outsiders (we teachers)?
Well...at least, it's a beginning. I want to do this while I keep my job. While I need the money, I could hold on for many months with only my savings (and I'll be working in another university by june), but these people really need their classes. The government would probably get another theacher and put him/her in my place, but it would take some months, I bet.
Anyway, thanks, guys! I'll keep accepting suggestions, and giving relevant updates when there's any.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Prevent your classroom from turning into a mosh pit by installing these indestructible electroluminescent panels in the ceiling. Bypass the light switch, so the panels remain illuminated 24x7. No dark room, no dark deeds. Let the landlord figure out why the lights won't go out.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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