You've come across articles of Everyday Superheroes in the Reader's Digest:
- not so ordinary ppl who have saved a person's life, ppl who devoted themselves to the community serving others, ppl who touched lives in one way or another. the community is blessed with more warmth and care with these ppl.
i found superheroes in the heart of somewhr in btwn Cheras and Kajang today. at a shelter home for pregnant teenagers.
ever wondered how it's like to make a mistake as a teenager, something irreversible and comes with societal taunt and emotional trauma. to suddenly one day realize your urine pregnancy test tested positive. u're 15 years old, madly in love with raging hormones, i blame the current societal scene for the lack of exposure of teens to contraception. ur world feels like its being torn apart. u feel lost, u don't know what to do, you're paralyzed with fear.
or u feel that no one understands you, your family neglects you, you decide to run away from home with your boyfriend. 1 week later, u find out it is the biggest mistake of ur life when you were forced into prostitution with no means of escape. ur body, mind and soul is tormented by the sexual abuse u're made to live through every single day. when you tried to protect urself, u were beaten and tortured. u can only cry urself to sleep each day as a means to comfort and express urself.
u were just, a teenager, who made that mistake bcz at that moment, adrenaline and sex hormones overpowered your capacity for rational judgement.
now how would you survive that ordeal?
someway, somehow, these teens have to move on in life, pick themselves up, put the past behind them and have a future plan for themselves. bcz their life doesnt end thr. there's still at least 75% more of life to go.
if u're lucky, u have a shelter home whr you receive protection and rehabilitation. you have a support group consisting of other teens like you who understand what you're going thru. you have a family that supports you, counselors to give u advice, ppl to guide u in picking up the pieces of ur life and start anew.
but even with that so called 'luck', it takes great courage to forget the past and move on. esp if you were betrayed and forced into prostitution. will you be able to start trusting ppl again? you are fragile. another storm can easily shake you and tear your foundation apart.
we have not even considered those teens who did not step forward to seek support. they went thru the whole ordeal alone. probably surrounded by darkness and a sense of hopelessness.
i herald these teens as superheroes for being able to brush away the dirt, stand up strong and say, I can do this, because life goes on. and these teens are the ones who propagate the message of hope to the rest of teens like them.
what the society needs to do, is to stop the stigmatization, discrimination, embrace these teens with open arms and tell them its alright we know you made a mistake and give them the emotional support they need. what ppl are doing to shun pregnant teens is doing absolutely Nothing to help the situation. i respect religious and cultural point of views (i am in no way promoting teen pregnancy) but hey we need to solve the problem that's in front of us now: pregnant teens exist in the country and we need to help them.
focus efforts on rehabilitation and protection.
if u want to reduce teen pregnancy, 1. promote abstinence. 2. increase education on contraceptive methods.
our country actively does no. 1.
No. 2 is swept under the carpet bcz ppl are afraid that it will promote sexual intercourse.
but sexual intercourse is happening among teens bcz raging hormones are beyond the control of the government or society for that matter.
start spreading the word on contraception!
heck i had no idea morning pills are safe for consumption until i entered medical sch. i used to think it was toxic or sth. (yes i was a pretty blur case but i'm sure i'm not the only one.) everyone laughs when u hold up a condom but there is a dying need to educate ppl on putting them on the correct way.
if we want to create a change in society, we need to change our mindsets 1st. then only start claiming that we want to sincerely help these teenagers.
Life isnt easy as a teen. we all know.
12 comments:
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i respect religious and cultural point of views (i am in no way promoting teen pregnancy) but hey we need to solve the problem that's in front of us now: pregnant teens exist in the country and we need to help them.
To be 100% sure that one is protected from unwanted pregnancy, abstinence is still the (only) way to go. This awareness is especially crucial in the case where the teens are too shy to buy contraceptive pills or condoms - if you're not protected, don't do it! But another problem is, some teens don't even bother to ask themselves WHAT IF they got pregnant after unprotected sex. They are unaware of the severity of the consequences that they have to bear, other than being scolded by conservative parents.
hm i think the majority of msian teens are generally afraid of having sex bcz they noe there is a risk of getting pregnant. (besides the morality issue). the fear of pregnancy is a limiting factor. bt when intimacy gets out of control, that fear factor is not enough. n teens need to be educated on what to do in the face of such situations. bt yes its true that a portion of them jump into it w/o much consideration of the consequences. the teenage daredevil factor. heh.
Hey Xu vin!
Just dropping by, need to destress from studying from finals. Ha ha... You blog is very 'destressing'.
Anyway, speaking of unwanted pregnancy and sex, it's so different if it's in another different country. They won't judge you so much if you are out of Malaysia. Culture difference. But still control those hormons la! =.='''''
Are you going back end of the year say dec to feb? Cause I am!!!!! ^_^
by the way, MC = Michelle Ch'ng
michi! haha yeah i guessed it was you when i saw MC! :D yeah u're right. teens engaging in sex isnt sth new or hidden in more liberal countries. it's terbalik. u get stigmatised for Not doing it. lol. bcz of that their gov promotes contraception openly n pregnant teens get more support. quite a flawed principle. :P
i'll be back cny! :D that's... 3rd week of jan i think. yay! annual meet up! hehe. so after ur finals are u graduating already or how long more? :P
Actually you don't get stigmatize for not doing it. As long either sides don't criticize the opposite sides they are pretty much ok with everything. That's what I'm told anyway. I could be cheated. Ha ha... You are so right about the government. The student union here give out free condoms at uni here! Practically raising their voice, "Free condoms! Free condoms!"*runs away quickly* Ha ha... They think it's better to educate about safe sex than not letting them know anything at all.
I'm going back for training. Then I still have another year left so finishing in 2011. Probably doing masters after that. Nerd-nya. Ha ha ha....
hi xu vin...another good blog post...your style of writing is very engaging...=)
thx Lo! :P that's so encouraging for me to write more.
a popular topic of discussion/ for opinions. i think as we go through med school we become kinder towards those pregnant teens. u know, no discrimination, no judging people.
and yea, i think malaysia needs to stop being ignorant towards this issue. in uk, it's such an eye-opener to see teens freely coming to clinic to seek contraception options. of course, nobody promotes teen pregnancy, but a balance needs to be strike between promoting abstinence and seeking contraception.
like promoting abstinence AND give sex ed at the same time, and let them to decide for themselves, weighing morality, religious issue, pros and cons for themselves. but it is not easy for malaysians to not stigmatized them. i read an article on malaysiakini recently by a head of a religious group (we all know what religion that is), that wrote that children born out of wedlock are human with animal souls. shocking aye? that's too harsh
hm alicia true without realising it we bcome less judgemental cz we need to look pass morality when we wana give treatment to ppl fairly. i wouldnt have the same thoughts about pregnant teens / homosexuals / transvestites before as i have now. i didnt realize til u mentioned. :P
i like what u said about giving teens choice and letting them make their own judgement. i guess what we lack here is that policy makers / society dun trust teens to make the correct choice, so they try to suppress it. but sumtimes when u allow ppl to make choices, they start to think twice. instead of deliberately going against it.
n yeah that article is a bit extreme. and doing ntg to help the situation. lol.
And ... well.. the first real contact ive had with condoms was in clinical skills class where we were to practise explaining how to put them on (on models)
.... I remember being surprised at how slippery the darn things are.
(remember to put them on the right way up or they dont roll down!)
um...
randomness is random.
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And always use condoms even with contracption cuz contraception doesnt prevent from STDs.
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Yes abstinece is the only 100% method, but well, that only works with some ppl (there's still a large number who dont abstain, and with those safe sex >>>> unsafe)
now this is reli good to know. we SHUD have that in our clinical skills workshop too in the msian unis! we reli shud. the only way we were exposed to this was through conferences/public health projects. n also the public was too embarrassed to reli have a look at our demonstrations.
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