Read Part 1: Kartada Samar: Youth power vs AIDS

(Second of two parts)

CATBALOGAN, SAMAR?You could say Kartada Samar (KS) was the right idea at the right time.

Evelyn Ramos and Vincent Basiano, both officers of the nongovernmental group Population Services Pilipinas Inc. (PSPI), set the ball rolling in the campaign to educate the youth about abortion, teen marriages and the dangers of promiscuous sex.

?Recruitment was a difficult process,? Basiano said. ?Potential recruits would conveniently disappear or hide when they sensed we were looking. I don?t blame them. The issues were too sensitive.?

For the first batch, Ramos and Basiano gathered about 200 volunteers from the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK, Youth Council). Everything began to fall into place.

Reproductive health (RH) experts were brought in. They gave the SK members crash courses on personality development, public speaking, creative writing and radio broadcasting, as well as sensitivity and leadership training and lectures on adolescent sexuality behavior, sexuality transmitted diseases (STD) and HIV/AIDS.

To attract the youth, small group discussions were held. They included sessions in parks, town squares and school fairs, radio programs, a Kartada Karavan, a festive parade-cum-educational fair that went around town, and candlelight memorials for AIDS victims.

Billboards went up with the KS battlecry in Waray: ?Pwedi ka matapnan hin HIV ngan AIDS ? Protektahe it Imo Kalugaringon!? (You can be infected with HIV/AIDS ? Protect yourself).

Too young?

The recruits ran into their own share of problems.

?A municipal health officer told me once: What do you know about RH? You?re just a baby,? one recruit said.

A barangay chair scolded Christine Viray, a nursing student, for advocating the use of condoms, saying this would only teach the youth to become more promiscuous.

Jomel Pancubela was initially frustrated when he tried to gather a group.

?They made fun of me, tried to drown out my talk with jeers, or asked if they were going to be paid for listening to me or if they were going to be served snacks,? he said.

First-date kiss

KS members alternated in hosting a radio program called ?Kartada Samar Learn and Text? over Catbalogan?s dyMS from 6:30 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. (and from 12:15 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. over Radyo Natin in Calbayog City) from Monday to Friday, featuring a short talk on RH and culminating with a contest.

Listeners are encouraged to answer questions on the day?s topic. Five winners are chosen daily, each getting a P30 cell phone ?load? for texting correct answers to a special number.

Callers ask anything from dating etiquette (Do you kiss on the first date?) to clarifying misconceptions about STDs (Can you cure STD by drinking calamansi mixed with a detergent?)

Joy Ann Villaflor, a college student at a Catholic school, hosted the program with two other KS members the day the Philippine Daily Inquirer dropped by. She said the nuns had no objections about her KS membership as long as she did not advocate abortion or the use of condoms when it was her turn behind the mike.

First town

Just as informative?and entertaining?is Kartada Karavan, a one-day affair like the one held recently in Calbiga town, sponsored by Mayor Melchor Nacario.

Nacario set aside one Monday in October so the town?s high school students could interact with KS members and young adult stakeholders members, listen to a talk on adolescent sexuality, engage in a lively debate on RH issues, host a balagtasan, and join a parade with students carrying signs on HIV/AIDS prevention.

Calbiga was the first town in Western Samar to pass an ordinance endorsing KS activities, including a budget to boost the campaign.

Changing attitudes

Two years after the KS walked into the hearts and minds of Western Samar?s youth, professors Hernanita Pelino and Merlie Alunan of the University of the Philippines in Tacloban City noted in their assessment a ?marked improvement? in awareness about STDS and HIV in the two adolescent groups they had surveyed.

They also acknowledged a ?slight change? in attitudes on sexuality and gender sensitivity, attributing this to the fact that old habits die hard.

However, they noted that although dating habits had not changed much (many start even younger than their older brothers or sisters), condoms were viewed as ?reliable protection? against STDs, HIV and unwanted pregnancies.

There was also a significant increase in the number of young people using the contraceptive.

A growing number of local government units, too, have embraced the advocacy, with several municipalities adopting resolutions in support of reproductive health and Kartada Samar, according to the assessment.

Kartada superstars

An evaluation of the KS program commissioned by the PSPI in June affirmed the strides made to widen awareness about RH issues through the information campaign led by the youth of Western Samar.

The review was conducted by Elmira Aguilar, Fiscalina Nolaaco and Aldwin Empacas, and a team from the University of San Carlos sociology and anthropology departments.

It said that apart from increasing awareness of adolescent sexuality and reproductive health in their communities, KS members not only evolved into Kartada Samar Superstars (KSS)?a term of endearment for the program?s hardworking staff?but they also changed the attitudes not only of others but their own as well.

Of the present 141 SKs in Western Samar active in Kartada Samar, 23 have risen to KSS status, like Joy Ann and her boyfriend Randy Dacles, who don?t mind waking up an hour earlier to catch up with their radio chores before trudging off to school.

?The experience the KS has provided me has been tremendous,? Randy said. ?The ability to be able to convince people to even just listen, and maybe pick up something relevant along the way, is a powerful tool. Knowing that I am able to help spread valuable information that could even change one person?s life forever, is an extremely gratifying feeling.?

Fighting windmills

?Yhan,? a confessed bisexual, talks about being a more responsible young adult today. He now shuns a previous hedonistic lifestyle anchored on a variety of sex partners.

Dunhill Maraya, an information technology graduate who volunteered to help monitor Kartada activities, said the experience opened his eyes to a whole new world, through his interaction with local government executives and public health workers ?who were actually listening to someone who was not as old as they were.?

Today, Kartada Samar is especially proud of its top achievement so far?getting 25 Western Samar municipalities to pass resolutions approving a budget for Kartada activities.

It?s a continuing struggle, but Kartada members know they are too deep in the campaign to give up.

?Many said it could not be done, that we would be fighting windmills,? said the PSPI?s Ramos. ?I think a lot of people underestimated the youth. There?s nothing young people cannot do.?