Hibas Final reflection

Yesterday, i was asked to teach a workshop to Iraqi refugees at the International rescue committee. I usually do one of these workshops every month or so as a way of giving back to my community. I was always well prepared, knew my material and delivered it to the best of my ability. Never did i receive as good a response as i did during yesterdays workshop. The topic was STIs, my audience was a group of conservative muslim women yet by using the techniques i learnt in this class, every woman in the class participated in the lesson plan, provided her opinion, and learned at least 3 new things. I was even pressured by the ladies into opening a female condom and demonstrating how its used. I dont think i would have known how to encourage participation and bring people out of thier shells if i hadnt taken this wonderful class.

The main reason I decided to register for this class 3 months ago was the health promotion portion. At the time, I was much more interested in community level social marketing and promotion and did not realize the class was mostly teaching health promotion at the individual level. Now i know that before i can expect to change community level attitudes and behaviors, i need to be able to do so for the person sitting infront of me.