Heads up: this post is about women’s health – I do talk generally about lady parts and problems.
My life in Cambodia is an ongoing series of classes: the formal classes I teach at the PTTC, the tutoring I do at Epic Arts, the mini-English class I teach to my co-teachers, and most recently a Women’s Club. I originally wanted to do club for the women at the PTTC to build on what the Club Samakey former VSO volunteer Charlene and I did with all the students last year – team, trust, and group work building exercises with an aim towards increasing the students’ confidence. Much to my delight, however, my co-teacher Bunda (who you may remember from the workshop we did on the new 4th grade English curriculum) told me she was interested in helping out.
Bunda and myself during the teaching workshop
Bunda brought a whole new dimension to the club because she knew that one of the things about which the women at the PTTC were most interested in learning was women’s health. I am, of course, immensely qualified to teach women’s health thanks to the one semester of Women’s Health and Reproduction I took in college. 
However, sparse though my own knowledge on the subject may be, the fact remains that that course, my general sex ed knowledge, and my magnificent googling abilities mean that I actually have access to more information than most of the women at the school. Couple that with the fact that Bunda can help me explain and brings some of her own knowledge to the table and you’ve got yourself a women’s health and confidence club!
The group is in its initial stages, but interest has been high. In addition to team and trust building exercises, we’ve talked about women we think of as our heroes (almost everyone chose their mother), and just last week we began going over women’s basic reproductive organs. The students are wonderful with how willing they are to put up with my butchered Khmer explanations.
“This is the uterus – it’s like a house for the egg. Every month your body makes the house as comfortable as possible for the egg, but if you don’t get pregnant then it cleans the whole house out,” I declare, waving vaguely a picture on power point. “Your cervix is like the gate, and the vagina is the road!”
One of the slideshow pictures we used – this was of particular interest because many of the married* women at the PTTC use the calendar-based contraceptive method without really understanding the cycle.
*I say married because unmarried women in Cambodia ‘don’t have sex’
Some of this isn’t new to them. In biology, students are shown basic pictures of reproductive organs, but many have forgotten the essentials and most have never heard about anything beyond the existence of a uterus. We talk about all sorts of questions, “Why am I tired and upset during my period?”“Why doesn’t it come regularly?” “Why does my stomach hurt?”“If you drink beer is it over faster?”
The other popular topic of discussion is about vaginal infections, which Bunda tells me (and I’ve heard from other people as well) is a real source of concern for women in Cambodia. There’s a cultural of silence surrounding this health problems—much as there still is in the US. In a country where douching is common, with a temperature and humidity ideal for growing all sorts of bacteria in damp places, most of the women in the group seemed relatively familiar with the symptoms of infections. What wasn’t clear to many were the causes.
The group is very educational for me as well – adding all sorts of delightful new words to my Khmer vocabulary I’m particularly grateful to Bunda for volunteering her time to do the club, as well as her suggestions for how we make the curriculum relevant to the specific concerns of the women at the PTTC. And, most especially, for transforming my tenuous analogies for body functions into actual explanations!
And while I’m being grateful – happy Thanksgiving to everyone back in the States!
So pardon my naïveté, Kaija, but is there a reason that women are not taught about their bodies in school? Also, may I use your delightful definition for the cervix as I begin my Human Growth and Development Unit with my fifth graders next week? What a wonderful educational service you and Bunda are providing these young women! Happy Water Festival to you!
I think the driving impetus behind not teaching women (or men) about their bodies in Cambodia is – as Neil noted – the same reason we so often don’t in the States: it will give youth ‘bad ideas’
Cambodia is a really conservative society particularly when it comes to things like sex and bodies (remember, this is the same place that thinks my shoulders and knees are too risque for public eye).
And of course you can use my analogy hahaha… although I’m afraid I didn’t think much of it!
You go girl, what a wonderful thing that you can help these women get the information they need about their bodies which can make such a big impact on their lives. I applaude your efforts and creativity in your explanations.
I hope you are able to have a celebration of Thanksgiving with your Cambodian friends and family!
Happy Thanksgiving from our Family!
Ruth, Joe, Ryan and Anna
I remember that women’s health course you took at Macalester — it was the same semester as our senior seminar, and sometimes it would filter in a little bit. It is a point of institutional pride that Mac graduates can confidently state, in any number of languages, that “the cervix is the gate, and the vagina is the road!”
I share your dad’s question. But I don’t think women are taught about their bodies in any particularly rigorous or uniform way in the U.S., either. (Men sure aren’t, or at least we weren’t when I was a lad.) What puzzles me is that Cambodian women don’t teach their own daughters more things. Somehow my assumption is that, in the absence of official education, traditional knowledge (whatever that looks like) will flow from generation to generation. Clearly, that is not the case — if these poor ladies don’t know what the monthly cycle is about, then it seems that even unofficial channels of knowledge are blocked up. I wonder why that could be.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Kaija! I hope you will tell your Cambodian friends about the first Thanksgiving in good Puritan style. Remember the key Roger Williams phrase: “Friend, you are mistaken.” Ha!
I think that the reason mothers/aunts etc aren’t passing down a lot of that information connects with an ongoing mystery to me about Cambodia: there just doesn’t seem to be that much preserved knowledge. That isn’t to say there aren’t traditional beliefs being passed down, but not to the degree I would have expected in a culture as old as this one (the Angkorian Empire which is often identified as the height of Khmer society was in the 9th century). It’s really confusing to me.
On the Puritan note – I’m no religious studies major, but I think it would be deeply intriguing to put a Buddhist and a Puritan up against each other. After all, Buddha tells us “Life means suffering” – surely they’d have things to talk about?
It doesn’t surprise that more knowledge isn’t “preserved” or passed down when I listen to all the things you tell me Cambodians DON’T talk about. Body hair is A-OK, but from what you’ve said, it sounds to me like anything involving social connections, emotions and especially intimacy would be a dead silent issue. On that note, glad you’re working on opening up the conversation! I’m so proud of you!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving, Kaija! It’s hard to believe you are almost half-way through your second year ~ but it is nice to see you are still going strong and making a difference!
WOW! You are such an inspiration Kaija. When I saw the title of your blog post I knew I was in for a treat. What an incrediable experience/opportunity you and Bunda are providing. I would agree with other’s comments that the U.S. doesn’t do a super great job of educating women (or men) on their bodies and sexuality. I teach Human Sexuality at the college level and am constantly amazed at how little some students know, even very basic anatomy (and whether it is something women have or men have). They don’t know their own bodies. Best wishes as you continue providing amazing opportuntities for others.-Jill
You’re such an adult. And stop worrying so much about being “qualified.” Like you say, the resources are out there, but clearly what was missing was someone willing to start the conversation. (Like everyone else) I am super duper proud of you.
Kaija, I see you already as some kind of a hero, for all the teaching you are doing in a foreign country in a foreign language on a touchy subject. But someday hopefully, you will also be called a hero by your own children. That of course is the best kind of hero!
Seraina
Woohoo bodies and human sexuality!! I also agree that it is pretty awesome that you do this. I tell people that you are leading this class all the time- they are all impressed
I wish my teachers had used your analogies as well! Haha makes everything sound so elegant!
Love you
I also liked your subtitle- “lady parts and problems” haha
During my years teaching sexual education I could have used your uterus as house metaphor. Brilliant! And good job teaching this topic. Women who can make decisions about reproduction are free to pursue their dreams.
[...] taught several hundred students, gone on school trips together, and Bunda is the glue behind the Women’s Club we did together at the [...]
[...] something unique, something different from the rest of the class. Or ask the women in Bunda and my Women’s Club to self-reflect and individually express themselves. Am I just imposing a value for individualism [...]