It Can Wait: SFAS Silay Version

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Our It Can Wait Premarital Sex Seminar, Classroom edition, in St. Francis of Assisi School in Silay was a success. My team of "It Can Wait Brigade" (as dubbed by Nurse Romar), left Candoni as early as 4 am and went immediately to Silay City (more than 130 kilometers away from Candoni). I arrived there at around 9 past and was met by my former High School classmate, JR Abello, the Vice Principal for Academics of SFAS. I was introduced to the Principal and the rest of the faculty. There were around 67 students from the third year and fourth year levels. We immediately started the seminar, starting with a dependable icebreaker.

We then divided the group and separated the boys from the girls. We gave them time to prepare for their group chant or yell. During the Games of the Genders after lunch, the teams presented their group chant.

The Classroom series is actually a condensed version of our youth camp and it basically retained the lecture portions, including the SGD part (small group discussion).

The Games of the Genders were very fun and hilarious. My nurse facilitators conducted two fun games while I introduced to them the Amoeba Race. During the first two games (Shoot that Pen and Eggplant Race), the boys won (with a slim margin during the Eggplant Race). But during the Amoeba Race, the girls won.

The Games were followed by a more serious tone: the SGD, the "getting naked" part. The group was divided into smaller groups with 6-8 students per facilitator. With their eyes blindfolded and with the participants seated in a small circle, the facilitator would read statements about themselves. If the participant agrees to the statement, he would only raise his hand quietly. The SGD is followed by counselling, with emphasis on sexual abstinence as the more responsible way.

The Pledging Ceremony, a revision of the original, followed, with the participant reading their personal commitment to "Wait". They were then given ballers with the words, "It Can Wait" as a reminder of their pledge.

I am thankful to the invitation of the SFAS faculty and administration to conduct this premarital sex seminar. We hope we have changed the mindset of many of these young people. We have learned a lot from them as well and we do hope they can help promote the advocacy for Sexual Abstinence. "It Can Wait!"

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