NEARLY THREE DOZEN pre-teens have been counselled on the best way to deal with the challenge of entering secondary school for the first time.
During a seminar for the week-long camp SOFT [Safeguarding Our Future Today], Kerry Ann Hurley of the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA) spoke to the children on the reproductive organs and the importance of understanding themselves during the teenage years.
The 34 pre-teens should now be better equipped to navigate the long road ahead as a result of the exposure they got on Monday.
“During these years at your new school you will have strange feelings,” she told the children.
“But you have to control yourself,” she said to those gathered at the Marian Retreat House at Verdun, St John.
Hurley used the session to answer many questions from the curious children. She reassured them that there was no need to feel “embarrassed as what they were experiencing was a natural process made by God”.
Hurley, a gospel artist whose stage name is Sirrah, also advised those who questioned her about sex before marriage to refrain from such activity.
The counsellor told them that sexual intercourse could lead to various diseases as well as teenage pregnancy.
“What happens when some girls get pregnant is that the babies sometimes have weight issues as most girls don’t eat properly during their teenage years,” she said. “They eat a lot of junk food and some babies may be diabetic.”
Gospel diva Paula Hinds has also volunteered as a counsellor for the camp. (MR)
