mapping

For the past two weeks, my colleagues and I organized participatory exercises with adolescents in four communities. These exercises - focus group discussions and community mapping - were part of a quick review we are conducting of the adolescent reproductive health program. The discussion groups were aimed to help us understand who is actually being reached by program activities while the mapping provided information about where adolescents spend their time and where they get information and services related to their reproductive health.

It was fun hanging out with the youth. They all speak Portuguese, although during the discussions, they preferred to speak in Xangana. A few times, one of the older adolescents would volunteer to translate for me so that I could understand what was being said in the groups. I'm learning a lot of Xangana these days, but it's difficult because the language is completely different from the other languages I know.

The photos below are from two communities - Manzir and 3 de Fevereiro. The adolescents drew their maps on the ground with sticks. The last photo shows a close up of the symbols used by the group in 3 de Fevereiro. The white piece of paper marks the community leader's house, the lime signifies the house of one of the youth club leaders, and the rock is a bar. The map that these guys came up with was so creative!