Feature Articles

On 8 Dec 2004, a group of committee members from seven women’s clubs, gathered at the Breakthrough Village Campsite in Shatin to participate in a training day camp designed and conducted by 2 FPA Education Officers.

To kick-off the workshop, we began with a warm-up game. Participants were divided into groups and asked to use solely their body language to convey a particular sex-related subject. The performance was interesting and highly entertaining. Another program of the day was a “chess” game. The chessmen, played by one member of each group, were at the command of their remaining team members. The chessmen were each assigned a role such as housewife, commercial sex worker, mentally disabled person, HIV carrier, cross-border truck driver, etc. Each move they made was determined by the nature and characteristics of their assumed role. Among the roles, cross-border truck driver drew the most debate and controversy. They tended to be labeled the unfaithful husband, frequent customer of commercial sex worker, and just promiscuous in general. However, committee member Cheung Mei Fu disagreed with such biased views. Given that the husband has undertaken a tough job to support the family, she believed that suspicion was the least that he deserved. She emphasized the importance of trust and honesty in a marriage, instead of peeking over each other’s shoulders. Her speech and her effort to stand up for the prejudiced earned her a round of applause from all participants including me.

When it was time for lunch, we all put down our notes and simply enjoyed each other’s company. “Eat, drink and be merry” summed it all.

The program in the afternoon was group discussion and role-play. We all put in our best efforts in role-playing and just went with the flow. Even the Education Officers were impressed by our superb performance.

It was a pity that we only had one day. Throughout this day camp, I’ve learnt the importance of communication and the art of working together as a team for the betterment of all!

Editor’s note: The author Lam Suk Han is a volunteer of the FPA Ma On Shan Women’s Club. This is a sharing of her participation in the sex education day camp conducted by FPA Education Officers.

(Translated by Michelle Lee)

Note:  Article in ""A word from friends"" is a personal account of the author's point of view. It does not represent the standpoint of The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong.