Pep-talk

A quick word of advice to myself and anyone else with an exam tomorrow. Regardless how many conventions you are lacking, how little knowledge you might have on the issues on women's law and human rights, despite the fact that your "Lovsamling" probably was confiscated due to illegal scribbles in the margin, at least you gotta do better than this. Feliz suerte todos!

Smil, det er vår

De aller fleste ting ender godt. Tok du den?

Let's talk about sex

Sex sells. There is no doubt about it. It's old news, but it is good news. Any magazine or newspaper in the world that put "sex" on its front page can be sure to sell more than the newspaper next to it. Only real competiotion must be Norwegian papers writing about the weather. Because weather sells too.

Anyway, the reason for this entry is that I am considering calling my master thesis "Let's talk about sex." I might add the "baby" for estethic purposes, and come to think about it, it is quite relevant for my research question as well. Babies. Of mothers who are still children. Got it? Teenage pregnancy and all the problems surrounding it - that's the topic of my thesis. I have a presentation of it all tomorrow, and instead of scribbling down some of the arguments I am going to present, I would much rather explain it to you.

Teenage girls are in many parts of the world considered the most vulnerable members of society in regards to health, education and reproductive choices. A Norwegian researchers recently found out that the longer girls stay in school the fewer children they have. And we are not talking country size reduction in numbers, we are talking about the recommended 2,2 children that most likely will pop out anyway. And even that is a bit too much for the rainforest at the moment. The research showed that girls in the US would have more children than girls in Norway, despite the support system in Norway is way better, but the answer was in the amount of education the girls had. The findings were of course that when girls were in school they didn't have time for risk activities like...you know...ehhm...sex.

I will conduct my fieldwork in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in addition to the human rights aspects of the choices, options and opportunities teenage mothers have, I'll look into how and if education can stagnate girls' cluckiness and help them stay girls just a little longer. The girls I'll be talking to have the added disadvantage of growing up in a shelter, without, and here I presume, the positive network family and close friends can provide one in these kinds of difficult situations. Of course these networks can become a bit too close and controlling, Argentina is also infamous for a strict Catholic church and restrictive abortion laws, leaving pregnant teenagers, no matter reason for their pregnancy, little choice. A disturbing fact is then that five million girls undergo unsafe abortions every year, and in Colombia it is the second largest cause of maternal mortality. When limiting girls' reproductive choices, a country doesn't just undermine the girls' right to education and health, but it jeopardizes their development as humans as well as the development of the country.

Think about that next time you have sex.

På ofrenes side i 150 år

Sund Folkehøgskole. Januar 2006. Oppladning til Guatemala.

Jeg ligger på gulvet og skriker. Kjefter. Hyler. Skaper meg. Kniven ligger litt lengre borte og blodet fosser ut av underarmen min. Pulsåren er historie. "Kjæresten" min, Andreas, ligger urørlig noen meter fra meg. Helt stille, blod ut av nesen. Det er meg som slo til han så han gikk i bakken, etter at han stakk meg med kniv.

Første gruppen kommer inn. En av jentene slipper ut et lite hyl, tar seg for ansiktet og snur i døra. Det er vel ikke akkurat det man kaller god førstehjelp. Etter litt romstering og tramping rundt på gulvet får noen roet meg ned, stoppet blødningen og passet på at Andreas puster og har det bra, omstendighetene tatt i betraktning.

Andre gruppen kommer inn. En av de andre jentene stormer rett bort til meg, knytter et skjerf hardt rundt armen som ser ut som den kommer rett fra en grøsserfilm og stopper dermed blødningen. Legger meg ned på gulvet, holder meg fast og roer meg ned. Spør hva som har skjedd. Hvem Andreas er. Hvorfor han ligger der han gjør. Dette er skikkelig førstehjelp.

Ironien i dette scenarioet er at hvert tredje drap i Norge er kvinner som blir drept av deres menn. Heldigvis er det noen som prøve å gjøre noe med det. Men uansett er det tragisk. Etter 150 sider juss og kvinnerettspensum føler jeg meg litt hjelpesløs, sinna på norske myndigheter som nekter voldtatte kvinnelige eritreiske eks-soldater asyl, sinna på de etiopiske og eritreiske soldatene som gjør dette mot sine landsmenn og naboer, sinna på menn som hater kvinner.

Igår var jeg på førstehjelpskurs med Oslo Røde Kors Hjelpekorps, og vi ble flere ganger konfrontert med "virkelige" scenarier.

En jente som hadde trynt i trappa. Stor flenge i pannen. Kanskje brukket ben. Men puster hun?

To narkomane i et hjørne. En bevisstløs. En irriterende. Hva gjør man? Hvor mye blander du deg når det ligger en og sover utenfor Oslo S? Er du sikker på at han sover?

To jenter har falt. Den ene er hysterisk, den andre ligger i en litt rar stilling. Helt stille, blod der blod ikke skal være. Jeg tenker med en gang nakke, pass på nakken, men pusten er selvfølgelig viktigere. Ingen overlever uten pust.

Mitt mål med hjelpekorpset er selvfølgelig å hjelpe andre, men også å få den selvsikkerheten som Tonje Camilla viste under førstehjelpskurset på Sund. Kontroll. Og knusende ro. Så hvis jeg en dag kommer utfor en ekte situasjon, så skal jeg med en gang vite hva jeg skal gjøre for å redde liv. Og ikke bare snu i døra.

For et ORKH

We sit in a circle and wait anxiously for the roll of tape and marker to be passed around. Tear a little piece of tape off, write your name on it, stick it to your chest. Hello, Maria! Hello, Marius! Hello, Hilde! The freshly made waffles are looking good at the back of the room and people are rummaging around with the papers they've received. Taushetserklæring. Tjenesteforsømmelse. This is serious business. This is about life and death. This is Oslo Røde Kors Hjelpekorps.

I read snippets of an article yesterday, describing a search and rescue operation and the dilemma the Tom, Dick and Harry rescuer has. Do you take a day off work to run around in the forest looking for someone who took the wrong turn? Or do you dutifully go to work, cash your pay check in this financial crisis and hope someone else found her? The article was a plea to employers to give their employees time off (preferably with pay) to go search and rescue. Because what if it was your daughter, your spouse, your friend lost out there?

When I worked at Starbucks we got four paid hours off a year to do something good for the community. We gathered one Sunday in a park outside Melbourne and planted trees. I got to hold my first 6ft snake and I had a blast. That's one way of doing it.

When I sat at the meeting last night, listening to people introducing themselves and telling why they wanted to join ORKH there was a few recurrent themes. The wish to help, the social part, getting close to nature, and last but not least, people started getting damn sick and tired of that old couch.