Reporter IRTHA DANIEL this week continues her examination of the proposed abstinence programme for primary schools in an interview with Mona Rahael, patroness of the National Abstinence Programme.
Following on last week’s article in which Dr Peter Gentle spoke of the alarming prevalence of STDs among young people, including among primary school children, Mrs Rahael explains why she thinks abstinence is the only way for young people to protect themselves from STDs and to escape the vicious poverty cycle.

Catholic News: How did you get involved in the abstinence programme?

Mona Rahael

Mrs Rahael: Well, I do charitable work (at the Sanctuary - a charitable and intercepting ministry within the Catholic Church) and since the Minister of Health is my husband and I personally know Hazel Manning, Minister of Education, Fr Michael Moses approached me to set up a meeting with them (the ministers) to discuss the implementation of an abstinence programme in secondary schools.

We did meet with them and they were very enthused, especially since the programme was based on strong medical facts, namely that the only way of avoiding STDs and AIDS is abstinence and being faithful in a relationship.

Both ministries agreed that it should be introduced into schools and I myself found it to be a very useful programme. I have always been concerned about the youth, especially when you consider HIV – the epidemic.

You know, so many young people are dying. Then you hear about HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), where just coming into contact with someone with warts can infect you - condoms can’t even protect you from that you know! It is deadly - the silent killer.

I looked at all the unwanted pregnancies and the abortions - it was just a vicious cycle, the whole poverty situation, and I felt in my heart that this abstinence programme was the best answer we could find.

This programme doesn’t only teach you about abstinence but gives the life skills necessary to make right decisions for oneself. So I got very involved and I suppose it was easy for me because my husband is the Health Minister and I knew Mrs Manning. I was able to work with both ministries.

Coming from a religious background propelled me even more. What can I say, all the doors were open for me. I was in the right place and I had all the resources, so I had to - I could not turn my back on this.

Catholic News: So how do the ministries feel about the programme in primary schools?

Mrs Rahael: In the beginning, the Ministry of Education was hesitant. I think they were concerned about what parents would say and how teachers would handle this in their classrooms, but they are beginning to see the merit in this programme and how important it is for young people to have these messages.

We have been criticised though. I read in last week’s papers that they were saying, “Abstinence only is not enough to stop the epidemic. There needs to be comprehensive sex education where you teach young people about the proper use of condoms and so on”.

Well, in our abstinence programme one of the lessons is about STDs and the failure rate of condoms. We don’t build up condoms to be the end all of STDs because that’s a lie!

We do teach them about condom failure rate, but we cannot tell them ‘if you’re going to do it anyway, this is how you use it’ because we don’t want them doing it! That will be condoning it and I am not going to help.

I am not going to make it easier for the youth to kill themselves! I’m not going to tell youth how to use condoms because they are not safe. Why are we compromising our children’s lives? No one is even talking about the other STDs.

What about HPV? A condom cannot protect you from that. What about oral sex? Young people are getting throat cancers and mouth cancers because of STDs - it makes me so angry!

I want to reinforce that we do not have “Sex-Ed” in schools. You cannot talk about condom use in schools because it’s just not true. Abstinence is the only message we can give to our youth, especially at the primary level.

The media have a big part to play in this and so do the entertainers, but maybe they themselves don’t know, maybe we need to educate them.

Anyway, the Archbishop came up with a plan to address crime and poverty and he wanted to introduce it to primary schools. The abstinence programme has been modified to fit into the “Values and Virtues” programme and is supposed to come into effect early next year in Catholic primary schools.

Catholic News: What results do you hope to achieve by having this programme in schools?

Mrs Rahael: It is difficult for us to get funding because of our message. People act as though we live in the Dark Ages, as though abstinence is a far-fetched thing, as though no one can do this, but people have been doing it for centuries.

What we have learnt is that it takes discipline to use a condom consistently and correctly and even then it cannot fully protect you. So we said why not take this discipline and use it to practise abstinence.

We want to teach the youths that it can be done, they can be protected and they can live long, healthy, productive lives. This programme seeks to teach them how to make healthy life choices so they can reach their full potential. We want to see the youths alive.