Thérèse Oum, Cameroun

Photo by Ann Chwatzky

"What I want for adolescents is for them to know they have rights relating to their sexuality. I want to protect girls so they do not become victims. They need to know they have the right to say ‘no,' and to say ‘yes.' Equally important, they must be able to identify when their rights have been violated and know where to turn when a violation has occurred. When I talk of communication and marriage in my workshops for adolescents, I discuss responsibilities, rights, and duties. For me most simply, that is what teaching about sexual rights is."

About Thérèse

Thérèse Oum finds time to serve as both supervisor of secondary schools in Yaounde within Cameroun's Ministry of Education and long-term consultant to the nongovernmental organization Femmes, Sante, Developpement (FESADE, or Women, Health, and Development). When the organization hired Thérèse, who is a skilled social science researcher, to examine the causes of unwanted pregnancy in Cameroun in 1993, little did she know that the project would lead her to become one of the country's key resources on adolescent sexuality. Since then, she has continued to work with FESADE in a range of capacities. She is one of two primary facilitators for its weekly afternoon sexuality education programs for adolescents and also supervises FESADE's peer education program. In addition, Thérèse has published several articles and led seminars on such topics as adolescents' sexual knowledge, attitudes, and practices and the impact of early pregnancy on girls' education.

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