"Theater of light". IEC
Arca Ra
Integration 55: 14-15
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0916-0582 PMID: 12294068 Document Number: 276854
Many families on the sugar cane plantations of La Carlota, a third class city in Negros Occidental, a province in central Philippines, live as the indentured servants of plantation owners who take care of them from birth until death. Most such families earn only 1001-3000 pesos (US$25-75) per month. Believing that the more children a family has, the more workers the family will have and the more family wages earned, plantation couples choose to have many children and consider family planning to be taboo. However, contrary to their expectations, poor parents end up having more children than they can care for. Farmers children usually drop out of school once they begin working in the haciendas and remain farmers throughout their lives. They marry early and remain poor, perpetuating the cycle over generations. Poor labor conditions also result in poor health status. The Kabalaka Development Foundation, Inc. (KDFI) developed an artistic IEC project to help destroy misconceptions about family planning and improve the reproductive health of target families. The project involves saturating target communities with family planning and reproductive health messages through drama productions performed by youth volunteers. Spectators have reacted positively to the Theater of Light performances. The development and implementation of the project are described.