The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, November 23, 2016 — 3A
premarital sex, including religion,
individual values and culture. The
data from the survey indicated
that 56 percent of students feel
their parents’ religion influences
how they view health issues.
Respondents
represented
a
wide range of religions, such
as Christianity (50.41 percent),
Judaism (5.69 percent), Hinduism
(3.25 percent) and Islam (0.81
percent).
One student, who asked not
to be named due to familial
concerns, said her parents grew
up in south India and have
conservative
Christian
views
about relationships and marriage.
“My parents don’t believe
in premarital sex because of
the Bible, because of religious
reasons,” she said. “They don’t
want guys to be a distraction
when it comes to school.”
However, she noted that her
parent’s opposition to premarital
sex, she is sexually active, hiding
her relationships and atheism
from her parents.
“I don’t talk to my parents
when it comes to that kind of stuff
because they are conservative,”
she said. “They don’t even want
me to see a gynecologist.”
For many teens and young
adults, sex education takes place
primarily through conversations
with peers. Views of premarital
sex
are
context-dependent,
influenced by the environment in
which individuals are brought up
and the friends with whom they
surround
themselves,
making
a campus enviornment host to
many different views.
Headrick
credits
her
willingness to talk about sex to
the communities she’s involved
in, including her role as peer
facilitator at the University’s
Program on Intergroup Relations
— a social justice education
program — and position as
president of the Eugene V. Debs
Cooperative House.
“I tend to surround myself with
people who are open to talking
about things,” Headrick said. “In
general, it is very stigmatized,
but you can find pockets where
it’s celebrated and encouraged to
communicate about sex.”
For there to be a reduction
in the stigma she sees around
sex, Headrick said, there needs
to be an understanding of why
premarital sex is important.
“First of all, if you are thinking
about marrying someone, you
should have sex before so you
know that you are going to enjoy
your lifetime of sex,” Headrick
said. “I think it’s an important
part of your life, and if you end
up with someone you are not
compatible with, that would be a
bummer.”
However, Babbitt, who plans
to pursue a career in full time
ministry
after
graduation,
said for those that practice
the
teachings
of
the
Bible
devoutly,
premarital
sex
is
wrong and should be saved for
marriage. While Babbitt opposes
premarital sex partly because of
her religious beliefs, she also said
she thought sex can be damaging
to relationships and should be
postponed.
“I have witnessed so many
couples get caught up in sex and
don’t end up resolving issues,”
Babbitt said. “There is increased
jealousy and problems. I think a
lot of problems come up when a
couple starts having sex.”
The survey results also found
that many students are not
engaged in open communication
with their parents on a number
of health topics, including sexual
health — only 4.35 percent of
those surveyed said they talk
with their parents about sexual
activity “very often,” while 36.52
percent said they never talk
with their parents about sexual
activity.
Respondents attributed this
lack of communication largely to
the fact that they have different
views than their parents and that
they would rather talk to peers or
medical professionals.
In contrast to the overall trend,
Babbitt said she feels like she can
talk openly to her parents about
issues surrounding sex despite
their differing viewpoints. While
Babbitt said her parents do not
oppose
premarital
sex,
they
support her decision to postpone
having
sex
until
marriage,
support she said she feels lucky
to have.
“I tell my parents everything,”
Babbitt said. “If I told my parents
I was having sex, they would be
concerned because they know
how dead set I am on this. They
wouldn’t be upset that I actually
had sex.”
SURVEY
From Page 1A
as spies; that’s why they kill us,”
Yousuf said.
In April 2015, the family arrived
in Michigan and was resettled
in Ypsilanti by Jewish Family
Services of Washtenaw County.
While Yousuf was able to find
full-time work at a local cleaning
company and attend classes at
Washtenaw Community College,
a language barrier and the need
to care for their children — the
oldest is in first grade — made it
difficult for Zahra to find her own
employment.
But while Zahra struggled
to find a job, another local
community
member
was
unwittingly creating one. One year
before the family’s arrival to the
United States, Ann Arbor resident
Brea Albulov had begun sewing
baby slings for her children after
finding the commercial options
unsatisfying. When acquaintances
began asking if they could buy her
slings, Albulov realized she could
start a business and founded Hope
Carried in February 2015.
As orders mounted in the fall
of 2015, Albulov was not only in
need of helping hands, but was
also increasingly unsettled by
the
unfolding
Syrian
refugee
crisis. While listening to an
NPR interview of an Afghan
humanitarian activist who was
struggling to find work after fleeing
to the United States as an asylee,
Albulov saw an opportunity to
empower displaced individuals.
“While giving money is always
helpful
because
people
need
resources, providing a job can
change a poverty cycle,” Albulov
said. “There’s a whole subcategory
of people who want to work but
can’t.”
After contacting Jewish Family
Services and Freedom House of
Detroit — both of which resettle
refugees in Southeast Michigan
— Albulov began hiring refugee
women as contractors to produce
her baby slings, including Zahra.
Albulov
handles
orders
through a website and packages
and ships orders from her home,
dropping off fabric and picking up
completed slings once or twice a
week from each woman’s home.
She said this has allowed them to
secure paid employment despite
linguistic and cultural barriers,
while also still being able to care
for their young children at home.
Hope
Carried
currently
employs five refugee seamstresses.
Including Zahra, three are from
Afghanistan, one is from Iraq and
one is from Africa. Albulov said
she intends to expand her hiring
to all women who lack economic
empowerment for varying reasons.
Speaking for Zahra, who is not
fully proficient in English, Yousuf
said Hope Carried has helped his
wife adjust to their new life.
“It was hard for us, especially
for my wife,” Yousuf said. “(Hope
Carried) is really helping me and
the whole family … as long as
(Zahra) is busy, I’m happy.”
Other refugees employed at
Hope Carried have similar stories.
Arriving
in
Michigan
six
months ago after fleeing Kabul
in 2013 because her family was
threatened for working in the local
media, Zobaida said her job has
allowed her to support her family
in a way that wasn’t possible in
Afghanistan. She requested to
only be identified by her first name
due to safety concerns.
“Before I didn’t have any jobs
… my first job was to work with
Brea,” Zobaida said. “It’s really
hard for us. I have to work and
help my husband to pay back our
loans.”
The company has shipped
more than 1,400 orders in the
past year, with most customers
coming through referrals. Albulov
said she is preparing to launch
a Kickstarter campaign to hire
additional workers and purchase
fabric in wholesale.
She noted that the current
political
climate
surrounding
backlash against refugee arrivals
to the United States has added
a sense of importance to her
company’s mission, adding that
she would continue hiring refugee
women regardless of any potential
backlash against her company.
Rhetoric used in President-elect
Donald Trump’s campaign has
caused ongoing uncertainty and
fear in the resettled refugee and
advocacy community, especially
over the past few weeks. For
his first 100 days, Trump has
prioritized
extreme
vetting
for those from “terror-prone”
countries. Which countries those
would include has not been fully
specified.
“There was a period where
I didn’t intentionally promote
the
fact
that
(my
workers)
were refugees,” Albulov said.
“But with such backlash, it
actually
motivated
me
more
to be really specific about who
we’re intentionally empowering,
because I think that when people
talk so loud about not welcoming
them, there needs to be a voice
that’s shouting equally about
welcoming them.”
Though they acknowledged
the
challenges
they’ve
faced
in adjusting to their new home
in
Michigan,
both
refugee
families expressed an upbeat and
optimistic outlook toward their
futures.
“I want to improve my English,
and also I want my daughter to
have a bright future,” Zahra said.
“It’s hard for us — we’ve got to
work every single day to pay our
bills … but these are money for
me,” Yousuf said, pointing at his
toddler-aged children, who were
running around Albulov’s living
room. “My kids.”
REFUGEES
From Page 1A
for Parents of Americans and
Lawful
Permanent
Residents,
which allow for undocumented
immigrants who entered the
United States as children and
parents of U.S. citizens to remain
in the country and seek lawful
employment.
In
a
statement
Monday,
University
President
Mark
Schlissel stated his support for
the continuation of DACA to allow
students to finish their studies
at the University, saying he had
joined dozens of other colleges and
universities in co-signing a letter
urging the federal government
to continue the protections at the
faculty Senate Assembly meeting
Monday.
Silvia Pedraza, professor of
sociology and American culture,
said if Trump is able to accomplish
all that he has outlined, it will
have negative effects on many
communities.
“If he makes good on all of them,
the next four years will be terrible,”
she said. “It will of course be
particularly terrible for those who
are refugees and undocumented,
but it will also be terrible for all
those who know them, who care
for them, who would like to extend
a hand of welcome to people who
have contributed well to our
society.”
Pedraza said Trump’s plans to
undo these orders play into what
she believes is the worst possible
situation in regards to immigration
policy.
“Another
promise
he
will
make good on is he will dismantle
Obama’s executive orders with
respect to DACA, so the young
DREAM Act children, adolescents
and young adults and DAPA,” she
said. “That’s all in the worst-case
scenario.”
Washtenaw Community College
student Ivan Flores moved from
Mexico to the United States with
his parents when he was 6 years
old under his father’s work visa,
but his visa later expired after
his parents separated. Flores said
while living under DACA, he exists
in an ambiguous situation where
he is not fully legally or illegally in
the country.
“There’s a very weird legal
gray area,” he said. “We are not
here lawfully but we are not here
unlawfully, and there’s no path in
the system to get out of that.”
The most prominent issue Flores
faces currently, he said, is how
fellow students do not understand
the uncertainty surrounding his
situation.
“Even for the people I know and
talk to, it’s often hard for them to
understand,” he said. “Sometimes
there’s
sympathy,
sometimes
there’s not, but people just don’t
understand what it’s like.”
Social Work student Maria
Ibarra-Frayre is also protected
under DACA after the tourist visa
she was granted when immigrating
to the United States when she was
9 expired. During her time on
campus, she has worked to help
other undocumented students find
a place on campus of their own and
to expand in-state tuition rights to
nontraditional students, saying she
wants them to have the same rights
as resident students.
The University granted in-state
tuition to undocumented students
in 2013, but the ruling only applies
to students who have graduated
high school within the past 28
months, which can rule out
transfer and graduate students.
“I feel really passionate about
college access for undocumented
students,” Ibarra-Frayre said. “And
creating space where they’re safe
and they can have some kind of
semblance of a normal life.”
Flores
and
Ibarra-Frayre
both said they fear for their
own
statuses
under
Trump’s
administration.
Ibarra-Frayre
noted that everyone with DACA
or DAPA status are registered with
the U.S. government, providing
information to allow for their
deportation.
“I don’t think they really
understand the gravity of what
DACA does,” she said. “I don’t
think they know that immigration
has everything they need to know
about me … even though, yes, it
is really hard to deport 11 million
people, they have the information
of thousands of DACA students.”
Overall, however, Ibarra-Frayre
said she was most concerned
about the real human lives behind
the numbers — the families and
students whose futures will be
directly impacted by the repeal of
DACA and DAPA.
“I thought that I could have a
normal life with DACA, but now
it might be gone,” she said. “I’m
more angry than afraid … I’m
more worried about students in
high school who want to go to
college who imagine a future for
themselves that is not going to
happen.”
Similarly,
Flores
said
he’s
worried the country’s election of
Trump will have ramifications for
more than immigration — and that
given the sway Trump’s rhetoric
has had on millions, he finds the
future of the nation more troubling
than his situation.
“I’m scared for the country and
not necessarily myself,” he said.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a
demagogue like Donald Trump get
elected. The thing that scares me
the most is how easily people are
taken in by his lies.”
TRUMP
From Page 1A
management
programs
are
also being considered on North
Campus during Spring Break (Feb.
25 to March 5) when campus is less
populated.
Several Ann Arbor residents
have
expressed
dissatisfaction
with the city’s decision, protesting
at City Council meetings and
brandishing signs as they spoke
out about their opposition to the
city’s program to kill a part of the
growing local deer population.
However, biologists have noted
that a deer cull would be beneficial
for ecological sustainability, and
officials commend the University’s
actions and cooperation, as it would
have been difficult otherwise to
effectively carry out the cull.
The University is contributing
to an estimated 15 percent of the
total cost, less than $25,000, in
accordance with the percentage
of
University-owned
property
within the Wards 1 and 2. Dates,
times and locations have not yet
been finalized, but once they are,
DPSS will make sure that the
community is notified and the
appropriate signs are posted.
DEER
From Page 1A
started by Project Lazarus, a public
health nonprofit in Wilkes County,
N.C. The model posits that opioid
overdose deaths are preventable
and communities are ultimately
responsible for managing their
own health, aiming to combine
ideas of public awareness, coalition
action, data and evaluation, as well
as community education, addiction
treatment and provider education.
Strobbe said to reduce the
stigmas associated with substance
abuse, there needs to be an
understanding
and
acceptance
by community members that it
is should be seen as a medical
disorder that respond to treatment.
Ashton
Marr,
president
of
Washtenaw Recovery Advocacy
Project
and
another
speaker,
described her personal experience
of being in long-term recovery from
opiod use.
“I’ve heard time and time
again that it’s easier to write the
prescription, as opposed to getting
into conflict with somebody or
fighting about it,” Marr said. “But
the fact of the matter is they have
the hand in the individual’s death
if they let the addiction spiral.
Doctors are in a position where they
need to do no harm and give care to
people, so it’s important that they
understand how to treat addiction,
recovery-related resources, how to
safely prescribe to people, and how
to treat pain.”
Marr
also
emphasized
the
importance of bystander care,
including calling 911 and providing
resources for help, like the sheriff’s
office for community outreach
where she works.
Clinical Assistant Prof. Gina
Dahlem, a nurse practitioner at the
University, also highlighted ways
police officers and first responders
are combating opioid overdoses
locally, through administration of
the drug naloxone.
She
demonstrated
how
a
bystander who isn’t a trained
professional
could
administer
naloxone, and said it was a crucial
part of combatting the opioid
epidemic.
“Naloxone reversals are critical,
these are saving lives,” Dahlem
said. “The next important step is
for individuals who benefit from
these reversals to have links with
community peers for peer support,
to help treatment and lifelong
recovery.”
OPIOID
From Page 1A
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