CEJOS

The Centro Juvenil de la Orientación para la Salud (CEJOS) is located in Granada, España and is a service provided by the Vicerrectorado de Estudiantes (akin to the Office of Student Affairs) at the University of Granada. As an organization connected to the University, CEJOS is able to provide all its services free of charge and to most anyone in the city and surrounding area. The general focus of the organization is university and university-aged students, but they place no hard restrictions on who can use their services.

CEJOS’ work is mainly in health and health education, with a focus on sexual health and STIs. The center offers rapid HIV and pregnancy tests, as well as consultation services about gender-based violence and individual health concerns. The office is always stocked with free condoms, dental dams, and lubricant and everyone who comes through the office is encouraged to take some. A large part of the work that the center does is in outreach; the director and interns frequently table at events and engage with the general population to educate them and make them aware of the services the center offers.

My work at cejos

My internship at CEJOS was facilitated by my study away program in Granada during the Fall of 2018. While there, I had several different roles. When I was in the office, my role was usually that of an office assistant. I answered the phone, welcomed clients, and brainstormed with Maribel (the director of the center) about future projects. Occasionally, Maribel would also send me and another intern on errands such as bringing condoms to different University offices, picking up HIV tests from the Health Department, distributing informational cards to students, and putting up stickers in all the University bathrooms. In addition to these errands, I also attended many talks all over the city and took notes to share with Maribel afterwards. This provided me many opportunities to learn about the city of Granada and the different organizations and services that they provide.

Table from an event about safe sex that I helped prepare for but was unfortunately unable to attend. (Photo from CEJOS Instagram page)

Outside of administrative duties and running errands, I also conducted an informal investigation into the experiences of University students regarding sexual harassment and assault. Maribel had me anonymously collect stories from students who had experienced sexual harassment or assault, read through them all, and begin to count the numbers of individual and shared experiences. For example, one dealt with attempted abduction, but over 20 described inappropriate and unwelcome sexual contact and/or verbal abuse. By beginning to understand and chronicle the variety and frequency of experiences, the ultimate goal was to illustrate the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault among young people in Granada. Although I did not get to see this project through to the end, I was involved in collecting people’s stories, reading them, and beginning to chronicle and describe the general experience of university students in Granada.

Photo of me at the student reception where I collected some of the student experiences with sexual harassment and assault and generally talked with students about CEJOS. (Photo from CEJOS Instagram page)

conclusions

The work that CEJOS does, and the work that I did while there, is incredibly important in the realm of sexual health, especially for people who have not been educated on safe sexual practices in the past. The center offers many important services, and I talked with several students who arrived at CEJOS saying that we were the only organization they were able to access, so it is clear that the organization serves an important role in the population health of Granada. The issue of access appeared to be due to a combination of two factors, lack of awareness of where HIV rapid tests were available and seemingly arbitrary rules about which centers and organizations could provide which tests. This meant that people had trouble identifying places they could go to receive a test, and they often went somewhere that did not actually offer free testing.

My specific work was significant in multiple ways. First, the outreach that I did expanded the influence of the center and increased student awareness of our services. Several students came to CEJOS specifically because we talked to them a few days prior. Second, the investigation into experiences with sexual harassment and assault helped the organization and the broader community better understand the risk that young people, and young women especially, face in Granada. In raising awareness of these risks, I helped people understand that sexual harassment and assault is a systemic issue and poses a very real threat to public health if the attitudes that lead to such behavior are not addressed.