Health messages target youth

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To the delight of a pre-adolescent audience, a set of pig lungs was expanded with air.

This demonstration of how mammals take in oxygen illustrated what healthy lungs look like-vibrant and pink-and the importance of keeping them functional. A second pair of artificially discoloured lungs graphically showed the effects of tobacco smoke and how ingesting poisons from cigarettes can cause serious health complications.

The most vivid of a series of health and social lectures, the anti-smoking message was received loud and clear by three dozen young people at the "The Gathering of Intelligent Minds" conference that was hosted by the Squamish Nation on Feb. 13.

Rose Reimer of the band's education department stated the purpose of the event was to stimulate the children with a series of lectures and physical activity that might not otherwise be conducted in school.

"We just wanted to start teaching the pre-teens in our community to lead healthier lifestyles and to make good choices in their life," said Reimer.

Highlighting the morning classroom sessions was guest speaker Georgina Lovell, author of You Are The Target, a book that exposes tobacco companies' alleged lies and reveals the scientific facts they are said to have withheld. Instead of just telling her audience aged nine to 13 not to smoke, Lovell's interactive presentation of videos and blunt truths was delivered to her listeners with respect.

"I'm not here to tell you what to do, but to give you information so you can make a choice for yourself," Lovell said.

Armed with information taken from 4,000 pages of documents, Lovell described how big tobacco companies specifically pinpoint young people through subtle advertising and she explained the addictive chemicals that are added to cigarettes, cigars and snuff. She pointed out that 3,000 new smokers per day are needed in North America by cigarette manufacturers to replace those dying. Besides teenagers, she said, quite often non-whites are targetted.

Lovell also showed numerous video clips of survivors of cancers caused by smoking. The middle-aged man with his jaw removed was particularly poignant.

Kayla Buckley garnered her peers' attention as she told of her mother's ordeal with serious illnesses, alleged to have been caused by smoking.

"About all the gross things with cigarettes, the lungs after you smoke-it looks gross and I don't think they want their body parts to look like that," the 11-year-old added.

Other seminars included how to deal with sexual harassment and how to avoid talking to people who have unclear motives. For this segment the conference was split by gender. Xayiltenaat (Shirley) Lewis, who co-ordinated the girls' discussion, explained how each sex, when entering puberty and adulthood, has its own needs and concerns.

"Because the girls are dealing with womanhood, (they have to know) how to handle sexual advances and coming onto them while maintaining their assertiveness," said Lewis.

This technique was demonstrated by 10-year old Pauline Baker: "The stop hand is when somebody is bothering you and you want them to stop. You don't turn away from the person, you put up your hand," she said, holding her hand open at arm's length away from her.

The conference also permitted the youth to release energy with low-organization team games and there was an afternoon craft session in which they could create medicine wheels.

Reimer said, "With kids this age, you need to have some physical activity in place, and our recreation department is providing the activities during the breaks." Reimer added that even "intelligent minds" need balloon races and lemon relays.