THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608180107
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 77 lines
Joyce Micks was among 50 people who came for a town meeting about the responsibilities of parenthood and teenage pregnancy prevention Saturday. But she was the only one who brought a baby.
``I came because I wanted to see other people like me who had a baby when they were young,'' said Micks, 21, carrying 8-month-old Marcus Lee, her second child, over her shoulder.
Micks said she wanted to know how other young mothers dealt with their pregnancies. She didn't tell her parents about her first child, Ernest, 3, until she was five months pregnant. She was 17 and not married.
The meeting, sponsored by the Filipino American Community Action Group, was held in an effort by Filipino parents and community leaders to tackle teen pregnancy cases like Micks' - who is Filipino American and has since married the father of her children.
There was a religious and family theme throughout the meeting, held in the Kempsville Library conference room.
Teen pregnancy has become an issue of concern among the Filipino community because of rising awareness of young, pregnant, unmarried Filipinas in Hampton Roads.
The meeting began with an invocation by action group member Josie Dabu, who prayed for God to ``set peace and love'' in the hearts of everyone present and also the strength to face the problem. ``We cannot cry and we cannot hide from this problem,'' she said. ``We can do something great.''
Mostly Filipino parents and children attended the meeting, discussing topics from teen sex awareness to enforcing family values.
A panel was available to help increase sex awareness and assist parents and children.
Maryellen Browne, executive director of the Virginia Beach Better Beginnings Coalition, discussed sexually transmitted diseases - saying that every hour, one teen contracts HIV.
Janet Keim, of the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Tidewater, mentioned programs like ``Pregnant, What Now?'' classes and ``I'm Worth Waiting For'' volunteer skits and plays about abstinence.
Other panelists added their personal experiences. Lita Simbulan, Micks' mother, was one of them.
``When I found out my daughter was pregnant, my words could not come out,'' Simbulan said, tears welling in her eyes. ``There was so much anger inside of me. But later I thought about it and realized that I could never outcast my daughter. What she needed was love and care, and you must also extend the same love and care to your children. Be supportive.''
One panelist, who goes by Jamie, said, ``My best friend did not have sex at all, and now she's getting married. I wish it was me.'' She said she wishes she had never had sex. She thought that her boyfriend loved her.
``Yeah,'' she added with a sarcastic laugh, ``he loved me for two days, and after I was pregnant he left me.''
Some audience members gave Jamie sympathetic looks. Others shook their heads in disbelief, and still others looked on with understanding.
But some parents felt helpless.
``What can we do about this problem?'' a man stood and asked.
Nony Abrajano, chairman of the action group, said the organization plans to work with local school systems to raise sex awareness among parents and children.
Emerald Cenizal, 16, president of the Filipino Youth Club of Hampton Roads, plans to encourage her peers to abstain from sex until marriage.
One woman stood from her front-row seat and gave her own solution:
``Communication. I think that's where we all failed,'' she said. ``The children need to be able to talk to their parents - and not only their parents but aunties, uncles and friends.
``Please, we all have to hold hands.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CANDICE C. CUSIC/The Virginian-Pilot
Eight-month-old Marcus Micks watches his mother, Joyce Micks, 21,
from the floor Saturday during the town meeting sponsored by the
Filipino-American Community Action group to discuss teen pregnancy.
Joyce Micks was 17 and unmarried when she had her first child.
KEYWORDS: TEENAGE PREGNANCY PHILIPPINES by CNB