While preparing the text for the previous issue of the quarterly Portraits of Emigration (No. 1) I was staying in Poland with my mum, who was recovering after months of illness. On television, there was a heated debate about health education, a new subject in schools.
One morning, over coffee, I shared with my mum the information that this was the topic I was working on. I didn't expect it to initiate a series of fascinating and insightful conversations about the importance of sex education and how these conversations would bring us even closer.
Mum surprised me when she concluded our conversation by saying: „I had sex education too.” I did some mental arithmetic. Mum, born in 1948, must have been in primary school around the late 50s and early 60s. Questions immediately popped into my head. Sex education here, in our little village? Mum answered all the questions, generously sharing information. It was striking how many details she remembered, …
