UMA Marshallese Education Classes

A few weeks ago, Jen and I stayed up very late into the night because we were unable to sleep. We were talking about many of the serious problems the Marshallese community faces here in Utah, and how many people that we know and love are facing tough times right now.

And then a series of ideas began to come to us of how to help. Along with the new ideas came an impression to write down all of our thoughts so we wouldn’t forget them in the morning. I’ve experienced revelation like this before, and I’ve come to recognize it as the Spirit guiding our thoughts and conversation to answer our prayers.

One of these revealed ideas was for the Utah Marshallese Association to host a series of education classes to help teach responsible adult behavior. Our proposed list of classes includes:

• Financial and credit responsibility
• Sexual education
• Healthy lifestyle management
• American citizenship and naturalization classes
• College enrollment
• Crime and fire prevention

One example of how these classes can help is with sexual education. Over the past two decades, Marshallese people have one of the highest fertility rates in the world. Marshallese women typically begin having children while teenagers, which can greatly inhibit their educational and work opportunities. By limiting their educational experiences, Marshallese women are limited in their ability to teach their children while raising them.

Adultery and extramarital relationships are also a big problem. Up in Spokane, Jen and I were amazed at how almost every family had a pastor who was having affairs with their wives’ sisters. Often these couples do not legally divorce, even if they have been separated for years and have multiple children with subsequent partners. This widespread adultery prevents their posterity from enjoying the full blessings of the law of chastity.

By teaching a Marshallese language class on the blessings of the law of chastity and dangers of unprotected sex, hopefully we can cut eliminate adultery and decrease the number of teenage pregnancies.

We are very excited for this and the other UMA classes. UMA is currently negotiating with West Valley City to use their City Hall for our forum. If you have other suggestions or ideas for this program, be sure to let me know!