Religious Groups Work to Translate Sex-Education Message
Program Designed for Black Teens Evolves to Incorporate Language and Culture of Latinos
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 16, 2007

When the Rev. Evelyn Perez describes the strong feelings sex generates to the Latino teens in her church sex-education classes, she uses the metaphors of their cultures.

Sex, she tells those whose families come from Mexico, "is like eating a jalapeño -- it is hot!" For her Puerto Rican students, she relates it to the weather in their families' homeland: "You know how hot it gets."

The students, ages 13 to 17, understand instantly, she said. the rest