CHAT's Family Planning Outreach- Stories

Lesson Learned

"I was devastated when I found out I was pregnant with my fourth child! I could not believe I was getting another child, yet I had been telling people to plan their families. What would they think of me? I kept asking myself." CHAT'S CORP partner, Sportsman from Leang'ata, started. "To be honest, I had postponed the date to remove my 5-year implant and re- insertion another. This has always been my preferred contraception method. I chose to wait for the health facility to be restocked since it was out of stock. I should have gotten something to keep me safe for the time, but I did not. That was a huge mistake.




"When the facility was restocked a month later, I went in for the implant, but first, I had to be tested for pregnancy. At first, I was so confident that I was not pregnant, but then I started doubting myself when I realised I was not protected against pregnancy; then the test proved my fears right - in a few months, I would have a baby, AGAIN! So, instead of getting contraception as initially intended, I was started on antenatal clinics. "My husband did not take the news very well. He immediately started worrying about the pressure of feeding, clothing and educating the children. We want to provide a better life for our kids, and if we continue with this trend, we cannot escape the scary cycle of poverty!" she lamented. "Well, I learnt my lesson. I am thankful that with the knowledge I have gotten from CHAT, I will always ensure there are enough family planning commodities in stock to serve all the women I refer for services during the door-to-door backpack." She finished.


Ecosystems
Counties
Individuals Reached in the last 5yrs
Grassroot Partners and 61 Motorbike riders
Siana Brealey, volunteer

If women are already suffering from both the physical and mental tolls of pregnancies by the time they are getting Family Planning, they have been reached too late.

This is why we have CORPS (community owned resource persons) constantly educating communities, going door to door and as a result, reaching those who need Family planning services the most. By doing this, we can offer family planning to girls and women before they are suffering and it's too late. Telei is 30 years old and already a mother of 6.She wishes she'd known about Family Planning when she was a teenager so she could have prevented teenage pregnancy.







After her 6th child, who she says she is really struggling to support, she heard about Family Planning and immediately went to get an implant inserted. At the mobile clinic, she came to get that one removed, and another inserted. "It's simple" she says, "Those who have less children can give them a better quality of life. That's all you want as a parent."With the ongoing drought, life is taking a serious toll on everybody's health, made worse by so many mouths to feed. Telei says her dream is for her children to be successful, and have a good education. She'd like them to have a better life than she has had. In particular, she says, for her daughters to not have a child so young. To prevent this, as soon as her daughters can, she will be taking them to get contraception. Around half of the people in surrounding communities are aware of Family Planning, and this number is always increasing. She admits how big a task it is to change attitudes that have been around for years and years. She has started to pass information on, women, families and communities about the benefits of using family planning.





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Lotide*

A tale of GBV

Villagers of Longopito were at their homes trying to keep warm due to the rains that had suddenly started in the middle of the dry season. In the dead silence of the night, they heard a scream from one side of the village. The person kept saying, “Nakataa! Chief! Chief!” it went on for about fifteen minutes, then it stopped. It was interesting, and everyone in the houses started speculating that maybe it was a robbery, but the chief had saved them. The following morning CHAT CORP Julius went to their small center to find out from the women about what went on. Small groups were chatting, and from that, he knew that most likely it was a scandalous thing. He joined one of the discussions. “He almost killed Lanima*! Were it not for the small opportunity she got; we would not be having the same discussion.” One mzee shared. “These young men should know that the women of today want to go to school and make money. They cannot have children every other year!” Though he did not understand what was happening, he was happy to hear a man sharing such sentiments.

Julius learnt that Lotide* wanted to beat up his wife for not getting pregnant. After having their first child, they met with the CORP and the motor mobile team, and after sensitization, they agreed on a 3-year implant. It was now two years, and he demanded that she gets another child. Lanima refused and said that since they had first agreed on 3 years and was unwilling to go back on that decision. He beat her up and took his knife to cut out the implant off her hand. She managed to kick him and ran away to the chiefs. Immediately on learning this, Julius sought Lotide to know what went wrong and had he forgotten what they had discussed? Lotide apologized and said he knew he was wrong, but his peers already had 2 or 3 children, so why not have more. He felt left out. CORP Julius asked if the other children were well dressed as his or if the wives of his peers looked the same as his. He confessed he was happy with the well-being of his family and would always want them to continue being well. Lotide shared that they had not planned how they would provide for an extra child in the family. He agreed that he had done wrong and wanted to apologize to his wife and seek pardon from the chief. He got punished for all he had done and given a duty to share about Family Planning in the following 3 chiefs’ barazas.









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