Welcome to Kenya! School Children as Sex Slaves…

Increasing numbers of school girls are resorting to sex work in their holidays to supplement home income –  resulting in an increased number of school girl pregnancies. (Kenya’s official’ unemployment rate is 40% – but the reality is much higher).

To make this much worse Kenya has the highest rate of abortions in the world resulting in practises of  unskilled abortions, STDs and Female Genital Mutiliation (FGM.) school girl pregnancies are a few of the many challenges faced by the FPCORPs and the mobile clinic team when implementing of Reproductive health/ combined family planning/ecological awareness services.

Gender inequality is a major challenge in most of the communities where CHAT implements family planning/ecological sensitisation services,  usually the men carry out any decision making – including health decisions for their spouses.

Untold suffering with infanticide, crude abortions, STIs and more are still the norm within most of the communites.There is an enormous need for basic health and ecological awareness education which CHAT now encompasses into family planning information .

Through M&E, CHAT innovated the back pack nursing to assist the FPCORPs with family planning services through door to door approaches proving to be  one of the most effective strategy (both economically & practically) to reach marginalised, hard to reach and/or stigmatised communities.

Many younger teenagers in and out of school are now requesting and accessing Family Planning services, often with the guidance of their parents and  teachers, to avoid unwanted pregnancies . Using door to door strategies to mobilize communitiies for familiy planning services at their household level has reduced stigma in strongly traditional communities.

Your support will help the work of a ‘Back Pack Nurse’ travelling out to the communities,often by their own means – by foot, or boda boda (motorbike taxi).

This last quarter your support reached 1,296 women along Kiamariga, Pesi, Ayam, Matigari, Matweku, Tandare, Olmoran, Mwenje and Nagum in Laikipia West with different FP methods of their choices.

Donate; http://www.popoffsets.com/support_us.php

The Power of Family Planning Promoters

This is Emilio. He is one of our family planning promoters from Sachikac who is learning more about family planning and sharing his new knowledge. As a father of 5, Emilio believes that;

“If we use a contraceptive method and plan our family, we will have a better future and better quality of life, helping not only our family but also the community. This is why family planning is so important to me and why I want to share what I’ve learned with my community.”

Emilio like many of his neighbours had misconceptions
about family planning. “Before I thought certain methods caused abortion but after the WINGS training, I am certain that contraceptive methods help women improve their health and space their pregnancies without causing harm. It’s important to know that side effects are normal and vary for each person.”

Doña Loretii wanted to become a promoter for WINGS;

“not for any money I would make, but because I really  want to better my community. The women here are constantly asking me for help to plan their families, but  the health centre has no resources. I know with WINGS´ help we can talk to the community leaders, talk to the  husbands, and educate the community on family planning methods.”

As a midwife, Doña Loretii has acquired the trust of women and their partners in Setaña who visit her for general medical help. Training and support from WINGS will enable her to provide scientifically-accurate counselling and methods while also
strengthening the links between maternal health and family planning as preventative care.

While implementing the volunteer family planning promoter network in the northern Alta Verapaz province,  WINGS has seen increased interest from male community members. WINGS’ Nurse Carmen is often impressed by the high male attendance in our community talks, noting that;

“men from rural Guatemala are rarely involved in family planning because machismo deters them from approaching these topics. But in a talk today, they were asking questions and trying to clarify their misgivings. Some said they didn’t realize longterm methods existed and were interested in whether or not their families could use them.”

Male interest and participation in family planning is central to securing widespread support for and acceptance of family planning and changing social norms in Guatemala that in the past have presented barriers to individuals interested in accessing services. Currently, 15 of our volunteer family planning promoters are male and we anticipate training more men to respond to the immediate needs of their communities.

By participating in ongoing trainings, volunteer family planning promoters like Emilio and Doña Loretii understand how contraceptive methods work and how to address common misconceptions about family planning methods which circulate within their communities.

They are able to share accurate and appropriate information with community members who are then able to make well-informed decisions about their reproductive health. Additionally, Emilio and fellow promoters receive support from WINGS Family Planning Technicians who make monthly visits to each community reviewing inventory, providing new supplies, and recommending strategies to help the promoters respond to any challenges they face.

With strong participation and sustained interest at the local level, WINGS remains dedicated to training promoters to reach Guatemalans in need of family planning.

We would like to thank PopOffsets for collaborating with us to expand our promoter network and bring vital services to adolescents, women, and men throughout Guatemala. 

 

Why family planning? The Results…

Since  July 2014,  WINGS  has  trained  19  new  promoters,  expanding  the  network  to  74  women  and  men  in  Alta Verapaz, four of whom are funded by PopOffsets.

“Here  we  have  a  great  need  for  family planning. I don´t want to  see  women suffer from having too many children  anymore. My  poor mother gave birth 24 times  and I  myself have 7 children. Before,  we didn´t know about family planning…but now we are being given an opportunity to educate and protect ourselves to avoid unnecessary deaths due to pregnancy. And  truthfully,  our  children  are  the  ones  who  end  up  suffering  because  we  don’t  have  enough  to  support them.”

The 74 promoters have been instrumental in organizing and  delivering  143  community  talks  about  family  planning  to  1,016  women  and  men  in  the  three  month period.

80% of participants in the community talks self-identified as Mayan Q’eqchi’  and Poqomchi’,  which is significant  considering reported unmet need for family planning services among indigenous Guatemalans is nearly 30%. This is due to geographic isolation, economic barriers, and general fears about side effects.

With ongoing supervision from WINGS, the promoters  are able to address these fears and  overcome  local  barriers  so that marginalized Guatemalans are able to access safe and effective family planning methods.  Since July 2014, our network  of  promoters  have  administered  1,377  three  month  Depo-Provera  injections,  290  one  month Cyclofem injections, distributed 147 monthly hormonal pill packets, 467 condoms to  1,154 returned users and 686 new users.

 

 

Popoffsets; Our Proof

“Family Planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost than any other single technology now available to the human race”.  – UNICEF.

“The human population can no longer be allowed to grow in the same old uncontrolled way. If we do not take charge of our population size, then nature will do it for us.” – Sir David Attenborough.

“Pressures resulting from unrestrained population growth put demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any efforts to achieve a sustainable future. If we are to halt the destruction of our environment, we must accept limits to that growth”
– World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, signed by 1600 senior scientists from 70 countries, including 102 Nobel Prize laureates

“When the family is small, whatever little they have they are able to share. There is peace .”- Phillip Njuguna, pastor, Nairobi, Kenya.