Saving Kenya's Environment Through Family Planning

*not real name

As *Mzee Lkaseti was seated inline between women waiting to choose a FP method, Jackeline, CHAT’s Community Own Resource Person (CORP) partner could not understand why he was there sitting with women in the ‘FP’ line! This was at a motor mobile clinic in Suradoru, in Samburu. He was in no hurry to leave and as the line got closer to the tent Jackeline decided why not direct him appropriately. Upon asking him what he needed, he said that he would love for them to go home together with the team. This was a request he was making since he left his wife *Nashami doing her chores thus no opportunity for her to attend the clinic. When the team finished up with what they were doing, they followed Mzee to his home. They found his wife, Nashami, washing their last-born baby who was just two years old.

Mzee Lkaseti and Nashami have four children. Two are in school. One in the fields taking care of animals and now the two-year-old baby. “We have lost a lot of cattle and camels due to the drought. There are no rains and food. The water is not enough for both the animals and human consumption. Food has become more expensive and we barely have enough to feed on. With no sign of improvement, it’s time we started planning our family to the size that we can manage comfortably. I heard you people offer medicine that women use to help in the prevention of pregnancy. I would like to learn more from you then take it.” Mzee explained. He then excused himself to go look at their goats least one of them died. “They have been dying almost every day now. I am worried.” He said as he stepped out of the door

CORP Jackeline explained to Nashami the different methods of FP and their benefits as well as their disadvantages. She demonstrated how they are used and their different span of time they are for Nashami decided to use the three years implant and gauge if it suited her. With this, she was ensured that they would stay for the next 3 years without the worry of the family expanding. She got her three-year implant from the motor mobile nurse and being so happy she treated the team to some tea from the little milk she had.

‘Many men are starting to see the importance of managing their family sizes. They are allowing their women to get FP more and more. Out of this, I can see the change that is going to happen in a few years. It really makes me happy to see my job being well appreciated.’ Jackeline shared.

Thanks to GG support, in the past three months, CHAT was able to reach: a total of 12,911 individuals with behaviour change information (bcc) with 3,004 family planning clients receiving different contraception methods, of which 2,738 chose the long-term methods – 3 & 5 years’ protection against unwanted pregnancies.

‘There is a huge need for contraception in our communities. Women do not go to the hospital nor do they have adequate knowledge on the use of contraceptives. It will take a lot of intervention to ensure that they are aware of their right to contraception.’  CHAT CORP Eunice Karimi

*Not their real names

As the CHAT motor mobile team was settling into camp in Ntepes in Samburu after a days-long work, Nurse Ann noticed CORP Ntoijoni was seated at the furthest end with a woman. They were in deep conversation. She was curious thus decided to approach them. She found *Lesempa looking all scared but at the same time hopeful.  She wanted to know why the lady had taken her time to come to the clinic only to sit there reluctantly, not sure what to do. She led them to the tent so they could talk more.

*Lesempa had come to the clinic to find a solution. She is 35 years old and has ten children. She doesn’t want any more. She was married at 20 years, which was an achievement since her sisters and peers mainly were married at only 15.

Her reason for getting FP was that she wanted to be able to send all her children to school, all the way to the end. Her youngest child is just 1 ½ years old, and she says she is scared if she has any more children, she won’t be able to afford school for them all. She had seen how Ntoijoni was able to educate her children and had learnt that recently, one had just finished high school and was attending computer classes in Maralal town (That was such a big deal to *Lesempa) . From the frequent interactions CORP Ntoijoni had with *Lesempa, she always encouraged her to plan her family whilst consideration of her recourses. Once Ntoijoni correlated the success of her children to how she planned her family, Lesempa started to see the light. She began to understand that the most significant benefit of FP is for her children’s future.

She was initially scared that her husband would be adamant and say that she had to continue having children. But to her surprise, he was in full support of her going for FP which was so admirable. She had never used FP before and said she used to fear because she heard lots of stories that it would do bad things to the body and make one sick. At the end of it all, Lesempa was able to get a five-year implant that would protect her from getting more children.

Thanks to GG support, in the past three months, CHAT was able to reach a total of 12,134 individuals with behaviour change information (bcc)  with 3,912 family planning clients receiving different contraception methods, of which 3,001 chose the long-term methods - 3/5-years protection against unwanted pregnancies.

“Family planning is an integral part of development planning. It is an essential part for the reason that you cannot hope to plan other forms of production if you cannot plan the production of the main resource – the human beings.” Mwai Kibaki