Busoga rural women embrace moon beads
Nov 15, 2009
KEEPING a respectful distance from the village elders and dressed decently in a gomesi, 40-year-old Irene Nakidodo, sits pensively as she attends a community family planning sensitisation meeting.
By Frederick Womakuyu
KEEPING a respectful distance from the village elders and dressed decently in a gomesi, 40-year-old Irene Nakidodo, sits pensively as she attends a community family planning sensitisation meeting.
With one deft move, Nakidodo clasps her nine-months-old baby close to her chest and begins to breastfeed.
Nakidodo, who is a resident of Businde village in Igombe sub-county, Iganga district, is a proud mother of 10 other children but doubts if she will ever be able to meet their basic needs.
“I do not have money to take them to school and buy clothes and food,†she admits.
Asked why she continues producing despite lacking means to sustain her family, Nakidodo answers: “My husband’s mother produced 15 children and she wants me to do the same. I once used an injection but I became very sick and stopped.â€
Juliet Wotali, the officer in charge of Bulyasime Health Centre II, says many other women are entangled in dilemmas similar to Nakidodo’s predicament.
“Most people in this community are Muslims and wrongly believe family planning may make their women infertile or kill them,†he says.
James Kirya, Nakidodo’s husband says he has discouraged using contraceptives because it affects the health of their wives. “Whenever our women take pills or use injections, they loose interest in sex,†he says.
“Though I want to limit the number of children and produce the ones I can help, I do not want to compromise the health of my wife.â€
Wotali says attitudes and beliefs of this nature have influenced most people in Busoga region against family planning.
Statistics by the Family Life Education Programme, managed by Busoga Diocese, indicate the unmet need for family planning in Busoga is about 60% compared to the national average of 43%.
An average woman in Busoga produces 7-10 children. Poverty in Busoga is as high as the children, standing at 51 percent, compared to the national average of 38%, according to the 2002 Population census report.
Many families cannot educate their children, feed them or meet other basic needs of life.
However, there is a glimmer of hope.
Through sensitisation by different organisations, the people of Busoga have began to appreciate family planning.
Nakidodo, too, is happy that her husband has realised the pertinence of family planning. Kirya allowed her to take on family planning on condition that she uses a natural method.
In the meeting Nakidodo is attending, Wotali is sensitising them on the use of a new natural family planning method.
Known as the Moon Beads method, Wotali says the beads represent a woman’s menstrual cycle and each bead is a day of a cycle in each woman’s life.
She adds that the Moon Bead has 32 beads, a rubber ring for marking the days of the cycle and an arrow indicating the direction to move the ring.
Wotali says Moon Beads are based on a natural method of family planning traditionally known as the calendar method, where the woman starts counting and marking the days she gets her periods, to determine when she wants to get pregnant and when to avoid pregnancy.
Wotali says the Moon Beads are coloured red- indicating the first day of a woman’s period, brown-marking the days when a woman is not likely to get pregnant.
The dark brown bead helps the woman to know if the cycle is shorter than 26 days. Wotali explains that women with menstrual cycles shorter than 26 days or longer than 32 days may not use Moon Beads “Because it will not work. Their cycle is unpredictable and you may not be aware when it starts. They should use other methods of family planning.â€
Who can use Moon Beads?
Women who have failed or have had serious side effects with other methods of family planning can use Moon Beads.
“This has no side effects and is a natural method of family planning that is 95% effective when used correctly.
Research has shown that only five out of 100 women may get pregnant when the method is used correctly,†Wotali explains.
She also adds that couples, who communicate well and agree not to have unprotected sex when the woman is likely to get pregnant may use Moon Beads and it will work for them.
Wotali advises that if a woman recently had a baby, is breastfeeding, or used another family planning method, she should seek medical advice.
Consulting a doctor is crucial because the beads may not work, when a woman has an unstable or unpredictable cycle.
After listening to Wotali, the Businde residents, including were excited about the Moon Bead method. They are now giving it a try.
Price Water House Coopers (PWHC), an International auditing firm, has supported the women by giving them Moon Beads worth sh8m.
Richard Wood of PWHC, says though they are business people, they have the obligation to help communities.
The beads were distributed to over 500 mothers recently by the Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG), an organisation that provides health products at subsidised prices.
According to Duncan Musumba of UHMG, while on the open market the Moon Beads may be expensive costing between shs7,000 – sh10,000 each, UHMG sells at shs5,000.
Nakidodo, who has now become sort of a family planning crusader, calls upon the Government to provide Moon Beads in government health facilities for free.
“It is a more natural form of family planning method than others. We have no reservations like we do for injections, pills or any other method,†she says.
How are the Moon Beads used?
On the day you experience your periods,Wotali says: “Move the rubber ring to the red bead and mark that day on the calendar. Move the ring one bead each day,†she says.
She adds that on the day the ring moves to the brown beads, a woman can have sex with her partner. If the the ring reaches any white bead, the woman will get pregnant in case she has unprotected sex.
After finishing the white beads, “You can skip over any beads that are left. However, when your periods begin again, move the ring to the red bead and continue the cycle. You will know when to get pregnant and how to avoid it naturally,†Wotali adds.
KEEPING a respectful distance from the village elders and dressed decently in a gomesi, 40-year-old Irene Nakidodo, sits pensively as she attends a community family planning sensitisation meeting.
With one deft move, Nakidodo clasps her nine-months-old baby close to her chest and begins to breastfeed.
Nakidodo, who is a resident of Businde village in Igombe sub-county, Iganga district, is a proud mother of 10 other children but doubts if she will ever be able to meet their basic needs.
“I do not have money to take them to school and buy clothes and food,†she admits.
Asked why she continues producing despite lacking means to sustain her family, Nakidodo answers: “My husband’s mother produced 15 children and she wants me to do the same. I once used an injection but I became very sick and stopped.â€
Juliet Wotali, the officer in charge of Bulyasime Health Centre II, says many other women are entangled in dilemmas similar to Nakidodo’s predicament.
“Most people in this community are Muslims and wrongly believe family planning may make their women infertile or kill them,†he says.
James Kirya, Nakidodo’s husband says he has discouraged using contraceptives because it affects the health of their wives. “Whenever our women take pills or use injections, they loose interest in sex,†he says.
“Though I want to limit the number of children and produce the ones I can help, I do not want to compromise the health of my wife.â€
Wotali says attitudes and beliefs of this nature have influenced most people in Busoga region against family planning.
Statistics by the Family Life Education Programme, managed by Busoga Diocese, indicate the unmet need for family planning in Busoga is about 60% compared to the national average of 43%.
An average woman in Busoga produces 7-10 children. Poverty in Busoga is as high as the children, standing at 51 percent, compared to the national average of 38%, according to the 2002 Population census report.
Many families cannot educate their children, feed them or meet other basic needs of life.
However, there is a glimmer of hope.
Through sensitisation by different organisations, the people of Busoga have began to appreciate family planning.
Nakidodo, too, is happy that her husband has realised the pertinence of family planning. Kirya allowed her to take on family planning on condition that she uses a natural method.
In the meeting Nakidodo is attending, Wotali is sensitising them on the use of a new natural family planning method.
Known as the Moon Beads method, Wotali says the beads represent a woman’s menstrual cycle and each bead is a day of a cycle in each woman’s life.
She adds that the Moon Bead has 32 beads, a rubber ring for marking the days of the cycle and an arrow indicating the direction to move the ring.
Wotali says Moon Beads are based on a natural method of family planning traditionally known as the calendar method, where the woman starts counting and marking the days she gets her periods, to determine when she wants to get pregnant and when to avoid pregnancy.
Wotali says the Moon Beads are coloured red- indicating the first day of a woman’s period, brown-marking the days when a woman is not likely to get pregnant.
The dark brown bead helps the woman to know if the cycle is shorter than 26 days. Wotali explains that women with menstrual cycles shorter than 26 days or longer than 32 days may not use Moon Beads “Because it will not work. Their cycle is unpredictable and you may not be aware when it starts. They should use other methods of family planning.â€
Who can use Moon Beads?
Women who have failed or have had serious side effects with other methods of family planning can use Moon Beads.
“This has no side effects and is a natural method of family planning that is 95% effective when used correctly.
Research has shown that only five out of 100 women may get pregnant when the method is used correctly,†Wotali explains.
She also adds that couples, who communicate well and agree not to have unprotected sex when the woman is likely to get pregnant may use Moon Beads and it will work for them.
Wotali advises that if a woman recently had a baby, is breastfeeding, or used another family planning method, she should seek medical advice.
Consulting a doctor is crucial because the beads may not work, when a woman has an unstable or unpredictable cycle.
After listening to Wotali, the Businde residents, including were excited about the Moon Bead method. They are now giving it a try.
Price Water House Coopers (PWHC), an International auditing firm, has supported the women by giving them Moon Beads worth sh8m.
Richard Wood of PWHC, says though they are business people, they have the obligation to help communities.
The beads were distributed to over 500 mothers recently by the Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG), an organisation that provides health products at subsidised prices.
According to Duncan Musumba of UHMG, while on the open market the Moon Beads may be expensive costing between shs7,000 – sh10,000 each, UHMG sells at shs5,000.
Nakidodo, who has now become sort of a family planning crusader, calls upon the Government to provide Moon Beads in government health facilities for free.
“It is a more natural form of family planning method than others. We have no reservations like we do for injections, pills or any other method,†she says.
How are the Moon Beads used?
On the day you experience your periods,Wotali says: “Move the rubber ring to the red bead and mark that day on the calendar. Move the ring one bead each day,†she says.
She adds that on the day the ring moves to the brown beads, a woman can have sex with her partner. If the the ring reaches any white bead, the woman will get pregnant in case she has unprotected sex.
After finishing the white beads, “You can skip over any beads that are left. However, when your periods begin again, move the ring to the red bead and continue the cycle. You will know when to get pregnant and how to avoid it naturally,†Wotali adds.