From an antagonist to a strong advocate of Family Planning
Fauza Madu (real name withheld) is a young woman of 22 years of age, 4 years in marriage and a mother of 2 girls, living with her husband Malam Madu Aminu (real name withheld) in Amaru community, a rural part of Zaria LGA, Kaduna state. She was strongly against the use of modern child birth spacing methods but later accepted and even became an advocate for Family Planning along with her family members. IntegratE interviewed her on how her views of family planning changed so dramatically within a short period of making contact with one of the trained providers.
Watch video interview by IntegratE Project Team on how she changed from being an antagonist to an advocate of Family Planning
“I got my second pregnancy when I was actually not ready for it, even though my family and the community think it was okay since, my first child was about 8 months then. Only a few sympathized with me. I suggested abortion to my husband but he feels it is like killing a living human, hence, he disagreed. I had to bear all the burdens; taking care of my daughter while being unwell due to the second pregnancy. It was Allah Who saved my life and delivered me safely. I believed there are problems associated with the Family Planning, deviation from faith, fear of poverty, which she considered wrong and used to believed that all these are against religion of Islam. But now realized, I was wrong as I and my mother have been using it without any problem. My family
now advocate for family planning”.
IntegratE: What happened to you that led to your change in opinion?
“After delivering my second daughter, I was worried and had internal conflict; I was against the use of family planning and at the same time I want to decide when I should get pregnant. I was afraid that I will be sinning and also cause harm to myself if I use any of the modern Family Planning methods. Shortly after my postnatal bleeding stops, my husband started coming to me and I cannot deny having the affair. I was with this understanding strongly until one day, when my husband informed me of someone with whom he discussed the safety in using Family Planning. At first, I did not believe it could be. So, he narrated what your IPC agent told him but wanted me to meet the lady perhaps I could also ask further”.
IntegratE: Were you able to meet the Interpersonal Communication Agent (IPCAs) yourself and what happened?
“My husband invited the IPC agent, and interestingly, the agent decided to listen to my concerns first, which are all around problems resulting from using the Family Planning methods and the general understanding I have about them”.
IntegratE: So, how did the IPC agent responded to you concerns and understanding?
“The agent asked me about the methods I know or heard about after which she explained each and every one of the methods, and she made me understand that; Problems encountered by women who uses Family Planning are mostly due to wrong use, lack of proper assessment of client before using the methods, Some of the drugs have side effect which goes away within a short time and are not harmful, There are methods without side effect that can help me prevent pregnancy until I am ready to conceive and a trained qualified Health Care professional can help me.”
IntegratE: So, what then follows after these points were clear from the IPC agent?
“I was happy with the information I received but still uncertain until the agent refers me to Malama (one of the trained Tier 2 PPMVs) who further discussed in more details all the methods and I chose the implant which was given to me”.
IntegratE: Now, how do you and your family became advocates of Family Planning?
“I have been safe and happy since I started using the Family Planning and had recommended to my mother who is still giving birth and had never used any method in her life. She went and started and later convinced her friends to go. My father said he had always wanted my mother to use those methods but she never wanted and now he is happy she started after giving birth to 10 children. He also told his friends some of whom were able to support or initiate the idea to their wives. And the good thing is that none of us have any problem as a result of the Family Planning. And the misconception was clarified for me by my father and my husband making reference to our Imam Sheikh Maraya Zaria”.
IntegratE: Thank you so much Hajiya for giving us your time for this interview.