Mary never imagined she would be able to speak with her mother-in-law about family planning and other sensitive health matters. Yet, many women in Sagalla, Kenya, are now able to discuss these topics openly.

Mary is a 19-year-old mother of one-year-old twins. Her husband is a boda boda (motorbike taxi) rider. Mary and her husband married shortly after she dropped out of school during her third year of secondary school, as Mary’s family could no longer afford to pay for her education.

Here, Mary tells us how our local partner, Save The Elephants, is improving the lives of women and families in her community by addressing the stigma around contraception and providing essential healthcare services.

Before Save the Elephants’ community health project, we rarely discussed health issues publicly, especially family planning. It was very unusual. People rarely went to the local dispensary because you could go all that distance and, if there were no available treatments, they would refer you to the hospital in Voi (a large town approximately 15km away), but you don’t even have transport to get you there.

I became involved in the project because of the activities that happened in my village. Community Health Workers visited my home, gave me health information, and since then I have been attending dialogues, Backpack Nurse clinics and outreach clinics. With the outreach clinics and community dialogues, the stigma reduced, and our perceptions about services in our dispensary have changed. We can openly talk about family planning during forums, such as community barazas (public meetings).

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Public Health Officer, Diana, leads a community dialogue for men and women

I have benefited so much from the information and outreach clinics. As a young lady growing up, we never had such things happen. So, I encourage people to attend these events since most of us do not have the correct information about family planning.

My mother-in-law is a Community Health Worker and possesses a wealth of knowledge. However, discussing these topics with me was challenging due to their uncommon nature in our community.

I was so surprised we talked about sex at the same community dialogue session when my mother-in-law was present. This newfound openness made me closer to her, and I could speak candidly about issues affecting my health and family. I now believe that my mother-in-law is better equipped to provide guidance on marital issues compared to before, when I sought advice from peers who often provided misleading and unhelpful suggestions.

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Nurse Nancy leads a female community dialogue

Numerous misconceptions surrounding family planning persist, particularly among my peers. Before participating in these community dialogues, I refrained from using family planning due to the abundance of negative information I had received about it.

However, the information shared by the Nurse during the community dialogues enlightened me about its significance. With my mother-in-law’s additional reinforcement of this information, I began using family planning.

In fact, some of my peers also started using it after understanding its benefits. Nevertheless, there are still many who believe it has long-term consequences, such as frequent headaches.

Through the project, I’ve learned that Community Health Workers are critical in supporting the community. Making information available to everyone can help change young people’s behaviour.

Backpack Nurses are new to our village. When I gave birth, I did not know how to survive as a young mother. I was so lucky to get such support from Community Health Workers and more so during Backpack Nurse clinics and outreach clinics.

As a young mum, I did not know how vital immunisation was to my children and the benefits of planning my family. This information will make me have a healthy family and even advise my peers about family planning. The knowledge gained will help me make informed decisions.

I hope to be a peer educator in my community. As a young mum, I think knowledge about family planning and health education should be available to all young mothers and all the youths.

Motherhood is a role I cherish. I hope to return to secondary school to complete my education. My ultimate goal is to pursue a career in nursing, driven by my desire to make a positive impact on my community and support my family.

I envision a brighter future for my children. I hope that my kids will follow in my footsteps by pursuing the nursing profession and, with even greater ambitions, becoming doctors. This way, they can secure better lives for themselves than the path I had to navigate.

CHASE Africa has supported Save the Elephants since 2021 to train 33 Community Health Workers and engage three influential community leaders to raise awareness about healthcare and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

Over the last year they have reached 946 people through 15 Backpack Nurse clinics and two outreach clinics held at Kirumbi Dispensary. 32 community dialogues brought together 1,319 men, women and young people to discuss various health topics and common myths and misconceptions about family planning. 846 students have been reached with healthcare information through school clubs.

Plans for the future

Due to the success of the Community Health Programme to date, Save The Elephants has decided to integrate it permanently into their work, and fund it through the organisation itself.

The initial stages funded by CHASE Africa have provided many insights about the programme’s strengths and challenges, and these have been considered and will help develop and grow the future programme. Save The Elephants also plan to expand to new areas in order to meet the healthcare needs of more communities. We wish the team continued success in their endeavours.