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Friday, August 9, 2013

Australian Aid visit Shimoni and give a talk on family planning

Every day at 10am we roll down to the dispensary, ready to help the local health facility with the work they are doing. Jackson and I managed to weigh 10 children ready to be seem by the nurse. Jackson and I were very busy working at the reception, when Mr. Patrick (public health officer) was talking to the nurse saying that Australian Aid were coming to Shimoni to lead a health talk on different forms of contraception. Patrick showed Jackson and I the residents who were waiting for the visitors to arrive.   They were happy to wait as many were keen to start taking the contraceptive pill. Patrick added that it’s a big opportunity for the local people to have this chance. These people were coming from very far, all the way from Nairobi to give this talk to the people at Shimoni and provide free contraceptives, which people usually have to pay for.

We saw a van approaching the dispesnary and on the side was written Australian aid. That was my first time to see/hear about Australian aid. The PHO received the visitors and took them to the nurse where they introduced themselves and explained the purpose of their visit.  This was to help people at Shimoni to understand the different contraceptive methods and decide the best method for them. Their names were David, Lucy mercy and Susan. 

Susan (front) leads the contraceptive talk at the dispensary
The villagers were invtied to listen to Susan who was one of the Australian aid officials. All people gathered in one place and Jackson and I joined the team. Susan greeted her audience and started his talk by asking the spectators on their knowledge about definition of family planning. One of the villagers mama Hassan said family planning was controlling of the number of children in a family according to your leaving standard. Susan continued  by talking about each contraceptive method, how it works and its effectiveness.

After Susan had finished, she asked the audience if they had any questions. Mama (mother of) Omar asked if you will lose the depo after becoming fat. Mad Susan smiled a little bit asked another question instead of answering it. She asked if you can lose a nose ring if you become fat. The answer was no. that means you can lose the depo even you become too fat.  Susan finished by stressing the importance of choosing your contraceptive method carefully.  If they want not to gate a pregnant a short term then they should choose a short method of contraceptive. The villagers then started to queue to get the prescription. Every client who was coming out of the prescribed room looked happy. Jackson and I headed back home, happy at what we'd just experienced.


Mwinyiisa Kopa- Health field staff

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