Safina’s Journey and Victory

By Maria Gorret Nampiima, Alumni, 2016/2017 Intern Cohort, Nabirere and Kamira

An energetic and confident woman, Safiina sits, smiling, during the education portion of our recent family planning outreach in Bufutula. Pursuing family planning services has not been an easy journey for Safiina: she has struggled with complications from contraceptives, battled stigma from her neighbors, and resistance from her own children.

As opposed to other health interventions, family planning causes the most debate among policy makers, religious leaders, and neighbors. Despite the negative perceptions people have towards adopting family planning methods, the prevailing circumstances in most of the developing countries have left many with no other option: in Uganda there has been an upward curve of contraception use of nearly 20% (Andi, Wamala, Ocaya, and Kabagenyi, 2014). But this increase does not come to those who lack strength.

Safiina, a mother of eight children and one of our clients in Bufutula village, shared her story about why she started using contraceptives. Similar to most women in rural villages prior to the implementation of UVP health programming, she did not want to use family planning services. She had been told falsely that contraceptives cause conditions like hemorrhage and infertility because it destroys the ovaries. Since her family depended on subsistence farming as the only source of income, she and her husband lacked enough capacity to provide basic needs to their children; clothing, education, and medical treatment all seemed out of reach. As a result of having very limited resources, she lost a child. After attending a community sensitization held by UVP and considering her personal situation, Safiina began taking contraceptives.

With 47% of people receiving their information primarily by word of mouth (Population and Housing Census, 2014), it’s no wonder rural women in Uganda do not utilize contraceptives more; nearly half of the information they receive is tainted with bias and subjectivity, which allows misconception to run rampant. UVP addresses this gap with a unique, relationship-based approach. But this takes time. And communities need people like Safiina.

Realizing her influence on her children, Safiina urged her eldest daughter to pursue contraceptive methods. At a tender age of 17, Safiina’s first born dropped out of school and is now a mother to a one-year old boy. Safiina now sees that her children’s lives could be different if she had been in a position to space her children. She wants a better life for her grandchildren.

After trying multiple methods to find the most compatible option for her body, Safiina has settled with a quarterly injection of Depo. Having taken on the initiative to utilize the family planning services, she is not worried about having pregnancies she has not planned for. Additionally, she feels energetic enough to work for her children. Although she has benefited from the program, she claims her husband is not supportive, which can make her contraceptive use challenging to continue. Despite this challenge, Safiina acts as an ambassador for the UVP family planning program.

Community members like Safiina greatly appreciate our partners and stakeholders who work hand-in-hand with us to ensure that we increase access of health interventions to people in rural communities of Iganga. On this note, we call upon all social change agents to come on board to support our programs morally and financially to continue to strengthen UVP’s capacity in addressing social inequities and injustices through facilitating health and well-being of rural communities in Uganda through access, prevention, and education.

Want to help us continue to support Safiina and other women in Bufutula? Make a contribution and specify the family planning program. And follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to see your UVP family in action in the villages. Safiina's story has been used with her permission.