Safe Motherhood… through CycleBeads®

[Guest Post contributed by Florence Mwenge of International Medical Corps]

Faida, also known as Mama Sammy, is 25 years old and has been married to her husband Sammy since 2010. She lives in the village of Kabusa, located in the Walikale territory in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  Over the course of two years, she suffered a devastating loss after experiencing two miscarriages. The suspected cause was poor spacing between her pregnancies. This is her story:

“I gave birth to a baby and got pregnant after three months. As I was trying to keep the pregnancy and take care of the child, the first one passed away.  I also miscarried the second one … I was astonished and stressed because I could not understand the situation.

I discussed with my husband who was also concerned about the loss of our two babies and was worried about the opinion of the community. We decided to try to avoid frequent pregnancies, but my husband never wanted medications or any chemicals. So, we tried the natural way on our own but with many worries because we had no tools for counting.

I convinced my husband to consult the medical director of Kabusa Health Clinic and follow prenatal consultation as advised by my mother because she trusted the midwife trained at Kabusa. 

We luckily met Mr. Ngoko Lipanda Andree, the medical director of the clinic. He explained to us several methods of family planning that we could use to avoid the risks of death of the child and the mother. One of these options was CycleBeads®, which my husband really liked. It was a natural option we both appreciated.

Since we started using the method we have never experienced unwanted pregnancies.

 We now enjoy life with our 1 year and 3 months old baby without any more worries.”

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Since its inception nearly 30 years ago, International Medical Corps’ mission has been consistent: relieve the suffering of those impacted by war, natural disaster and disease, by delivering vital health care services and sustainable development projects that focus on training. This approach of helping people help themselves is critical to returning devastated populations to self-reliance. For more information visit:  www.InternationalMedicalCorps.org. Also see us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.