The story of two mothers.

Abstract

The stories of 2 Kenyan mothers and their families the subjects of an IPPF film illustrate the health benefits to women and children of family planning. 1 woman aged 40 lives on a small farm with her 9 children. She is very resourceful but must constantly struggle to feed her children. She must also cope with the effects of polygamy; her husband has moved away to live with another wife. She was denied the benefit of education and repeated pregnancies with little space between them have damaged her health. Now that she has contraceptive injections and has not had a child for 2 years she feels her health has benefited and that she has regained her strength. The 2nd woman aged 32 educated and better off than the first nevertheless knew little about contraception until after her 1st pregnancy. Her desire to limit the size of her family so that she might give more time to each child her husbands consciousness of family planning and her health difficulties during pregnancy contributed to effective spacing and contraception past the birth of her 3rd child. Now she is happy about her decision for tubal ligation surgery and has been able to develop as a gospel singer and songwriter.