adminBertha Shoko-Nleya
Herald Correspondent
Fifty-five-year-old Evelyn Nyaruwe from Nemutenzi village in Nyanyadzi Hot springs of Manicaland province is a mother of 8 children. She says for women of her age it is not uncommon to have such large families. In the absence of modern family planning methods, women resort to some unorthodox methods to space their children.
“For many women of my generation, we had many children not by choice but because of the circumstances,” explains Evelyn.
“Family planning methods were not readily available. We used a lot of unorthodox methods to space the births of our children. Most of these did not work because most of us ended up with many children that we could not afford to look after.”
One method Evelyn recalls was tying knots of medicinal herbs around one’s waistline. The number of knots tied around one’s waist symbolised the number of years the woman wanted between her last child and her next pregnancy.
Another method used back then was for men to go and work in the city or nearby South Africa for 2 or 3 years and only return when it is time to have another child.
62 year-old Rhoda Ndangana from nearby Chibuwe village is a mother of four. She lost 4 other children in their childhood. She says as a woman of faith she used faith healing to space her children.
Rhoda says, “After giving birth I would go to church and speak to the man of God to pray for me to space my children. The prophet would ask how many years you wanted to wait until the next baby. He would then spiritually tie the womb and give you some holy water to bath with to prevent any pregnancies during the said period.”
“For me it worked but for many others it didn’t. We used these methods because there was no other option. I am however encouraging my children to use modern family planning methods,” explains Rhoda.
From knowledge passed down by her mother, 42 year-old Patricia Mhukayatadza, a mother of five outlines another method of family planning used by women.
This entailed jumping over a shrub to prevent pregnancies and jumping over it again to trigger fertility for the next pregnancy. But what would happen when after 3 years that shrub becomes a tree or someone cuts it down for firewood?
“Once you identify your shrub it was important to continue tending it, making sure it remained small enough to jump over again when the right time came,” explains Patricia with a laugh.
“At least that’s what my mother told me,” she adds shrugging her shoulders and gesturing with her hands at the same time.
While for women like Rhoda and Evelyn family planning was by chance and not by choice due to limited choices those many years ago, today many women in Zimbabwe can celebrate the availability of a wide range of family planning methods.
UNFPA has supported the National Family Planning programme in Zimbabwe since the early 1980s through the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council. Zimbabwe’s Contraceptive Prevalence Rate of 67 percent remains one of the highest in Africa.
However, a lot more still needs to be done to end unmet need for family planning, which is at 10,4 percent (national average) but higher (12,6 percent) among adolescents. With support from UNFPA and other partners, Zimbabwe plans to reduce unmet need for family planning from 10,4 percent to 6,5 percent, and from 12,6 percent to 8,5 percent among adolescents.
As the country is battling the Covid-19 pandemic, it is key to ensure women and girls continue to have access to contraceptives. The pandemic has affected women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health services.
In light of Covid-19 outbreak UNFPA has stepped up its support to the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council to ensure women and girls continue to receive contraceptives and other sexual and reproductive health services.
◆ The writer is a Communications Analyst for the United Nations Population Fund in Harare.
Online Reporter