By R Kyategeka

Seated in his home in Kaluba Village, Mayuge district, Kaumba Ismail is all praises for the project that helped him realize he needed to make some steps to improve his family’s life. He does this with such enviable compassion, zeal and responsibility. He had just been talking to a group of Imams from Mayuge District about family planning. His model of building empowered quality families is through encouraging community members to have manageable numbers, paying priority to the health of the mother.  Before his encounter with CDFU under the AFFORD project, planning for the future of the 43 year old Ismail and that of his family was uncertain. Having received minimal education and raised from a polygamous family, he looked forward to having a big family with no plan in mind of how he would sustain it. He had inherited a small piece of land from his father. This would not produce enough food for his household. Ismail is quick to add that this was the same story for several other households. Their children were limited to UPE schools and after primary seven; it was the end of the road for their education. The health of the mothers and the children was not good. And because of the big numbers in families, basic needs such as salt, sugar and clothing were inadequate.
I didn’t have the courage to confront the situation. As a man, I thought my duty was to get more wives and have more children. It was up to God to feed the children and their mothers; recalls Ismail. 

This state of mind was however to change drastically in 2005 when he met with Communication for Development Foundation CDFU, which, together with other organizations was implementing the AFFORD project. The five year Health Marketing Initiative among others focused on Family Planning. CDFU provided strategic communication support focusing on network-based approaches to community mobilization and strategies for health behavior improvement. CDFU utilized the social networks to shape norms and promote safer health behaviors. CDFU implemented the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) intervention where influential members were identified by their respective communities and trained to serve as “Good life” advocates. The community participated in selecting those they trusted would be their peer educators.
“I was picked to attend the training. After that, we went on with community mobilization. We set out to enhance knowledge and correct use of health products and services to encourage and sustain healthy behaviors and life styles within communities and families.
However, Ismail is quick to add that the beginning was not easy.
“We were suspicious of the entire project. We thought that there was a hidden agenda of making our wives barren and killing our children, especially with the immunization and family planning methods. Even after the training, the community did not easily accept us.”

At the time, Ismail had four children, all going to UPE schools. They sat down and resolved with his wife not to have any more children before planning for those they already had. They devoted their time and energy to planting trees, rearing cows and poultry. His first wife, Jamila adds that the break she took while using family planning methods gave her “space” to concentrate on her education and other development activities rather than baby sitting. She managed to complete a course in primary teacher education. The salary she earns has seen her send her children to boarding schools. She is optimistic that her first born will join University next year, the first in the entire village.

Ismail did not stop with his family. He embarked on a door to door sensitization of how people would improve the quality of their lives. He told them no one was stopping them to have so many children but they had to plan for the children and also put in mind the health of the mother. Most of his neighbors also practice family planning and have numbers of children they can adequately provide for. They appreciate that it was not a matter of producing but planning for their future.

Last year, Ismail married his second wife. They now have a baby girl together and they are using family planning. I asked the wife how many children she wants to have. She said;
“I want to have just two. My husband already has four. In addition to that, it’s not about the number but the quality. I don’t want my children to end up as bird hunters.”
With the second wife, Ismail has resolved to plant about three hectares of Pine trees (Pines carrebea) for each child. They can be sure then that their future is guaranteed.

In February this year, Ismail was elected unopposed as the L.C III chairperson for his sub county. To him, it was a sign of appreciation for his community mobilization and sensitization drives.   His wives, children and homes look great and stand out in the entire village.

A visit to Mayuge main health center further revealed the success of the work of the community based mobilizers. Sr. Najjemba categorically stated that they no longer need to go house to house inviting mothers to take their children for immunization and yet the turn up on immunization days is overwhelming.
“We usually ask them who invited them and they usually state that it’s the POLs. I think CDFU used a very good method. The CDFU people are no longer here and the project even ended but it’s still owned in the community.’