At the age of 18, Atong was married off to Mohammad, aged 40. After marriage, she moved to Mingkaman with her husband and settled down. In 2015, she came to learn of the Mingkaman Reproductive Health (RH) clinic as she was expecting her first child. She started to visit the clinic for regular prenatal check-ups. In time, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl and continued visiting the Mingkaman RH clinic for postnatal check-ups too.
In spite of contraception being a social taboo in their community, Atong and Mohammad decided that they did not want children for a few years. The nurse in the Mingkaman RH clinic provided information on family planning and its methods, and Atong chose contraceptive injection. This form of birth control allowed her and her husband to make the decision to delay having a second child for four years. In 2020, she became a mother to another healthy baby girl.
Atong visited the clinic for check-ups and interacted with the team to gain more knowledge about women’s healthcare, which helped her as she had a high-risk pregnancy. Soon, she gave birth to her healthy baby boy in the RH clinic. Atong and Mohammad have now decided together to continue visiting the clinic for more information on health and the number of children they desire to have. Following this, and with the support of the healthcare team in Mingkaman, Mohammad recently underwent a successful vasectomy procedure.
“Mingkaman clinic provides so much information about women and child healthcare, reproductive and family planning. With responsibilities at home, we do not have time to visit the hospitals as they are all far away. We only visit government hospitals if referred by Mingkaman RH clinic, otherwise we are totally dependent on Mingkaman RH clinic supported by UNFPA” says Atong. Atong also hopes her children receive their education and become graduates who get good jobs and help their community someday.
