As you walk in the Suk Jow Market in Wau, you note a hype of activities with a lot of merchandise being traded. One can’t help noticing the stand that has garments displayed with a couple of women behind busy working with the tailoring machines.

Ayen Abraham aged 34 a mother of five is busy on one of the machines and warmly shares her story on use of contraceptives as the other women listen.

“I have been married for 10 years now. When I just got married that is before I came to know about family planning, I used to conceive so frequently that I did not have time to do any work to earn something for the family. After the birth of my third child, my husband and I decided that I should go to Wau Teaching Hospital for family planning services. This is against our tradition, but we had no choice than doing it,” she said.

Ayen shared the benefits she has experienced using family planning.

 “I have a friend whom we got married in the same year and now she has 7 kids.  For me, my last born is now almost four years old and enrolled in Pre-School.  She added that the decision by the family to use modern contraceptives has paid off the family.

 

“My husband is a private police officer in South Sudan police service in Wau earning less than 2500 South Sudanese pound per month (which is less than 5 USD per month) and is not even enough to provide one meal in a day and send our kids to school. However, since I started using modern contraceptive methods my life has changed.”

“I was able to enroll in a tailoring course which I finished in 2019 and now I am working in Suk Jow market as a tailor and every day I can manage to earn 10,000 to 15,000 thousand South Sudanese Pounds (equivalent to 23 USD) on a good market day. This has really improved our life in the family.”

 

She concluded with a message to other women.

“My message to the other women out there is that the modern contraceptive methods are safe and can help empower women.”