“I wasn’t aware of any contraception techniques before coming here. I had talked to my husband about spacing our children but I haven’t been to the hospital yet.”
Natasha is in her late teens. She has one daughter named Rose, who is two months old. She visited a Marie Stopes outreach program in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea for more information. She has decided to get a contraceptive implant.
“We only want two children. We want to wait for five years until Rose is strong enough to do things on her own.”
“Because my husband is still in high school (Grade 10), I want to be able to look after my children and still do gardening and go to the market.”
Natasha has two brothers each with five children. “I see their wives struggle getting enough food and firewood for their families and the men don’t pitch in to help. Their children get very sick with sores on their skin because they’re not getting enough nutrition. They always have a lot of colds because they don’t have enough clothes and their mothers can’t provide enough firewood. I don’t want my children to be like that.”
“After I get my implant I’ll have enough time to grow food and sell it.”
“I will talk to other young mothers and teenagers. One of the things the girls fear is that they will be cut wide open or they will be risking their lives by having family planning treatment. They also fear it will make them infertile.
I will tell them those things are not true. I can’t wait to talk to them and show them my implant.”