http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: Population Action International) en-us Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-ramkeshari-and-renu Ramkeshari Shrethsa has been teaching women in Kathmandu about family planning for nearly two decades, since before climate change decimated the once-clockwork rainy season. Ramkeshari's daughter Renu is studying for a career in family planning education and believes it decreases the demand for shrinking natural resources. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-ramkeshari-and-renu Nepal, Family planning, Health education, Health, Reproductive health, Maternal health, Kathmandu, Environment, Climate change, Himalayas >> TITLE: Kathmandu, Nepal >> RAMKESHARI SHRESTHA: I started working in family planning about eighteen years ago. When we would go to temple people would have eight, nine, or six kids. At first it was difficult to go door to door. It was difficult to talk to people about condoms. Now it's very easy. Without me asking, they come to my house for family planning. It is very healthy for women. When there are fewer kids, it means less food and clothes. It's also good for the environment because we don't demand too much from it. Times have changed. We used to be shy about these subjects. The children today don't have any problem talking about it. >> RENU SHRESTHA: What people need the most is education. With education people can decide what is wrong and what is right. Consequently, they will become more conscious of the future. >> RAMKESHARI SHRESTHA: My daughter likes the work I do, so she comes with me. It makes me really happy that she has an interest in my work. >> RENU SHRESTHA: I'm very inspired by my mom. That's why I got involved. My mother would work all day without food in her stomach, all for the sake of our community. Her sacrifice inspired me to do the same thing. >> RAMKESHARI SHRESTHA: I'm so proud of her. I feel like she is the reward for my service. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-sarada Infrequent rains have dried out the soil in parts of Nepal's terai, a region of rolling plains on the Indian border where Sarada Chaudhary lives, and an expanding population has meant more trees felled for firewood. Yet Sarada sees great potential in the women in her group to improve their own lives, and also to help preserve the forest. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:30:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-sarada Nepal, Health, Family planning, Birth control, Deforestation, Maternal health, Rain, Reproductive health, Dang Deukhuri District, Climate change >> TITLE: Dang, Nepal >> SARADA CHAUDHARY: From my experience in the last fifteen years or so the temperature and the rainfall has changed a lot. Now it does rain, but it's not during the normal season. When we think it will rain, it doesn't. The rainfall is random. So it has really affected our farming. About twenty-five percent of us have enough food. The others go to India to do menial work. The situation for women is poor. All of the responsibility is on them. The majority of men here go to the Gulf or India for work. Women have to cook, so they have to collect the wood. If there is no wood, how will we cook? Before we could get wood close by, but now we have to walk one and a half hours to get wood. Because of population growth, the forest has been disappearing. In about fifty years, I think this place will turn to desert. When I went and talked to women about family planning and conservation of the forest they would ask if I could provide them with resources. There is a great need for family planning. Even women from India come here for contraceptives. The girls from here who married men in India would take a year's worth of contraceptives with them. Women should be empowered. They should have knowledge about every field, whether it is education, health, or climate change. The environment is connected to our lives. I can see how we are being affected and I'm worried about the future generation. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-fatima Fatima Said Yesuf's family lost everything in a flash flood. They now live with about 20 other families in a relocation camp of corrugated metal shacks covered with plastic tarps. She has turned to family planning keep from becoming pregnant again, so she can focus on raising the six daughters she already has. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:30:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-fatima Ethiopia, Birth control, Wollo Province, Health, Maternal health, Family planning, Reproductive health, Population Action International >> TITLE: Wollo, Ethiopia >> FATIMA SAID YESUF: I was asleep during the rain. As you know, sleep and death are the same. We were in a deep sleep. The water came in the house and over the bed. The touch of the water woke me up. I screamed to wake up my family. The baby was under water. And my husband didn't see her because he was barely awake. We just managed to get her out of the house. It was so sudden. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Because of the flood, the kids always have nightmares. We were resettled in this camp. They gave us fifteen kilos of wheat per person. My husband works as a laborer to feed our family of eight. I'm nursing a baby so I can't get work to help support the family. There is so much work to be done at home. I cook, I prepare coffee, I bake injera, and I fetch water. There isn't a single break all day. I went to the clinic because we were sick. And there I heard them talking about family planning, about different methods. They said, "If you need family planning, come talk with us." They told us we could receive different choices like injections and pills. The first few children I had were girls. We wanted to have a boy. But we continued having girls. Six of them. I decided having more would create suffering. With more children, my life was not improving. So I have decided to make family planning my goal. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-ayneshet Ayneshet, a health extension worker in Ethiopia, is dedicated to educating women about the benefits of family planning. She helps women realize that reducing the number of births decreases the chances of complications and increases the likelihood of rising from poverty. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:30:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/weathering-change-ayneshet Ethiopia, Family planning, Health, Maternal health, Wollo Province, Birth control, Environment, Climate change, Reproductive health, Community health worker >> TITLE: Wollo, Ethiopia >> AYNESHET GUBENA [Health Extension Worker, Ethiopia]: My name is Ayneshet Gubena and I'm a health extension worker. I have a program to go to the village twice a week. There are 15 neighborhoods in this locality and a lot of the women come to us. A woman at the age of twenty or twenty-five, when she becomes a mother of four or five children, clothing and schooling them is difficult. Therefore, if they use family planning, they can reduce poverty. That's what I think, and I'm sure it will in the future. There was a low willingness to use family planning in the past. I would go door to door and they would denounce family planning. They wanted to give birth and raise them by the virtue of luck. Once they are born, God will provide for children. They had that belief. But now we have educated them that this is harmful. This belief harms the mother and the family economy. Women suffer a lot. They have a great burden. They lose a lot of blood during childbirth. They get weak when they have children one after the other. There can be bleeding, leading to death. Because of this I want to work closely with them and to teach them about family planning. I'm really happy when I see women's lives improve. Whether it is family planning or anything. It's great to see them at a better place in their life. It's great to see them with a healthy baby. When there are no problems, and there is love in the family, it makes me very happy to see. I love it. It really makes me happy.