EDUCATIONAL TOOLS FOR FAMILY PLANNING AND SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Workshop Manual and ‘5 BIG RAIN TOOLS’
"BABY NECKLACE"
The Baby Necklace enables you to become more aware of your cycle and easily identify the most and least fertile days during your cycle. Every woman has the right to learn more about the way her body works.
Dr. Maria Hengstberger developed the baby necklace in 1989 while in Ethiopia, with input and suggestions from local Ethiopian women. In 1995 the necklace was shared with the Institute of Reproductive Health at Georgetown University by the Brazilian charity Pastoral of the Child, who developed the ‘Standard Days Method’ on the basis of the necklace. The altered necklace was trade-marked, and patent protected, and has been sold as ‘Cyclebeads’ internationally since 2002.
The Aktion Regen Baby Necklace differs from ‘Cyclebeads’ in the following ways: the 30 beads are shaped as raindrops and are bright and colorful. Red symbolizes menstruation, yellow depicts infertile days (yellow represents sun, desert, drought) and blue depicts fertile days (blue represents water, fertility). The blue beads and baby-shaped, thus clearly indicating fertility. Additionally, the necklace has a rubber band that can be moved daily from the narrow to the wide side of the raindrop-shaped beads. Since the rubber band can only be moved in one direction, women are less likely to accidentally reverse the direction of the necklace and mix up the days of their cycle.
The length of a woman’s cycle does not have an impact on the effectiveness of the baby necklace, as a woman is not fertile during the last days of her cycle. It is only important to start using the necklace on the first day of menstruation, using the first red pearl.
Our Baby Necklace can be purchased from Aktion Regen. You can place an order by contacting us at office@aktionregen.at.
Mother´s Health CLOCK
To have a safe pregnancy and let the female body fully heal after birth, it is medically advised that a woman take time to recover between pregnancies.
To ensure the health and wellbeing of the mother and child, 18 months should lie between the birth of one child and the conception of another. The entire female body needs to recover from pregnancy; the uterus in particular needs to heal, and this takes time. The birth spacing clock shows the phases of ideal birth spacing in an easy-to-follow way: pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding – during which pregnancy is not possible, and a phase without protection for pregnancy.
The woman can use the birth spacing clock as a calendar, by pulling the rubber band over the monthly notch. If the rubber band falls within the blue section (blue like the fertile days on our baby necklace) conception is possible but should be avoided to protect the health of mother and child.
This tool can be acquired and used by institutions/organisations/NGOs. If interested, please contact us and ask for the current price: office@aktionregen.at.
Why family planning hand
“A banana may be enough for two children, but not for 10. Parents can afford schooling for three children, but not for 8. A small home provides enough space for 5 people, but not for 12” – Maria Hengstberger, on WHY family planning makes sense.
The Stop Glove displays the basic needs of each individual: love, health, peace, food and water, and education. When pregnancies are planned (and women thus automatically have fewer children), the basic needs of all children can be met. The Stop Glove is thus a metaphor for the impact a lack of family planning can have on an individual, on a community, and an entire country. It also shows the opportunities conscious family planning can bring about. We cannot change the world we live in, but we can change our attitudes and actions towards issues we may face, and by doing so change the situation. The hand symbolizes our call to “grab the future” and wish for each individual to be able to take their destiny into their own hands.
The Family Planning Hand is produced in coöperation with Hand Werk Wien and is available in Englisch, French, Bambara and Kisuaheli.
This tool can be acquired and used by institutions/organisations/NGOs. If interested, please contact us and ask for the current price: office@aktionregen.at.
"Little Mom"
This uterus model made from pink soft fabric is used to educate people on the female reproductive organs and their functions.
The colour, soft material, and baby in the uterus, take away fears regarding the unknown, raise awareness and convey knowledge in a literally tangible manner. The little mom model shows vagina, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. Pregnancy prevention methods such as using a condom, performing sterilization, placing a diaphragm, or inserting an IUD are easy to explain. Knowledge of the female body takes away fears.
This tool can be acquired and used by institutions/organisations/NGOs. If interested, please contact us and ask for the current price: office@aktionregen.at.
CLITORIS MODEL
Around 200 million women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation. An additional 3 million girls each year suffer from this senseless practice, and have their genitals cut with knives, broken glass, or razor blades.
Whereas worldwide cases of infibulation (the removal of the external female genitalia and stitching of the vulva) is declining, the removal of the clitoris, so-called clitoridectomy, is increasing. In Muslim countries, this is called Sunna and is often perceived as a mild form of circumcision. However, clitoridectomy is neither “mild” nor “humane”, the pain experienced is unimaginable. The clitoris is not, as many believe, simply a piece of skin that can be removed, but an organ. The clitoris is a reproductive organ, like the penis, with numerous nerves and smaller as well as larger blood vessels. The function of this reproductive organ is to stimulate the tissue of the labia and lead more blood to flow to the labia. This is why removing the clitoris can result in life-threatening bleeding, and explains the extreme pain felt during the procedure, as all the nerve ending come together in the clitoris. It is therefore of paramount importance to show and make understandable, through the use of our clitoris model, that the clitoris is an organ.
The model is produced in coöperation with Hand Werk Wien!
This tool can be acquired and used by institutions/organisations/NGOs. If interested, please contact us and ask for the current price: office@aktionregen.at.
Other models of female genital mutilation illustrate the complications of childbirth and the risk of birth fistulas. Birth fistulas mainly affect girls / young women whose pelvis is not yet fully grown or mutilated women. Both have enormous birth problems, since the child can hardly be born naturally and is often stuck for several days! This not only threatens the life of the child massively, it means endless pain for the mother and it has long-term consequences: The blood supply is interrupted by the permanent pressure and the tissue between the vagina and the bladder or between the vagina and the intestine slowly dies. As a result, the affected woman is no longer able to hold urine or stool, and there is an uncontrolled flow. Because these women often smell of urine / stool, they are threatened with ostracism and exclusion from society.