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 for 15 € (postage fees apply) from Aktion Regen. Every order gets a Girl´s Diary for free! 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.
OTHER TOOLS FOR HEALTH KNOWLEDGE AND CYCLE AWARENESS
girl´s diary
Sexual education for young people should begin with knowledge about the functions of the reproductive organs and an awareness of their own bodies.
Girls who have learnt about the menstrual cycle and are aware of changes their body goes through during different parts of their cycle are able to adapt the demands of different life situations to their hormonal cycle. The Girl’s Diary offers young women the possibility to observe and understand their own cycle. With the help of an outline of a hormonal cycle, girls can get into the habit of paying attention to their own bodies. We’re happy to share the Girl’s Diary for download here!
Institutions/organisations/NGOs can order the print version of the Girl’s Diary from Aktion Regen. If interested, please contact us, ask for the current price and send us an email to office@aktionregen.at.
GIRL’S RULER
We adapted the concept of our baby necklace into a ruler. Using this ruler every day at school enables young girls to repeatedly be exposed to the subject of cycle awareness, and for this information to be stored in the subconscious mind.
New skills and knowledge are more easily acquired in youth (think about learning languages, learning to ride a bike, learning to swim); therefore, it is also ideal for cycle awareness to be learnt in the earlier period of life. Our Girl’s Ruler, when used every day, enables children to develop an awareness of the female cycle that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
This tool can be acquired and used by schools, teachers and children. If interested, please contact us and ask for the current price: office@aktionregen.at.
PROTECTION HOUSE
In order to be and stay health, the soul, mind and body must be in balance and harmony. To help others become aware of this connection, Dr. Maria Hengstberger developed the concept of the Protection House.
The image of the house and garden helps other to be aware of strategies to increase health and take care of themselves. The roof offers protection and symbolizes the importance of the self. The four walls stand for nourishing and maintaining a healthy body, as the body is a necessary foundation for the rest of the home. The trees in the garden represent our relationships with other people, our family and our work. The clouds over the house draw attention to addictive tendencies. These easy-to-understand symbols contribute to a holistic awareness of health.
In the December 2015 edition of the newspaper ‘Ärzte Woche’, Dr. Hengstberger explained in conversation with Dr. Klepeisz the concept of the shelter. In just 5 minutes, you can learn about the simple version of the Protection House and analyze your own health.
GIRLS CALENDAR
This calendar was originally created to help schoolgirls in Romanian orphanages learn about their bodies in a fun and engaging way. It is now also available in German, English, French, Spanish and Kinyarwanda (the official language in Rwanda).
This calendar not only explains the phases of the female cycle, it also highlights the impact of the phases. While women and girls generally feel very comfortable and more active during the estrogen phase, the opposite is the case during the progesterone phase. If girls use this calendar continuously for three months and note their moods and how their bodies feel, they can develop an awareness of their own cycle and better understand their own bodies. The calendar can be downloaded for free here!
This tool can be acquired and used by NGOs. If interested, please send us an email to office@aktionregen.at.