Casa Materna: Saving lives, improving lives

by Kitty Madden

During the past six years, through the assistance of ProNica, well over 250 mothers have been able to have tubal ligations. As a result, both their health and their living situations have improved greatly. Here is the story of one of my co-workers in the Casa Materna who was one of the first women to have a tubal ligation through the help of the Casa.

Socorro, tall and strikingly beautiful, sat down with me after lunch last Sunday the Casa Materna. She was on duty for the weekend attending to the basic needs of 22 mothers, 18 of them pregnant and 4 who had just given birth. The five newborns included twin girls. Just that afternoon close to lunchtime, four more pregnant women had arrived at the Casa after having journeyed hours from their rural communities. Socorro, without missing a beat, had stretched the food to include them at the table.

I tried to explain to my husband that we needed to avoid certain times for intercourse as I was out of the pill but he wouldn’t listen…

Initially, Socorro had smiled broadly at the question I posed as her dark eyes sparkled. “How has my life changed?” she mused. Then her story began:

I was only 14 when I first started dating my husband and by the time I was 16, I had already given birth to a daughter and a son. From that time on until I came to the Casa Materna at age 27 to give birth to my seventh child, that was my life….. taking care of the children. At one point, after our fifth child was born, my husband left to be with another woman. In some ways, it was a relief but we didn’t have hardly anything for food. I earned a bit taking in laundry but…

Later my husband returned and, though I was using an IUD, I became pregnant with our sixth child. The doctor at the Health Center told me “There is no way we can take out the IUD now so we’ll just have to hope for the best at the time you are ready to deliver.” I was very relieved that Alexi’s birthing went well and that he was not harmed by the devise. However, I then had no more confidence in that method so I began using the pill while I was nursing Alexi. But then they ran out of pills in the health center and I couldn’t find them in the pharmacy. Also I really didn’t have the money…..

My husband said, “It’s not necessary to use anything. We should just accept the children God gives us.” But he was rarely at home and didn’t really help at all with the care of the children. Unfortunately, much of the work fell on my daughter’s shoulders, as she was the oldest sister of five young brothers. I don’t know what I would have done without her but I know that it also had adverse effects on her life.

I tried to explain to my husband that we needed to avoid certain times for intercourse as I was out of the pill but he wouldn’t listen… and then I was pregnant with Wilson Ariel, whose nickname has always been Pollo. The Casa Materna had just opened the year before and the doctor at the health center encouraged me to go to Matagalpa when my due date in May drew nearer.

While at the Casa, in the afternoon class about Family Planning, I began to think about having the “operation.” At that time women had to go home and come back after 40 days to have their tubal ligation. When the 40 days were up, even though my husband was against it and refused to give me money even for the bus trip, I was determined to go. I took the baby and headed down the two miles into town to get the bus. I brought the only chicken we had so I could sell it for the bus fare. At the center of town as I waited for the bus, by that time feeling quite faint, my sister-in-law came and found me. ‘Here,’ she said, ‘give me the baby and I’ll take care of him until you return tomorrow or the day after.’

Blinking back the tears, Socorro said, ‘ I can’t tell you what a great gift that was that my husband’s sister gave to me. Even when I came back to town, I went to stay with her for a few days while I recuperated.”

And so Socorro had her “operation” and, initially, “felt so much more relaxed when having sex, knowing I would not get pregnant again. Not long after, though,” she said sadly, “my husband left again to be with a younger woman.” Seeking work to support her family, Socorro began to work in a bakery from six a.m. to six p.m. six days a week. “On Sundays, we only worked half a day.” For 78 hours a week, she was paid the equivalent of $30 each month and almost never saw her children!

When I came to know Socorro through a home visit in her rural community, I was struck by her enthusiasm and sense of caring and also by how very weary she was. In addition, she was worried about her daughter who, at age 14, now had to become “the mother” during Socorro’s absence each day.

My friend Annette and I approached Socorro to ask if she might help us with the home visits to various communities 20 hours a week. We also only had $30 but at least it allowed her a regular income and definitely more time at home with the children.

Socorro went from doing home visits with us for two years to becoming trained as one of the Casa’s first promotoras. Next she was offered a half-time job covering basic services every other weekend at the Casa. Then three years ago, when we initiated a pilot project of follow-up with a small percentage of the now over 10,000 Casa mothers, it was Socorro and her co-worker Rosa who slid easily into the ground-breaking role of seeking out the women in their home communities, doing extensive health interviews and helping the mothers in the formation of small mutual support groups now involving over 400 women in their home communities.

Oh, and yes, after years of being a “single Mom,” Socorro is now 39 and in a bliss-filled relationship with her companero, who truly appreciates, not only her physical beauty and natural warmth but every aspect of her being.

Socorro’s story is being repeated over and over again throughout the hills and valleys of rural Matagalpa, thanks to our friends at ProNica and their generous donors.

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Casa Materna: Saving lives, improving lives

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