We Almost Cost our Children their Lives
A SURE-SN SUCCESS STORY
The FHI 360 father-to-father support group meeting has incredibly changed health-seeking behaviors and boosted the participation of husbands in MIYCF practices.
Tamshi Abatcha, 46, father of nine children (five of whom are alive) stays in the Logomane settlement of ISS camp in Ngala, Borno state. He is currently in his seventh year at the camp, after being displaced from their ancestral town of Logomane by the insurgents back in 2015. Mallam Tamshi joined the FHI 360 FTFSGM nine months ago, and is currently benefitting from the program. When asked about the novel things he learned, Mr. Tamshi with an astonishing smile depicting satisfaction, said:
“Back in our village we never knew that women have to visit the hospital when they are pregnant, but since I joined the FTFSGM, I am convinced about it, we even accompany our wives to attend ANC and make sure they take the routine medicines that were given to them at the right time.” He continued “When they start labour, we make sure that we take them to the hospital, or when at night, we used to go and wake the experienced health workers (skilled and trained FHI 360 TBAs) to attend to them.”
Mallam Abatcha also narrated how he and other members of the community almost caused serious damage to their wives due to a lack of understanding and knowledge of colostrum.
“We had a practice of discarding the first thick, yellowish milk that came immediately after the birth of a baby believing that it made babies sick and interfered with their growth. It is in this FTFSGM that I learned of its importance and promised to feed all my subsequent babies with it, I guess some of my babies that died during infancy might be related to this bad practice.”
“I will be very selfish if I keep this knowledge to myself without disseminating it, this has greatly improved the general well-being of my wife and children, our children now don’t fall ill very often, and my pregnant wife does not feel any problem because we visit the ANC regularly.”
Abatcha Tamshi now pays much attention to his pregnant wife and provides her with the necessary food she will require during this period for the effective growth and development of the fetus (Window period of opportunity).
“This knowledge I have acquired has helped me understand how to provide care to my pregnant wife. I have doubled my hustle to make sure that she eats the best food because I learned that it helps her and the unborn baby.”
Mallam Abatcha Tamshi closed the story by advising the public that will come across this story: “FTFSGM is very beneficial, all men should try and join where feasible because the messages we receive are helpful, most of which are new to us, and have been practiced wrongly in the past.”