Please see a news item which could be of interest. With best wishes and regards, Rekha Pande The stick Munda women fear most - Ehtashamuddin Khan- While the Internet has invaded our lives and reduced global distances: while we savour McDonald's burgers and Diet Coke as a quick meal; and even as we talk of artificial insemination as an alternative to procreate, there are people, not too far away, who are as ancient and disconnected from the present world as to eat tubers and drink rice beer (locally called handiya) and use a bare hard stick as a means of contraception. Sounds difficult to believe, but it is true. The story is from the newly-formed State of Jharkhan's capital, Ranchi. Kabutri was married eight years ago and has five children. She narrates the ways of family planning practiced in her village, after much instance. Kabutri, 25 lives in Dungra Khas village to Khunti in Ranchi district. According to her, a small hard stock is inserted in the vagina to turn the fallopian tube upside down. The stick is then taken out. The tube is left like that till one want to conceive. It is turned back to its original position once the man and his family decides for a baby. The 'operation' is so painful that Kaburi starts to cry even as she recalls it. However, she has no choice but to accept. "This is our tradition and every married woman has to follow it," she says. Similar sentiments are echoed by other women, who are too shy to tell their names. All feel the practice should be stopped, but are too bound by tradition and too suppressed to protest. Asked why they haven't tried to stop it, an elderly woman says: "We never thought of it. Every woman has to go through this." Gauri, a newly married woman, was able to spend just a week with her husband, after which he left for Gujarat. He will return after a year or so. Gauri also underwent the operation, but is ignorant about motherhood. "I don't know how it happens," she says. She thinks this painful birth control method is part of a marriage. Not only is the operation painful and unhygienic, it causes several diseases which the villagers are unable to identify, says gynecologist Reet Saran. It also creates several complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Needless to say, every woman in this village gives birth at home with the assistance of untrained midwives. The absence of any hospital in the vicinity, and the sole government dispensary sans any doctor, has made matters worse. With little exposure to the developing medical world, the methods used to abortion are as crude and harsh. Says Dr. Saran, "They use bottles and sticks to kill the foetus. We normally get cases when things are almost out of control." The villagers belong to the Munda tribe and the village happens to be the constituency of Karia Munda, who was one of the main contenders for the post of Chief Minister in the newly-created State of Jharkhand. The village has two small hamlets - Panda Tola, with around 50 houses. The villagers depend upon the Kharif crop, sown once a year. The man, therefore, work as daily labourers in nearby towns or quite often are forced to go to other States to earn for their families and return once a year. The contraceptive however, remains on the women through the year. --------------------------------------------------------- Source: Sunday Pioneer. August 5, 2001.p.1 This is GainsNet, the mailing list of the UN-INSTRAW-GAINS Network Members. To reply to the GainsNet group, click on "reply all" To reply to an individual, click on "reply" To unsubscribe from GainsNet, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line
