Bettering Lives in India

Resike

Mother, Mumbai, India

Every morning just before sunrise and just before her family awakens, Resike goes to the small kitchen of her home, which is located in the poor area of West Bhandup, Mumbai. She puts her hand deep inside a large clay pot using for storing rice and pulls out a glass jar inside is a small purse with a cycle of DKT-India’s Choice contraceptive pills.

Resike's mother-in-law wants her to have six children and her husband believes that birth control is an affront to God. But Resike does not want another child just yet. Besides the crushing expense - the family barely survives with just one child - there is Resike's health. Her chronic gastritis and frequent vomiting were so severe that Resike weighed only 75 pounds at one point in her pregnancy.

Until Resike met a community-based saleswoman for DKT-India a year ago, she did not think it was possible to control her own fertility. The saleswoman was going door-to-door in West Bhandup when Resike heard the knock on her door and whispered her story in an alleyway beyond her mother-in-law's ears. The saleswoman listened, nodded, and then took something out of her bag. "These," she said, "are contraceptive pills. They're called Choice."

Resike says that many women who use contraceptive pills in her neighborhood have to hide them. If these women are discovered, most of them would be forced to stop using contraceptives and become pregnant. Resike, like her neighbors, hopes to avoid detection. She says that the peace of mind she gets from Choice is enormous.

No other contraceptive can give her this protection at such a low cost, equal to just 2.2 US cents each month. And Choice is sold right across the street from Resike's house. She can buy them without arousing any suspicious looks or questions. With only one child, Resike now has more money to spend on her young daughter, and she hopes to begin saving money to send her to medical school.

As Resike says, "a health worker came to my door one day and helped relieve me of a lot of suffering. Now I want my daughter to do the same for other people."