31.5 C
Kenya
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Ringtone: The unbelievable crazy tones of Apoko

 Sheikh Abdala Juma Opiyo, the Navakholo Sub County SUPKEM Chairman and his wife Mariam Nanjala. [Nathan Ochunge, Standard]

A sunny day it is. The blue sky is dotted with fluffy white clouds that drift lazily in the gentle breeze as we make our way to Natiala village in Kakamega.

At the Chebuyusi Jamia Mosque, at the heart of Nambacha sub-Location, hundreds of believers are here to get their nourishment of faith.

Sheikh Abdallah Juma Opiyo, 64, takes off his shoes at the entrance, walks to the front row and sits with the faithful. He bows his head to pray.

The cleric is a man on a mission. He is determined to save the community from poverty, which he believes is a result of shunning family planning, which a number of Muslim faithful term “haram”, Islamic for forbidden.

[embedded content]

Sheikh Abdallah is a self-made family planning champion after he underwent vasectomy. He is now pushing to have more men consider vasectomy as a family planning method.

Vasectomy is an elective surgical procedure for male sterilisation. During the procedure, the male vasa deferentia are cut and tied to prevent sperm from entering the urethra thereby preventing fertilisation of a female through sexual intercourse.

“As a family man, you must be an example. Good life is planned for. I underwent vasectomy last year. I encourage men, if they love their wives, to follow my example,” he says.

“You heal after a week and function normally. You release sperms normally and if you have sex with a woman, she cannot tell whether you have undergone vasectomy or not. The only thing you prevent is making her pregnant. Some weird women can tell you that you impregnated them. But that will not be possible after vasectomy.”

He says family members or culture cannot dictate to individuals the number of children to have. “My wives are here to take care of me and not siring children day and night,” he says.

His firstborn is from his first marriage. After parting ways with his first wife, Sheikh Abdallah married Mariam Nanjala, who has three children.

“Family planning is something I have wanted to do and didn’t want to have more than two children. But my wife wanted at least five children. I wanted to have a family I could manage. Siring four children came as a mistake. I have three sons and a daughter,” he says.

Sheikh Abdallah underwent vasectomy at Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital. He says it was a minor operation, and that he did not experience any side effect.

His wife was hurt by his decision to opt for vasectomy. But after some time, they agreed and moved on.

Sheikh Abdallah, the Chairman of Navakholo sub-County Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem), manning 34 mosques, says he has also asked his children to ensure they plan their families and not to have more than three children. He says they have followed his instructions, though saying he is a dictator.

“My first and second born sons have three children each, while the last born has two children. I also told my son-in-law if he wants to marry my daughter, they must have two children. He agreed. Now he has a son and a daughter and they are happily married,” says the cleric.

He says religion cannot hinder someone from planning his or her family since it is not immoral. He says it is better to teach daughters not to get pregnant before getting married by going for any of the available family planning methods as opposed to helping them carry out an abortion.

“Religion cannot judge you for planning your family. Religion can only judge you when you carry out an abortion. Islam cannot tell you not to go for vasectomy or take any other method of family planning. What’s illegal is abortion since by doing that, you would have killed the unborn child,” says Sheikh Abdallah.

The cleric says he has convinced at least five men from Kakamega to undergo vasectomy this month. “You should only undergo vasectomy when you are sure you do not want more children since the process is irreversible,” he says.

Nanjala, 54, says she got married to Sheikh Abdallah in 1985 and that any time she got pregnant, her husband would quarrel her.

“Getting pregnant wasn’t easy and my husband didn’t like many children. When I asked him why, he said he was given a small parcel of land that could not accommodate many children. Whenever I got pregnant, he would send me away and I would go back to my parents,” she says.

“When asked by my parents what the problem was, he would tell them I was giving birth to many children and won’t manage to take care of them. I wanted at least five children, but to save my marriage, I honoured his wish of having only three children,” she says.

After her husband went for vasectomy, Mariam says their neighbours insulted them and wondered why she allowed him in the first place.

“I told them I was not starved of my conjugal rights since his performance was the way it used to be before he went for vasectomy. I knew in my heart, I listened to them and knew if I took their advice, I would have destroyed my marriage. Some even advised me to cheat on him,” said Mariam.

Amelda Barasa, the Kakamega County Reproductive Health Officer, says besides Sheikh Abdallah’s personal initiative of urging men to undergo vasectomy, they are using him as a champion of family planning. His effort, she says, is bearing fruit.

Ms Barasa says Sheikh Abdallah’s main job is to sensitise the community on importance of family planning, and that his advocacy skills have led to uptake of other family planning methods. “In 2021 two men underwent vasectomy at the Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital and mid this year, two more came for the operation. We are likely to receive more men. It costs Sh1,500 only,” said Ms Barasa.

Dr Charles Ochieng’ underwent vasectomy 14 years ago to save his wife who had complications using the normal birth control methods. He also wanted a few children he could manage to raise up.

The doctor says he comes from a polygamous family and to get food and go to school was a challenge, the reason he decided to have two children he could comfortably fend for.

Ten years ago, he went to the USA for a week long training on how to conduct a vasectomy operation, saying in the country the local institutions do not have such a speciality.

“In a month, 20 to 30 men come for vasectomy at Family Health Options Kenya in Nairobi. Each operation takes at most 15 minutes and it costs Sh25,000. Majority of my clients are from Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa and Nakuru.

“We receive clients from as far as South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda Dubai and even USA. In the US, vasectomy costs between Sh150,000 and Sh200,000, the reason some clients offer to do it in Kenya,” he says.

Dr Ochieng’ says after the operation, one leaves hospital, and after two days, they are healed. During this time, a patient should refrain from sex and strenuous work.

Men opting for vasectomy are mostly middle class, he says, adding that some aged below 30 years who are not married go for vasectomy saying they are not ready to have children in tough economic times.

Related Topics

Latest news
Related news