Why didn't I think of that?

Josephine (L) the Congo health worker supervisor,
with Kabo and Mwaba, two of the volunteer
Traditional Birth Attendants.

Last January when Josephine and two Wasaidizi health workers from DR Congo traveled to Zambia to meet with me, they brought along a very interesting item ....the string of beads shown in the picture.  This is not a necklace or a rosary.  It is ingenious item to help the women track their menstrual cycle for "safe" and "fertile days" for those trying to use the rhythm method.  The red bead slides along reminding them where they are in their cycle.  This is especially important in the rural areas of the Congo where few affordable birth control options exist.  I'll never forget several years ago when a very tired and elderly looking little woman approached me with an infant in her arms.  I thought she was the grandmother.  Then she very timidly said, "This is my fourteenth child.  Is there anything you can do to help me?"  Unfortunately, unless the government gets behind family planning programs, there are few options available to the women in the villages.