Coping with a

• HEALTH

Vistt your doctor and try to find out the causes for your miscarriage

• It

may be because the wo man has be en preg nant

m~ny

times ;

•

Hard phys ical work ca n cause a nnscamage

;

•

S mo king

.

dri

nk

ing alcoh ol or ta

king

drugs

can bring on

a mrscarnase.

•

Chem ica ls at horne and in the wor kplace

cou

ld cause miscar- riage

,

If It happened once , will It happen again?

Sometimes

miscarriage~

hap- pen fo r reasons no t k now n or u nderstood

.

If yo

u have a miscarri age,

"I'

'" , ,

, . , .'

~~~F~~~,~~'~'~' I'

~ ",."

Coping with a

What causes a miscarriage?

One of

the

firs tthings a wom an may as k after a miscarr

iage

is:

"

Why di

d

t his hap pen to

^me?"

T

here ma y be a

nu

m ber of reasons :

•

T

he foetus

may be a borte d becau se there is something

w ron g wi th it.

It

is

nature's

w ay of saying that if

the

baby had bee n born . it wo uld no t have bee n he althy;

•

Th e re could be p rob

le

ms with in a woman

's

bod y s

uch

as infec

tio

ns, a wea k ce rvix

.

o

r

med

ical

problems of so me k ind ;

j

What is miscarriage?

Misc~rri ~ge

is

the

name used fur the

s

udde n

loss

o

f

a preg

- nancy

be fore the foetus can surv ive o n its own.

It is

one of the most com mo n pro blems w ith preg nancy,

It

is believed

that one ^OUI

o f every

Sill preg-

na ncies e nds in miscarriage

.

Some

times

mi scarr

iage

hap- pe ns s o early in a pregna n cy tha

t

it ma y to thought to be a hea vy me

ns

trual period. A m is- ca rriage can be a temble expe- rience especia lly after a wan ted or

pl ~nne<J

pre gnancy,

In this Issue we look at the causes of miscarriages and the effects It can have on women

E preg docto Hza beth

^{nanc y}

r to did ld but

^her

not wh she plu en

ⁿ

wa

^the

her s

prega

nant.

she was very happy

,

Ele v en weeks late

r. she h

ad a misc arri age. Th is was her sec

-

o

nd

miscarri age.

"

It

fe lt like there was a war goi ng o n in my sto mac h.

I

felt so hel

pless. I

rea lly wante

d

to

have the baby. Bu t there wa s

nothing I

cou ld do," s he says

sadty.

"1crie

d a 1 01 and fe

lt

as if

the re wa s something wrong wit h

me . It was worse

with m y second miscarriage

: '

Eliz abeth said it was hard fo r her

to ho

ld a

new

born baby a nd felt jealous wh ene ver she

saw a pregna nt woman . S he wa r

n

ed 10 hav e a

h~hy ^Sll b~dly

hut

w~s

scared s he

'd

h ave anothe r miscarriage .

S PEAK . October 1993. Pllge 28

• •

miscarriage

Give yourself time to heal from your lOBS. Speak to friends about how you feel

• HEALTH

pen?"

Re member these feelings are normal.

I f

it happens to you, give yourself time to work throug h your pain. It may help to talk with other people, such as yo ur husband or partner, family members or close friends. You can also contact community organisations for counselling and support.

Getting pr egnant after a misc arriage

Tryin g to get pregnant afte ra miscarriage is something you should discuss with you r doc- tor. Family membe rs or frie nds

may encourage yo u to become pregnant soon after a miscar- riage. This may not be the best thing for you. AlthO\lgh yo u

may feel YO\lr body is read y, it may take much longer to pre- pare it for gelling pregnant again.

The heali ng time . no matter how lon g it takes, can be put to good use. Make yo ur body well . and strong. Eat proper foods

and get plenty ofrest and exer- cise. In this way, yoo will be well prepared for preg nan cy next time.

0

try

and find ^OUI as much as you can abo ut why it happened.

Ask yourdoctor. Re me mber, you have a right to kno w.

Even if you have had one or even two miscarriages. it does not mean that yo u will no t be able to carry a baby for the fuJI nine months of pregnan cy.

Becau se miscarriage happens quite often, one and even two miscarriages are not seen to be a problem from a medical point of view. A woman who has had a miscarriage can fall pregnant as easily as a woman who has never had a miscarriage. Even

afte r two miscarriages there is a 70 percent chance of a success, ful pregnallCY. Ifa woman has had three miscarriages she sho uld hav e medical tests or a medical examination to find out what the problem is.

What you c an do after a mi scarriage

The time during and after a miscarriag e can be very diffl- cult. Many women feel angry and sad. Often women feel that it was their fau lt.They may ask thems.elve s: "D id

J

do

some-

thing wrong to make this hap-

S PEAK . October 1993. Page 29

Resource organisations

• The Compassionate Friends provodecounsellingand suf)()Olt services for women

..no

^have

had a m,scarriitgft. Tiley have branches in many parts of

South AfriCa. You cancall their National Office for more infor· malion.

Telephone: (011) 738 3723 or 7284451

• "Snare-, a volun\eef group based inCa pe Town, also pr0-

vides support servicas.For more information. contact them

on: (021) 794 3660

• HEALTH

Teenage

pregnanci es

According to t he

Department of Nat ional Health and Popu

l

ation

Development. ove r 1 million pregnant teenagers

vi

sited fam ily plann

ing

clinics

be tween 1991 and 1 992 .

Mental state of women

Different forms of

discrimination, poverty and violence ha

s

a harmful

effect on the mental health

of women.

In South A frica . more black women are ra

is ing

chiklren on their own . with little or no support from the

HEALTH BRIEFS

l ather of thei r children and their families

.

This and th e

high rate of rape and

.

emotional and phys

ical

vio le nce against

women h as

increased depression

and mental illness amongst

womeo .

Cervical cancer c an be beaten

One in 4 6 African women risk getting cancer of the cervix

(the neck of

the

womb).

E ver

y

year hundredS

of women

die of the

disease.

One of the main reasons

f or the high death r ate i s because women go to the doctor w hen r t is t oo late

.

C ervical

cancer

can be prevented

jf

women have regular check ups and pap

smears.

AIDS Is the main cause of death In Bulawayo

Illnesses connected with AIDS are the main cause of death

in

Bu

lawayo.

Zimbabwe. A total of 685 people d

ied

of AIDSi"elated

ill

nesses during th

is

year alone. It is estima

ted

that

about

600 000

Zimbabweans are H

IV·

positive. 0

COMPETITION

Four lucky SPEAK readers stand the c hance of winning

a

beautiful bag from Kenya

.

Simply an

swer

the question below and send it to SPEAK.

You

might be our lucky winnerlll

Which organisation

does

Patricia de Ulle represent at the multl-party t

alks

presently being he ld at the World Trad

e

Cent re (

see

page 5)1

Answer

.

Name

.

Addre ss .

. .. . ... . .. . .. ... ... .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .... . .. ...

. ... . .. ... .. . . . . . . ... . . .. . .. . . . .. . ... . .. . . . .. . .. .. . ...

. .. . .. . ... . .. .. . .... . ...

Postal C ode

.

Send y

ou r

entry

t

o :

SPEAK magazine

PO Box 261363 Excom 2023

South Africa

_of....

^{e u}

n.

--- _ .

Thoo ... . . . . - OIWI'_

IO_~" _

7 SPEAK _01 _[1· .. nol_IO_, ... ".''''1

^{1. .. _}

' 1101

, ....

^{.-.- .~~}

199oC,l h e _ " ' " ,

~

.._ 0",,,,,,,, ... _

.~

You could be a lucky

winner!!

SPEAK . October 1993 . Page 30

As a matter of fact...

J ohannesburg says no to prostitution

A Gdl for pr ostitution to he made lega l in Johannesburg has bee n rejected by the city's n)u n~' i L

TIle propo sal was made by the ('(lund ll", An<;hen

Dreyer. TIle council voted

2.3

^{for and 17} :ljl;ainsl. n reyc'f said the d,..d sion was h"",-"<.1 on moral outrage and did

nor come up with any solu- tions to the problem of prn'i- titutlon.

"Sex work...rs arc working

ngatnst great odds as pros ti- tutes art' fearful of polio: traps: she said,

Victory for women at the World

Trade Centre

The appointment of two women to the previou

sly

all-male planning ccmmtt- tee is

a

small but Impor- tant victory for women

negotiators. One Is from the Afrikaner Volksunle and tile other from the Transkel government.

,

\

Women w a r n th e ANC

The Al"C has been warned that if it does not ow..1 women's

d<.'ma nds, Ill<'y will vote for another p arty th<.' follow ing ele<:lion, This was Ih" message given hy th" national ol)l:aniM:r of the At\:C

wome n's Lt.":lgU<.' Nn..ivtwe Maphea at a llw<.'t ing h<.'ld in the Natal Midlands. She said onl"" the ANC was in pow er it would be

<.'xp<...'ted 10 protect women agai nst viol<.' nl<.', hol h in the ho me and oUlside, If (h<.' AJ\;C fails ⁽⁰ UO this 'w" will have to look for anoth..

-r

patty to VOI<.' for in the d<"ll ioll followi ng the April 1.7 one," she s:lid

Protest against rape

Agroup of women protesting against the low bail, R200, of two men suspected of rape and sodomy occupied the office of

Cape Town attorneygeneral. Frank Khan,

They demanded that Khan persona lly look into their

grievances. Most of the women were members of Rape

cnsrs

and the Black Sash.

Both suspects were first granted bail of Ri

000

before it was reduced to RSOO and then to R200, Khan said: "I' m aware of the feelings surrounding bail, but the court must consider the rights of the suspect. If the police say they are in favour of bail then there is noth ing we can do."

Is mutl polson?

Zimbabwe's treditional healers have been accused ofpoisoning many of their patients with their

traditional

^medicines, TIle 'mutl' was said

to

be responsible for many

cases

of poisoning

report-

ed

to

city hospitals over the

past ten

years, The blame has, however, been put

on

^patlems

who take overdoses of the medicines,

S P EAK . October 1993.

Page

3 1

Call me woman

demands Pamela Ntshanga, a student at Rhodes University, Grahamstown

women, gays or chn.

dren.

lama made, man-hour, man-kind, will soon have to be thrown out of our vocabulary.

If we desire a non-sexist society, we need to take the usage of language into

account. Therefore everyone

of us is faced with the

responsibility of using

a language that

does not dis·

criminate against a

particular group of people,

00'

woman

and I cer-

tainly do not want to fall under the ·glor~

_ _ _ ous" banner of being referred to as a "man"

when my birth certificate still says I'm a female.

Oh yes "gentlemen" I beg to differ and next time you talk to me don't, I stress don't, forget to call me 'woman" for I am- just like you - a citizen of the world. 0

world uses and the manner in which people have become so

used to it. As for myself. I am

no t

^{about to begin a process}

whic h practises discrimination. Infact I will choose to use the

term "human being" and other words that are not sexist.

However,

we

^{have to transform}

a lot of our English vocabulary in order to tune in wit h the

changing times. Words such as manslaughter, manpower, man-

W

at ch your televi- sion, page

through your magazine. listen to your radio. and you will find the blat ant use of the word

"MAN"

to

describe the human race, a human being or a

person.

You can find it in every corner of the world.

There is

even a

phrase like, "the

man

on the

street", as if it is only men

{males}

I I

who walk on the

streets.

Another famous saying; "man and

his relationship wit h the

world", makes one wonder if the "fairer sex" is part of that world. Or does this saying sug- gest that·womenjust happen to find themselves in the world

like a book finds itself on the shelf.

I have to express my dismay at the sexist language our

SPEAK . October 1993 • Page 32

ICES

Worker Services •

• Centre for survivors of sexual abuse •

Th e Johannesburg Children's ho me has laun ched a treatment centre aim.ad at ~rovid­

in g counselling f or adult survivors of chil d sexual a buse . E~ght w eek sessions will be run whe re those who attend ca n begin the process of healing th emselves.

For further informat ion contact:

Noreen Broomhall at te lephone:

(0 11) 484 3044 or Joan Rubenstein at (011) 648 1120 d uring office hours .

• Package for • literacy learners

The Con tinuing Education Project JCEP} has brought out

library packages to mee t the needs of adult l e a r n e r s . The packages have boo ks of fiction

and non- f iction stories , and the writings of l iteracy learn-

ers themse lves . The books are in Eng lish and African lan-

guages .

For more informat ion contact

The Farmworkers ' Research

~ nd Resource Project pro vides

Information on h ow to o rganise farm wo rkers .

Y ?U ca n get h old of them a t;

F~fth Floor , Bi cca rd Hou se Blccard Street, Braamfontein T elephone (0 1 1) 4 03 2908

Th~ Industrial Health Unit

~ SSIStS wi th health a nd safety Issues in th e workplace. T hey als~ offer fre e pamphl ets and

adVice .

Y ou can get h old of them at.

Th e Unive rsity of Natat . T eleph one (03 1) 8 16 244 1

• All about sexism in the workplace •

"Sex D iscrimination at work" is a book which looks at the discrim ination

women wo rkers experience in their daily lives. II deals with basic pay, working hours, racia l and sexu al harassment , lesbianism, women with disabilities, p regnancy and m aternity. The book provides guidelines 01 how worke rs can negotiate such matters with their bosses.

For your copy, send a R15 postal order to:

Acce ss Book s P O Box 166956

Brackendowns. A lberton

1450