The dusty Ntulele-Ongata Naado road cuts across a silent scarcely populated remote Maasai village.
The road ends at Ongata Naado Level 2 Hospital in Narok county.
The presence of scrubs and livestock on the vast lands is an indication that the area has experienced a prolonged season of dry spell.
After driving for half an hour along the rough road, we arrive at Annet Kaigal home.
Kaigal is a community based distributor championing for modern family planning methods.
She doubles up as a spiritual leader and heads a local church in the village, where faithful seek spiritual nourishment.
As we interact with her, she reveals that she was among the first people in the village to embrace modern family planning methods.
The mother of five was trained by the New Partnership Initiative programme through the Anglican Development Service.
“When I realised that the traditional way of family planning was not working, I decided to champion for modern family planning methods. I am very lucky because my husband supported me throughout,” she says.
Traditionally, the Maasai community practiced family planning by separating the man and woman when a child is breastfeeding.
The method, however, encouraged infidelity as both parties looked for lovers to satisfy their sexual needs.
“This was dangerous as it increased chances of contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/Aids,” Kaigal says.
"It was also not efficient as women got pregnant immediately after uniting with their husbands."
She praised the ADS programme for teaching women and men in the area the modern family planning methods.
Some of the family planning methods Kaigal administers include, oral contraceptives pills, implants, injectable and condoms.
Administering family planning to Maaasai women has not been a walk in the park.
Some women expressed fear that the pills will make them infertile while others said the pills will give them cancer.
Men believed family planning will kill the urge of sex from women.
However, Kaigal continued to boldly engage women and men and educated them on the importance of family planning.
“The church was also opposed to the practice and being a pastor, I received a lot of opposition and rejection. But with time, I was able to convince the congregation to accept the modern family planning methods,” she says.
“Sometimes I popped into men's forums. Though it was challenging, I did not give up because I wanted to help my community.”
Kaigal says the myths on family planning are slowly dying two years on.
“I started from zero, but today, at least seven people visit my home everyday for the services. Many people prefer injections, while a few others prefer the pills. Hardly will you find someone requesting for condom,” she says.
Kaigal refers women with underlying conditions or those using family planning for the first time to local health facilities.
The Ongata Naado Health Centre is housed by and old building that looks deserted.
A closer look at the clinic, however, reveals that a group of women visiting the facility.
They are reluctant to speak to us, but after introducing ourselves, they tell us how CBD has helped them access family planning.
The women say some of the teachings by ADS that transformed their traditional way of family planning.
Jenifer Dapash, says she learnt about family planning from the CBD officers and medics.
She says she has never developed any complications since she started using the contraceptives..
The facility's nursing officer and in-charge Amos Pushati says he is working with 25 active community health promoters and four CBDs to sensitise the community on family planning.
“Before, we had numerous challenges when introducing family planning to this community. But we are grateful that ADS came in and enhanced our sensitisation programmes. Today, more than 75 per cent of the women in this village use family planning,” he said.
The community's socio-economic activities have affected family planning uptake.
During dry seasons, they migrate with their animals to look for food and water, making uptake very low.
Pushati praised the men for allowing their women to use contemporary modern family planning methods, despite opposing the programme at its initial stages.