BRAZIL. Roraima. Paracaima. October 18, 2022.
Inside the house of Leticia, family picture in her room.

« Leticia Souza Bezerra, 29, is a teacher and mother of two. Her maternal family are indigenous people from Brazil's Macuxi group. Leticia lived in Boa Vista for a while, going to school there and getting married, before eventually moving to Pacaraima with her family.
When Leticia heard about the UNFPA activities in Pacaraima, she decided to contact them to learn about contraceptive methods so she could avoid further pregnancies. She tells me that she was on the pill for a few years but was not completely happy with how it affected her body. So, when she learned about intrauterine contraceptive devices, she decided to try them. She made the choice to get an IUD without consulting her husband, because she thought she should be able to make this decision about her own body. Of course, after the procedure, she informed her husband about it as well. She says that she is quite happy with the result because the IUD has not affected her body negatively and she feels like it was the safest contraceptive method for her.
Leticia tells me that raising children is a difficult job but contraceptives have enabled her to control the number of children she has, and this in turns has allowed her to better care for them, while pursuing other dreams as well.

In addition to raising her family, Leticia has been working as a teacher for the past four years, educating the Macuxi children at Escola Estadual Indígena Tuxava Feliciano dos Santos. In order to preserve their ancient culture, indigenous people, including the Macuxis, establish their own schools. In these schools, besides the standard school curriculum of Brazil, the children take lessons about their own culture, language, and traditions."