[Jamaican music playing]
[Domino game pieces clicking on a table]
[Jamaican music playing]
[Music continues]
[Jamaican music playing]
[Domino game pieces slammed downed on table]
[Jamaican music playing]
[Domino pieces forcefully slammed downed on table]
[Jamaican music playing]
[Choice...Not Chance!]
[Speaker 1:] I like to gamble, but the odds have to be right.
I've only got one life to live. I think a life is
too important to take a chance.
I want to give my kids a better chance than I had.
But it isn't easy.
You've got to work to be a winner.
[Dr. A. S. Wint:] My career in the Olympics
began really long before the 1948 Olympics.
All I know is that I wanted to get into the Olympics.
I wanted to get into the finals, and having got there,
I wanted to win.
And it meant a lot of concentrated work,
a lot of determination to make up your mind
you're going to win.
[Speaker 1:] Of course, each of us cannot
go on to win a gold medal
in the Olympics.
But each of us can choose
the kind of life he wants
for himself and for his children,
and can do something about it.
[Music continues]
Even though I had a tough start in life,
I knew that my future was up to me,
and family planning helped me to make the most of my chances.
[Speaker 2:] A man is a man.
I joined the force at the rank of a counselor.
Here am I, I'm a sergeant of police today.
and had it been a fact that I had a lot of children around,
I wouldn't spare time to do some studies so
I can bring about the betterment of my job.
[Speaker 3:] I believe that a man is a man
if he look after his kids. If he makes sure that he think
about them before he has them.
In that way, one can just see that they
feel the benefit all around.
So if I'm working, and I'm getting at my rank,
I can't afford to look after seven kids.
But then, three, two, I would have much more opportunity
for them.
And I have much more opportunity for myself,
because then I could spend some time to study.
Because after all, I joined this force to reach the top.
[Speaker 2:] And any of us could reach the rank
of the commissioner of police.
[Speaker 3:] Yes.
[Speaker 1:] Many of the men I work with,
and I'm sure you know some, too, make some wrong moves in life.
They don't think about the future until it's too late.
[Speaker 4:] Check it out, and I see
that having a lot of, plenty children,
without any solid background of any salary
or, you can really grow the children decent [?]
I would really like to grow them decent,
so first, I make some wrong move by having, I would say,
too many, like about eight.
I'm kind of struggling in life, and I
don't work enough to maintain them
to the best of your ability.
So I feel the best is to really
check on it before it go further.
[?]
[Child sound]
[Speaker 5:] I mean, having children is right,
but how to take care of them when you're not working...
you don't have anything to give them when they
started crying in your house.
There's a lot of trouble, right?
[...]
[Speaker 6:] If I had known of family planning before now,
I wouldn't have the amount of kids
that I have, because let me tell you something.
It is that to have the children, fine,
but it's to get them grow up as how you want them to grow up.
The main thing is the housing problem, schooling problem,
and to have the child to grow up the way that you
want a child to grow up.
[Speaker 7:] I want to see them come out, I mean, to something.
I want to live to see they grow up,
and have proper education that mean they can get a proper job.
[Speaker 6:] You and I, who is working just a meager salary,
are supposed to have more than...at the very most
two or three kids, and I am satisfied with the three that I have.
And I only hope that another one doesn't come my way.
[Speaker 7:] I like to see a lot of kids
around me, especially when they are growing big.
[Speaker 6:] The children must eat.
They must drink.
They must live somewhere.
[Speaker 8:] Now, you see, I'm a work foreman,
and each time men come to me for work,
I find out how many children do they have.
I would say to my friend, I provide you a job,
but if you don't do something to provide a child,
I can't afford for you to come to me to say,
"Boss, I'm in trouble."
"Lend me five dollars."
[Speaker 9:] Most of those young guys just leaving school,
they feel that they are not a man unless they
have a lot of children.
That is the only way they can prove their manhood.
You see it is very ridiculous, that they're
going about having six children when
they know that their salary can't
afford more than two children.
[Speaker 3:] The person who is really suffering
is the kids themselves.
[Speaker 10:] The child is your child,
[?] or the child is nothing, so to speak.
A child was not, has not asked to be brought here.
The child have a life to live for its own.
A child will have to build a family when it grows up,
and who to tell?
That child might not be able to help you.
[Dance music]
[Speaker 1:] I believe in working hard, but I like my fun, too.
And by planning things, I make sure I
got time and money to enjoy myself and take
care of my family.
[Music continues]
I couldn't do what I do if I had a large family.
That's why I think family planning is a good thing.
[Music]
[Music fades out]
[Speaker 3:] I use condoms, and I am married.
[Speaker 11:] I had three, and biggest boy is..
the last boy is now 15 years old.
And my wife and I plan together.
[Speaker 12:] If I weren't using condoms,
I know I would have a vast amount of children.
[Speaker 13:] How many children have you?
[Speaker 12:] I have one child so far.
[Speaker 13:] Oh.
He's at least three years old, and I've
been doing my thing right on.
[Music continues]
[Speaker 1:] My future, your future,
the future of our children is up to us.
The more children we have, the harder
it is to see them grow up the way we want.
The more children we have, the harder
it is to see them get proper schooling.
The more children we have, the harder
it is for us to get ahead.
The reason is simple.
The more children I have, the less money, the less food,
the less of everything there is everybody in my family.
Family planning isn't just for my woman or yours.
I figure it's a man's business, too.
It gives me and my children better odds, a real chance
to get what we want out of life.
It's my future, and I'm not leaving it to chance.
Family planning can help take the risk out of your life, too.
Why take a chance?
But the choice is up to you.
[Music playing]
[An AIRLIE production]
[Executive producer: Murdock Head, M.D.]
[Produced and directed by: John S. Scanlan]
[Director of Photography: Charles E. Francis]
[Written by: June Cottle]
[Edited by: Gordon L. Heerman, Raymond Garcia]
[Photography by: Charles Durie]
[Sound by: Michael Barrett]
[Special consultant, Basil L. Morgan]
[Exec. Asst., National Family Planning Board]
[Music by, Gay Feet, Ltd., Kingston, Jamaica]
[Produced for The National Family Planning Board, Jamaica West Indies]
[Music fades out]