Bringing Back Dignity: The Story of Abebu Degu

This is the third of three videos that tell the stories of Tihun, Yeserash, and Abebu -- three young women from Ethiopia who have survived obstetric fistula. The women and their family members give insight into the difficulties of life with fistula, the joys of being repaired, and the lessons learned from their experiences. These videos are excerpts from the film "Bringing Back Dignity," produced under the ACQUIRE project funded by USAID.

Abebu, a 20-year-old fistula survivor, describes the hardships of living with a fistula and how her life has been transformed by repair. Abebu was married at the age of 15 and developed her fistula after four days of prolonged labor. When her leaking began, her husband stole her property and threw her out and her parents shunned her. Now that she is cured, Abebu is glad to be able to mingle with friends and participate in community events.

The other two videos are also available on YouTube:

The Story of Tihun Ingedaw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nemcEYwJ26Y

The Story of Yeserash Simeneh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-huvoxidr4

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The ACQUIRE Project (Access, Quality, and Use in Reproductive Health) advanced and supported the availability, quality, and use of facility-based reproductive health and family planning services at every level of the health care system, and strengthened links between facilities and communities. EngenderHealth was the managing partner. For more information about EngenderHealth, please visit http://www.engenderhealth.org/.

Further work on obstetric fistula is being done by the Fistula Care Project, also funded by USAID and managed by EngenderHealth. Fistula Care works to address the enormous backlog of women awaiting life-altering fistula repair, ensuring that they receive timely and quality care from trained providers. At the same time, the project works to remove barriers to emergency obstetric care that lead to fistula in the first place. For more information, please visit http://www.fistulacare.org/.
Copyright 2008 EngenderHealth/IntraHealth/The ACQUIRE Project

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• engenderhealth
• fistula
• acquireproject
• intrahealth
• obstetricfistula
• familyplanning
• ethiopia
• fistulacare

[esue12]

Beautiful and heartbreaking stories!