Bringing Back Dignity: The Story of Tihun Ingedaw

This is the first 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.

Despite the double tragedy of losing her baby and developing a fistula, Tihun has been blessed with a supportive husband who did not leave her when she was ill. Her husband Aweke explains that everyone urged him to leave his wife with beliefs that he would contract her condition, but he would not do so. Both Tihun and Aweke have learned valuable lessons from Tihun's fistula. Aweke regrets not being careful to use protection that would prevent an early pregnancy. Tihun vows that if she ever has a daughter she will not marry her off, and instead will let her go to school and then choose her own husband.

The other two videos are also available on YouTube:

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

The Story of Abebu Dego:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9APa2ZnLi4

--

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

[esue12]

someday I wanna do this kind of help and educate the absence of early marrage