An Ox For a Baby

Worldwide more than two million women suffer from this childbirth injury caused by lack of nutrition and early marriage In Ethiopia some 100,000 girls and women suffer from obstetric fistula and there are 9,000 new cases each year.

An obstetric fistula is an opening between the bladder and/or rectum and the vagina, which can occur during childbirth. The contractions, which often last for days, constantly press the baby’s head against its mother’s pelvis, causing damage. Through the hole that results, the woman continuously leaks urine or faeces. Age-old traditions force girls to marry at a very young age. They become pregnant so young that they cannot properly bear their baby because their pelvis isn’t yet fully grown. The baby dies and the young mother is left with a fistula. These girls and women are often banished from their families and communities.

Since 1974, operations have taken place at the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa (www.fistulahospital.nl / www.fistulahospital.org). The hospital was founded by an Australian couple, Catherine Hamlin and her husband. This documentary tells the story of a young Ethiopian woman, Yezina, victim of having a fistula. Her husband did not abandon her but he sells his ox to cure her.

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