>a walk to beautiful.

i had the chance to watch a documentary today called, a walk to beautiful. if you have a free hour, i recommend it. the documentary followed the lives of 5 ethiopian women who are sick and trying to get better. these women are forced to get married at a young age and then they get pregnant. many times when they give birth, they are not healthy enough because they are so young and work so hard. therefore, they will sit in labor for a week and eventually have a stillborn. after removing the dead child from them, they are often left with a "leak"
basically, these women are left with damaged bladders and have zero control over their urinary track. the women are shunned from their community and forced to leave. they are abandoned. however, the documentary focuses on the hope of a hospital that will offer free medical treatment and surgery to cure them. the only problem is getting to the hospital which is often a long journey for many of these women.
i was very intrigued by the entire documentary mainly because it's a situation that i've never heard of before. it's estimated that over 2 million women suffer from obstetric fistula. seeing the pain and suffering these women go through, not only physically but psychologically was heartbreaking. it's refreshing though to know that there are some kind people that are trying to help these women at the fistula hospital in ethiopia. if you want to know more you can visit their site here.