An Ox for a Baby

A film by Ayfer Ergun

This amazingly up-close documentary brings us into the lives of an Ethiopian couple, Yezina and Mesagnow. Yezina suffers from a fistula which causes her urine to constantly leak. She is shunned by the villagers because she smells. Two million African women share her fate because tradition forces young girls into early marriages when their bodies are too immature to bear children safely. Often the babies die and the mothers are left with a hole in their pelvis.

Yezina was previously married at 13 and had a stillborn birth after 15 days of labor. Her family had her fistula repaired in the Fistula Hospital at Addis Ababa She remarried but an unsuccessful pregnancy reopened the fistula. Meganow is a remarkable husband for not abandoning his sick wife. He puts up with her leakage but he will not tolerate being childless. He is willing to sell his plowing ox to pay for the expense of another surgery at the Hospital and a subsequent Caesarean.

The film shows the remarkable work of the hospital in giving women a second chance at normal lives. Yezina’s story has a happy ending-- a beautiful new baby and a celebratory reunion with her neighbors and family.

50 min. DVD or Video. Sale $295. Video rental $85.