On top of the water u see Brooklyn...

...Brooklyn, LIBERIA that is! More on the shoot for UNFPA on young people in conflict settings and natural disasters coming soon!

WGBH Lab and POV Open Call

I haven't had much time to write and there's so much I have spinning in my head about my recent trip to Liberia that I need to focus to write, but in the meantime, sharing some good news.

A pitch I submitted for the WGBH Lab and POV Open Call was accepted which means over the next month I'll be producing a 3-minute short on the 2008 elections. Tough win - there were so many entries. But I'm looking forward to it.

If you want to check out my pitch - entitled, "Liberia???? Check!", visit this link. During production, you'll have an opportunity to give input on my cut, on other filmmakers' rough cuts, and read filmmakers posts on the WGBH Lab blog. Check it!

The Women Who Live to Tell About It

Asnaketch is a security guard who - after personal experiences - goes out and protects young girls who are getting harrassed on the streets.

Abebech outside of her kitchen-turned-bedroom that she shares with Es, her husband and three children.

We visited the Addis Ababa Women's Assocation after Saba - the Country Director for Ipas Ethiopia - made a quick call to inquire whether there were women we could interview who had lived after an unsafe abortion procedure. The director assured us she could find many - the question was how many did we want to talk to? Five? Ten? Twenty?

Saba decided on five but when we arrived there were three. And that was a good thing. Each woman's testimony holds the weight of about a hundred women's story of pain and fear and regret.

Asnaketch was the first person we interviewed. She is a security guard and wears her olive green uniform and cap proudly. She had to go to work so couldn't stay long but was thankful to us for giving her the opportunity to tell her tragic, yet inspiring story.

When she was younger, she had been raped and learned how to self-abort with the help of herbs that she inserted into her vagina. She did this EIGHT times, each successfully and without complications. HOwever, she complains of aches in her womb and in her side now. She understands that she was lucky as she told stories of other women she knew who died or where injured from the same type of unsafe abortion practices.

Her ninth attempt did not work and she ended up with a son who has problems with his legs and an injury to his head. She thinks it has something to do with all the irritation of her insides due to the herbs. But she is proud of her son. He's second in his class and is kind and gentle. Thanks to her parenting, he treats women and girls politely. Asknaketch was proud to introduce us to him and says she helps other women who have been raped or have an unwanted pregnancies. She refers them to the Addis Ababa Women's Association and helps turn in men she hears who have raped women.

The second woman walked in with a picture in her hand and by the look on her face, I knew what this story was going to be. Her youngest sister - six months pregnant and with six other children - had secretly attempted to terminate her pregnancy. She had been shamed by the family by her new pregnancy considering she struggled as it was to support her six children.

She aborted with the help of a traditional medicine specialist and before anyone knew what was wrong, she was admitted into the hospital with complications. A few days later she had died and the sister sat solemnly talking about the impact it has had on the family and her children.

The last woman walked in sick-like with the help of a younger woman I first assumed was her daughter. This woman - Abebech - is a 32-year old woman who had been raped and the man who raped her convinced her to get an abortion because he was not willing to take care of the child. After the abortion - which Abebech survived - he left her. And she later found out she had contracted HIV from him.

She was devastated and hopeless and one day was sitting on the side of the road weeping when this younger woman, named Eseagenete walked by to ask what the problem was. The younger woman informed Abebech that she didn't have much but she would help her - Abebech would eat what she ate, and sleep where she slept and they would make due. This happened three years ago and they were both struggling to make ends meet.

When we visited Abebech, we were introduced to the kitchen that was made into a bed for the woman, her husband, three children and Abebech. The six of them shared a room the size of your average bathroom - with bunkbeds and cardboard mattresses. They didn't have much but they have become a family.

When I asked Eseagenete why she would be so giving and caring to a woman she didn't know and giving what little she had, she replied that she had also been raped and understood the problems of this woman. When she talked about her education, she said proud-like that she gave it up to care for the child and to assist her family.

I realized after that day these women are possibly the greatest asset to reducing unsafe abortion in Ethiopia in the future. All had compelling stories and all wanted to share their stories to help other women suffering from the loss and disability that can come with unsafe abortion practices. The next step now is ensuring that the courage of these women to share their stories is translated to a responsibility - for me, for Ipas and for anyone dedicated to eradicating this practice - to ensure the stories are heard. I'm very much looking forward to cutting this film.

The Medicine Man

I decided to interview a traditional medicine man because I felt it is the "invisible" part of the unsafe abortion story. We all know these folks exist, that they perform harmful - even life threatening practices on women - but do we ever hear from them? What do we know about them?

Jimmy helped us identify one such medicine man who lives in Addis Ababa. I'm posting Bekah's description of our meeting with our very interesting and odd (!) him below.

***

While we waited for the medicine man to come we sat in Jimmy's room and listened to Michael Jackson. (Don't you like that sentence??) so Micheal is going Thrillllerrrr....Thrii-ii---lllerrr....and then he comes in and was very serious in the face sometimes glaring his eyes in this way that makes you sit up straighter like you're a kid and you did something wrong and your moms mad... He had a priest's hat and a fancy coat that he kept adjusting. He sat in the corner with his arms crossed folding and refolding his white scarf under his coat. We all drank cokes together and clanked our glasses...so it was a real funny set of worlds all brought into this blue-blue room with a quote from the bible in Amharic on wood behind a dangling nintendo controller and the flies buzzing around us. Music from next door was blasting and a little black cat kept poking her head under the door.

He took some herbs out from his bag and through translations and a lot of hand gestures, told us what he uses them for. One for stomach ache, which was a stick that you chew on. Another for pains in the ears. One plant you boil in a pot of water for half an hour and a woman will sit over the steam to cure an infection. He gathers the herbs himself in the countryside. He said people come to him for breast cancer too and for curses and things like this. He practices abortions which are illegal...in hospitals here the traditional medicine men have a really bad rep, because a lot of girls and women are dying from their practices. Sometimes with an abortion a woman will end up bleeding too much. Its a catch-22 because a lot of these women can't afford to go to hospitals and the traditional medicine man is cheaper and easier to reach and less scary than a big hospital with doctors and paperwork and all that mess. Lisa had the idea to try to contact a medicine man so that she could hear their side of the story...and also cos we never met a medicine man before

After showing us his herbs he performed a ritual. All of us had to stand while he read from a book. He read low, sometimes whispering or muttering sing-song sometimes almost laughing. I liked how he read, he held my focus in a good way if that makes sense...In between he spat on his pile of herbs. He came to each of us and slapped us on the head. Lisa was so shocked when he slapped her she started hysterically laughing! Then he started to laugh also but said "SHH!" He came around again and kissed our hands and gave us his to kiss and then sat back down and it was done. He said whenever he practices he does this first. He said he wished we could have met his father because he had a lot of knowledge but his father is dead.

He was asking us whether people like him existed in our country. We told him how in America there is a lot a lot of pills, a lot of chemicals and machines that make you sicker than you were even. He said that his is the original, the best. I think I wish that the world of hospitals and traditional medicine men like him worked together. I think a lot more people could be helped if we took from both worlds.

Happy Endings

This picture says it all....Belaynesh and Tigist...the day after.