A Walk to Beautiful

 

"A Walk to Beautiful", a moving touching award winning documentary on the problems faced by rural women in Ethiopia due to a medical condition known as "obstretics fistula" following a failed childbirth. 

These women are married off at a very young age of 10 to 12 and when they get pregnant at such young age or later, and the miscarriage happens, they sometimes get a medical condition, which is the leak of the urine or the feces. Sometimes it one, and sometimes it is both. 

Then what happens is that the women's lives are shattered, because they cannot go anywhere, they are smelling and leaking and they become ostracised in the society. They are made to live separately away from the family, in a separate shed, a lonely life. 

The documentary tells the story of some women who travel all the way to Addis Ababa, to get treated in a Fistula Hospital there. It is only when they reach the hospital that the women realise that they are not the only one with that condition. The bonding takes place, the women are treated free, taken care of, surgery takes place and they begin a completely new life. 

It is quite a heart rending documentary to know that so much suffering takes place amongst women folk in the world. There are apparently more than 5 million women with the fistula condition all over the world. 

Very nicely made documentary, tells the story from the point of view of the women concerned with sympathetic and understanding doctors and nurses. The documentary got an Emmy award.

Ethiopia

 

A BBC four part documentary on the lost kingdoms of Africa takes us to Ethiopia, known as the cradle of civilisation from where ostensibly the first human beings came out of Africa and traveled by foot to various parts of the world. 

Ethiopia has a rich history dating back to pre Christian times when King Solomon and Queen Sheeba's son had connections with Ethiopia. There are legends that it is the birth place of Judaism. 

Dr. Gus Casely-Hayford, art historian and narrator of this documentary takes us to various places in Ethiopia which could possibly show the connection to King Solomon and Queen Sheeba. The kingdom of Aksum probably contains the ark which is zealously guarded by the local administration there. 

Dr. takes us to Harar, Lalibela, Gondor, Dire Dawa which has rock cut caves dating to the pre historic and pre Christian era. Ethiopia has more religious history behind it and tied to it are the monuments of the past built by the kings of that era. There are rock buildings carved out of a single piece of rock, like those found in Hampi and Ajanta in India and hieroglyphics giving messages of the kings of that era. Interesting documentary to watch.