A Walk to Beautiful

About the Project

A Walk to Beautiful is a feature length documentary that tells the stories of five Ethiopian women, who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and make the journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. The trials they endure -- and their attempts to rebuild their lives -- tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation.

Ayehu, Almaz, Zewdie, Yenenesh and Wubete suffered through prolonged, unrelieved obstructed labor in a country with few hospitals and even fewer roads to get to them. Although they survived the often-fatal childbirth experience, they were left with a stillborn baby and feeling, as Ayehu tells us, that "even death would be better than this." The obstructed labor has left each of them incontinent. In most of their cases, this is as a result of an obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal. We discover Ayehu, 25, living in a makeshift shack behind her mother's house where she's hidden for four years, shunned by siblings and neighbors alike because of her smell. She hesitantly begins her journey on foot, and once she gets to the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, she realizes for the first time that she isn't the only person in the world suffering from this problem. At the hospital we meet Almaz, a woman also in her 20s who was abducted by her now-husband in a village market and has suffered from double fistula for three years. Zewdie, 38, has five children longing for their mother to be well. Though abandoned by her husband, Zewdie is supported by the strong extended family that surrounds her. As for Wubete and Yenenesh, both 17, early marriage and their small physical stature (the result of undernourishment and heavy labor) determined the tragic outcome of their first pregnancies. For these two girls a cure is not simple. We're with them as they struggle with disappointing news and later as their youthful determination triumphs. We follow each of these women on their journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, where they find solace for the first time in years, and we stay with them as their lives begin to change.

Through the intimate experiences all five share, we are no longer in the heart of Africa-- we are in the hearts of these women. And through their eyes we also reveal a larger story, that of the seemingly intractable problems facing women in the developing world, including malnutrition, child marriage, and lack of obstetric care.

The Fledgling Fund Impact

We contributed to the post-production, outreach and audience engagement of this film because we believe it provides insight into the tragic problem of obstetric fistula while also highlighting the work of the special clinics that are helping to return women to health and restore their dignity. The Fledgling Fund's Emily Verellen also worked with Englel Entertainment to develop and produce the Take Action Guide to accompany this film. We join Engel Entertainment in believing that this film has and will continue to compel viewers to act to increase support and funding to eradicate obstetric fistula worldwide.