International Day To End Obstetric Fistula

Today is the very first ‘International Day to End Obstetric Fistula’.

‘What is Fistula?’ I can hear you think. Well… Fistula is a childbirth injury caused by prolonged obstructed labor. It’s a severe medical condition in which a hole develops between either the rectum and vagina or between the bladder and vagina. Usually occuring after severe or failed childbirth, in which the women loose the baby because adequate medical care is not around. The hole will make the woman leak urine uncontrolably and will isolate them within their families and communities. The stigma and shame involved is huge…

© Wendy Marijnissen

I’ve been able to work on this birth related issue in Pakistan a lot and get to know more about it.

A staggering 2 million women and girls around the world are affected. You can see on the Global Fistula map which countries still have high numbers of patients both in treatment and sadly many more undetected and unaware of their condition.

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

Dr. Shershah is a leading figure in the fight against fistula in Pakistan and puts all his extra time into raising awareness, educating doctors, finding funding to keep  the Koohi Goth Women’s hospital running so that with the help of UNFPA they can continue performing fistula repair surgery free of charge to the patients coming from all over Pakistan. And of course every week he does the actual surgery and tries to repair the holes.

The slideshow here is part of the End Fistula Campaign and one that UNFPA made with images I shot during my first 2 visits to Pakistan

To end off this post I want to show two more images of patients I met.
The first one is a photo of Shamim. After a successful fistula repair operation, Shamim was released out of the Qatar hospital in Karachi and was able to go back home. I was allowed to go home with her and see her reunite with her family and her adopted baby.  At 26 years old, she developed fistula during her first pregnancy at the age of 16. Assisted by a dai (traditional midwife), her obstructed labour ended with a stillborn baby and fistula. After two more failed pregnancies which ended with the fetus dying in the whomb, she and her husband have adopted a baby girl named Roxanna and could start a new life together after her fistula repair surgery.

© Wendy Marijnissen

The final one is of a young woman and her grandmother in the Koohi Goth hospital who was about to undergo a fistula repair operation. I think the smile on both their faces tells you everything you need to know. The idea of getting her life back…, to be able to shed the shame,… indescribable and wonderful.

© Wendy Marijnissen

Nocturne

© Wendy Marijnissen

Tonight at 7pm you can come see the exhibition ‘Intuition’ once more during the nocturne. Make sure not to miss the concert by Chantal Acda who has composed new music inspired by the photography of Lieven van Meulder and me. The concert starts around 8pm and the entree fee is 5€.

vzw Kaos, Opperstraat 73, 1050 Elsene. I’ll be there, hope to see you there too

Maxi magazine

© Wendy Marijnissen

Here’s the tearsheet of one of my images in my first ever German publication (1 page of a 3 page article) in women’s magazine Maxi.

It’s the image on the bottom of the page taken during a demonstration organized by Young Women for Change in Afghanistan and features one of their founders Noorjahan Akbar. One of the most inspiring young women I met during my travels, who fights for equal rights in a country where doing so is very dangerous and literally could cost you your life…

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

The title of the feature article sums it up perfectly and says it all… ‘Her courage is bigger then her fear’.  And that goes for all the men and women who voice their concerns and dream of a country where girls are worth as much as boys.

© Wendy Marijnissen

Opening night

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

© Wendy Marijnissen

 

Here’s some images of the opening night of ‘Intuition’ last night. It was a wonderful evening and fantastic to see the end result of all our hard work of the past months. Thank you Mike for all your help and getting me involved in this wonderful project by vzw Kaos. Thank you Lieven for your beautiful work that I’m honored to be hanging next to. And last but not least, thank you everyone for coming last night.

For those who couldn’t make it, you can still go see the exhibit until the 28th of May, weekdays between 2 and 4pm or by appointment (closed on the 20th of May)

And there will be an exclusive nocturne on the 21st of May at 7pm with an musical performance by Chantal Acda. Entrance fee: 5€ RSVP via vzwkaos@gmail.com . Hope to see you there!

The build up

© Wendy Marijnissen                                                                         © Mike Michiels

Today was the first day in the build up of the exhibition ‘Intuition’ at vzw Kaos which will open today. Together with Lieven en Mike, we got the exhibition prints in the room and are now starting to put everything up on the walls. As usual this always takes way more time then you think, but it’s also a fun way to get a feel for the actual room and to get everything right.

Even though we are opening tomorrow and still have a lot of work to do, I’m really excited and sure it will all work out with an amazing result. And thanks to Mike I didn’t need to test my fear of heights on the giant ladder but just got to take souvenir photos of it…:)  Thank you Mike!!

So you are very welcome tomorrow evening at vzw Kaos, Opperstraat 73, 1050 Elsene.

The doctors

Photo © Wendy Marijnissen

Tearsheet of my image of Dr. Goethals and Dr. Huys in last weekend’s edition of De Standaard. Both work with sexual delinquents and raised some interesting points and questions concerning the treatment and subsequent release of these delinquents after they served their sentence.

Mother’s love

© Wendy Marijnissen

Today worldwide we celebrate our moms and even though my mother has long since passed away, I still celebrate this day with her in mind as she was an amazing mom to my sister and me. Showered with an abundance of love, we received a strong base that helps me through life to this day. What gift to have gotten…

During my work, I’ve come across some amazing mothers as well. Especially in Pakistan I was fortunate enough to witness the strong bond between a woman and her child.

© Wendy Marijnissen

Hamida remains the woman that has stolen my heart. From the moment we met, we made an intuitive connection and she allowed me into her life. I was able to see how she went through the final weeks of her 4rd pregnancy, living in a tent camp with the rest of her family after having lost everything in the flood of 2010.

 

© Wendy Marijnissen

Or Nazia, the woman in the picture kissing her daughter Rabia, who is about to undergo a c-section to deliver her first baby. I met them in Thari Mirwah, a small town in the middle of rural Sindh. The doctors I had been working with, were on a surgical camp tour across the Sindh province, coming to places where usually skilled help or sufficient equipment and medicine is hard to find.

Rabia was incredibly lucky that day and was able to deliver her baby safely with the help of the visiting doctors. In normal circumstances she would have been very likely to have had serious complications during her delivery or even die during childbirth…

Nazia stayed with her daughter during the night, watched her like a hawk, waved a fan to keep her comfortable, making sure her daughter was alright.

© Wendy Marijnissen

And lastly I want to show you one more incredible mother I met. Jamila, mother of Sobia.  At 19 years old, Sobia was brutally raped and then murdered a few streets from her home by a neighboring boy who went to school with her and who’s marriage proposal she refused.

The social stigma involved in rape is extreme in a conservative, highly religious and patriarchal society like Pakistan’s.  Living next to the mosque complicates fighting for justice in Jamila’s case even further. She is being blackmailed and harassed into dropping the case against the rapist who abused and killed her daughter. Yet she is so brave and fights on despite the pressure from her neighborhood.

It’s just a small tribute and there have been so many wonderful mothers that have crossed my path. Too many to mention here…But I wish all of them a very happy and beautiful mother’s day.

Café Vogelenzang

© Wendy Marijnissen

 

For a theatre performance by one of my best friends, I ended up in Café den Vogelenzang in the North of Antwerp yesterday, the location of the play.

The place was amazing and apparently by now becoming a cult place where a new young crowd mixes with the old habituées. A traditional Belgian café with a disco ball on the ceiling spreading glitter lights during parties or where you can still play billiards.  Wonderful!

Passion for Caftan

© Wendy Marijnissen

Here’s my latest tearsheet of last weekend’s assignment for newspaper De Standaard, published today.

International Day of the Midwife

© Wendy Marijnissen

Today is International Day of the Midwife. During my travels in Pakistan, photographing the stories I did on maternal health issues, midwifes and midwifery students have been central figures. So I wanted to honor them today by posting some portraits of midwifery students from Karachi.

Farheen, in the picture above, is 23 years old, and hopes to one day open her own clinic. ‘Not just to make money but to help needy women that now often are handled by a dai (traditional midwife) and suffer complications because they don’t get the skilled help they need.’

© Wendy Marijnissen

(In the picture from left to right) Kishwar Jahen, 22 years old, didn’t dream to become a midwife but her sister chose this profession for her, thinking it would be a good way to support her family. By now she is motivated and wants to help women deliver safely.

For Naseem Ramzan, 20 years old,  it’s a natural choice to become a midwife, with both her sister and her cousins being midwifes. She’s motivated to help reduce the problems for mothers in Pakistan.

Azra Yecoob, 23 years old, was always interested in the medical field and wants to see how she can help do her part to reduce maternal mortality.

Kulsoom Mustafa, 26 years old, wants to become a midwife and serve the poor and helpless people in her community who are scared of government hospitals and can’t afford treatment in expensive private hospitals. She’s motivated to learn and get as skilled as possible: ‘If Allah gives me the chance, and I hope Allah gives me, I want to go abroad and get further studies.’