WUNRN
SUFFERING & SURVIVAL - A DECADE
OF WOMEN IN AFRICA - PHOTO GALLERY
UK NGO SafeHands for Mothers was set up 10 years ago to campaign for better maternal and newborn health across the world using photography and film-making. Nancy Durrell McKenna shoots photography and films to help educate people about women's rights. These images, mainly from east Africa, tell stories of women suffering after female genital mutilation, coping with childbirth and living – and sometimes thriving.
Malika,Afar region, Ethiopia -Malika lies in her hut while her mother usesher breast as a comfort for Malika’s daughter. Malika was infibulated (anextreme form of female genital mutilation – FGM) as a child, recut on herwedding night, and suffered a prolonged and obstructed labour which resulted inan obstetric fistula, leaving her leaking faeces and urine. Malika describedherself as 'a dead woman' and says she would never circumcise her daughter.SafeHands was instrumental in asking the village clan leader to initiate theprocess to ensure Malika’s safe arrival at a hospital in Addis.Photograph: Nancy Durrell McKenna/SafeHands forMothers