Cultural Paper

Identify the cultural event you attended; where was it; who was the audience; why did you choose it?
For my cultural "event" I chose to watch a documentary - "A walk to Beautiful". The movie tells a story of three village women living in Ethiopia who are shunned in their communities, because of the injuries they sustained during childbirth - fistulas. Because the women are incontinent of urine, feces, or both, they are unable to be productive in their society, and lead a life of isolation, shame, and despair. They are forced sleep on the ground, staying inside the little huts built for them, as one woman puts it "just so the hyenas don't get to me". With their husbands gone and their families repulsed by them, these women are constantly alone with themselves and their suicidal thoughts - because, as they explain, "This is not life. Death would be better than this". In the movie, the women embark on a journey to a fistula hospital in the city of Addis Ababa - their only hope for the cure. The journey is not easy, because the closest roads are hours away from the villages. When the women get to the road, they have to take an embarrassing 17 hour bus ride to get to their destination. At the hospital, physiological and psychological healing begins, as they realize they are not the only ones with this problem and are given a chance to rebuild their lives.

I chose this movie, because it was a documentary and I was interested in the medical issues currently present in Africa. I thought that by watching this movie, I would gain a better understanding of the African culture and the struggles women face there today.

What are your reactions to the cultural event you attended?

This documentary put me on a 55-minute emotional roller-coaster. The tragic reality of these women's lives - being forced into marriage, giving birth at a very young age, being shunned from society after childbirth problems develop - was heartbreaking. It was especially disturbing to realize... [continues]

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