Pictures and story by Jeanne Faulkner, Contributing Editor, with Marvin Nyansio, Producer BABY! Uganda Film Festival

There is a network spreading around the world made of people from all walks of life with one driving passion – to help women like Topista and Agnes in Uganda; Marta, Ynez and Diana in Peru, women in India and the United States.  It’s a network that connects every one of us no matter where we’re born; a network of people from healthcare, religious and educational organizations, government officials, community leaders, artists, filmmakers, journalists, students, bankers, entertainers, board members and volunteers.

It’s a network driven to help women around the world be mothers.  But first, they have to survive pregnancy.

Topista (30), her husband Tony (35), and their little ones, Josura (7) and Flabia (5) were a close-knit, young family who worked together on their farm, raising goats and cows.

They put a lot of hard work into their days, but were optimistic about the future they were building.  Everyday, Topista walked to the river with her closest girlfriends, women she’d grown up with and sang with in the choir.

They scooped water into their jerry cans, and carried them back to their families, livestock and crops. Topista was part of a village savings and loan program that helped her build financial security and buy her farm.  Life was good and getting better because she and Tony were expecting another baby.

On September 6, 2011, Topista bled to death giving birth to twin girls Akullu Topista Hope and Akello Rhoda Peace. Hope and Peace are staying with Topista’s parents and Josura, Flabia and Tony are devastated without her

Agnes, who lived in a nearby village was one of the women Marvin Nyansio, producer of BABY! Uganda Film Festival and Parent Network’s program manager in Uganda, interviewed about maternal health conditions in Uganda.

Agnes was part of the network, but for her, it was deeply personal. She knew women among the approximately 6000 who die annually in Uganda from pregnancy related complications like hemorrhage, infection and hypertension. Her friends were among the 62% of Ugandan women who deliver with no midwife, doctor or trained birthing attendant to help them. She had neighbors among the thousands who survived their births, only to live with disabling conditions like fistulas, post-delivery incontinence and chronic pelvic infections.

She knew women who suffered serious complications after abortions and miscarriage. She was among the 42% of women with no access to contraception, which would allow her to plan her family and increase her chances for survival. It was personal because Agnes was pregnant.

On the day Agnes went into labor her family brought her to Apac Hospital, the only regional hospital, hoping she’d have a safer birth there than at home.  There were ten other women in labor that day and only one midwife.  Agnes and her baby died on April 6, 2011.

Throughout his travels to produce BABY! Uganda Film Festival, which is part of BABY! International Film Festival, the traveling collection of films about babies, birth and maternal health issues and sponsored by Parent Network, Marvin has met many women with similar stories and sad outcomes.  Professionals from around Uganda tell him more stories, like that of Mongo Christine, a women’s health worker and parent educator working with families throughout the Northern Uganda districts of Lira, Dokolo and Apac.

This year, BABY! Uganda Film Festival traveled from Kampala to the Apac District.  It was held at Apac Hospital on November 18.

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I had a chance to speak with Marvin just a few hours after the 2nd Annual BABY! Uganda Film Festival. Patched in by cell phones from Apac, Uganda to Portland, OR with Parent Network’s Seattle office, Marvin’s enthusiasm and excitement came vibrating through the line while explaining;

 We’d planned so long for the right way to reach people and educate them about keeping mothers and babies healthy.  Families everywhere suffer because they don’t know basic information about how babies are born and why their mothers die in childbirth. People want to learn, they’re desperate, but there are few resources for healthcare and education. Just today I heard about a woman who died because no one knew she had three babies inside her. No one knew what to do when they were being born. Only one baby survived and now, there’s no mother.  

 After all the film festival planning, I only hoped today was the right time.  At 6:30 this morning, I wasn’t sure anyone would come.  By 8AM they started arriving.  By the time we showed the films, more than 500 people were crowded into the biggest room at the hospital. We never expected so many.  We were thrilled; overwhelmed. We tried to find chairs from all over the community, but there weren’t enough.  Pregnant women sat and men stood. We couldn’t believe the response.  There were community leaders, doctors and villagers who walked for hours and rode bicycles as far as 60 km [over 37 miles] to be here.  There were even more people outside because the screening room was so full. Groups would send someone in to watch a film and come back to tell them all about it.

 People couldn’t believe what they were seeing.  For many it was the first time they’d ever seen a film, the first time they’d witnessed technology and the first time they’d learned anything about pregnancy and birth.  Families were overwhelmed that other people in the world had the same problems in childbirth as they did.  They felt that the world had come to share with them by sending these films.  It was, Oh wow, so amazing.  It was hope.  People felt hopeful that maybe, with this information their mothers could survive. They begged me, ‘When will you come back?  When can you show these films in our communities?  We need people to know.’  They wanted to be sure we wouldn’t forget about them.”

That’s the power of the Network and the purpose of BABY! International Film Festival.  In one powerful day, hundreds of people came together to learn and share their stories, talents and passion to help women like Topista be mothers who can raise children like Jasura, Flabia, Hope and Peace.

See pictures from 2nd Annual BABY! Uganda Film Festival, click here.

Read more related stories about maternal care at Parent Network

For comments and questions write to us at BABY! International Film Festival.  www.ptvn.org