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> Women's Repro...
> Women at Risk
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> Birma Pariyar
Birma Pariyar got married when she 15 years old. Like many of the women of rural Bardiya District, Birma married into a small nuclear family. Her husband’s parents had already passed away when she married him, and his older brother and brother’s wife lived in and maintained their own household. Like most women in these circumstances, Birma quickly became the sole person in the household to cook, clean, do the laundry, collect water, collect firewood, cut grass for the animals, graze the animals, and work the fields.
By the age of 16, Birma had given birth to the first of four children, three of whom would survive. She worked in the fields up until the hour she gave birth, and only rested from her heavy chores for nine to 10 days after the delivery. Birma’s husband was present for the delivery but did not assist her in anyway, and left the young Birma to go through her first childbirth alone.
Even while Birma was recovering from delivery, her husband did not help with any of the chores. He even refused to cook for her, so Birma was forced to make her own simple meals of rice and lentils. Sometimes she was too tired or in too much pain to cook, so she just didn’t eat. To make the situation worse, Birma’s husband often beat her when he was drunk.
A few years later, this pattern was repeated for Birma’s second birth. This time, after returning to work again after only a week’s rest, Birma’s uterus prolapsed. For 20 years since that day, Birma has lived with the pain and inconvenience of what is likely second-degree uterine prolapse. She says that sometimes her lower abdomen and back hurt so much that she feels like she is having labor pains, but she cannot afford pain killers and she cannot afford to stop working, so she continues to work from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.
In addition to the usual women’s duties of cooking, cleaning, and working in the fields and the jungle, Birma also does wage labor in town. For about 80 rupees ($1.20) a day, Birma harvests rice, pounds rice, carries heavy loads of grass or water, and does anything else that her employers demand of her.
Sometimes if Birma does not find wage labor for the day, she cannot afford to eat.
Birma first came to know about uterine prolapse five years ago, when a local community health volunteer was going door-to-door, calling women for an upcoming uterine prolapse screening and treatment camp. The volunteer spoke to Birma and discovered that she was among many women in the community suffering from the condition, but when she asked Birma’s husband if Birma could attend the camp, he said no.
Birma had not told her husband about her health problem, so he saw no reason why she should attend the camp. Although Birma’s descriptions of her symptoms suggest that she has an early stage of prolapse that would not require an expensive surgery, treatment is still out of Birma’s budget. Back
Birma Pariyar
Birma Pariyar got married when she 15 years old. Like many of the women of rural Bardiya District, Birma married into a small nuclear family. Her husband’s parents had already passed away when she married him, and his older brother and brother’s wife lived in and maintained their own household. Like most women in these circumstances, Birma quickly became the sole person in the household to cook, clean, do the laundry, collect water, collect firewood, cut grass for the animals, graze the animals, and work the fields.
By the age of 16, Birma had given birth to the first of four children, three of whom would survive. She worked in the fields up until the hour she gave birth, and only rested from her heavy chores for nine to 10 days after the delivery. Birma’s husband was present for the delivery but did not assist her in anyway, and left the young Birma to go through her first childbirth alone.
Even while Birma was recovering from delivery, her husband did not help with any of the chores. He even refused to cook for her, so Birma was forced to make her own simple meals of rice and lentils. Sometimes she was too tired or in too much pain to cook, so she just didn’t eat. To make the situation worse, Birma’s husband often beat her when he was drunk.
A few years later, this pattern was repeated for Birma’s second birth. This time, after returning to work again after only a week’s rest, Birma’s uterus prolapsed. For 20 years since that day, Birma has lived with the pain and inconvenience of what is likely second-degree uterine prolapse. She says that sometimes her lower abdomen and back hurt so much that she feels like she is having labor pains, but she cannot afford pain killers and she cannot afford to stop working, so she continues to work from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.
In addition to the usual women’s duties of cooking, cleaning, and working in the fields and the jungle, Birma also does wage labor in town. For about 80 rupees ($1.20) a day, Birma harvests rice, pounds rice, carries heavy loads of grass or water, and does anything else that her employers demand of her.
Sometimes if Birma does not find wage labor for the day, she cannot afford to eat.
Birma first came to know about uterine prolapse five years ago, when a local community health volunteer was going door-to-door, calling women for an upcoming uterine prolapse screening and treatment camp. The volunteer spoke to Birma and discovered that she was among many women in the community suffering from the condition, but when she asked Birma’s husband if Birma could attend the camp, he said no.
Birma had not told her husband about her health problem, so he saw no reason why she should attend the camp. Although Birma’s descriptions of her symptoms suggest that she has an early stage of prolapse that would not require an expensive surgery, treatment is still out of Birma’s budget. Back