WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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Urbanization is making the
rich world, even richer.

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But billions are locked out. They\'re living on
the edge between the rich world and the poor.

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They face tough choices, if
they want to join the party.

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Across most of the world, women having
to fight for their share of progress.

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But it\'s all too easy to fall behind. In the heart of
Africa, women fought a war to liberate their country.

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Now they must decide whether
to liberate themselves.

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[music]

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A bridal persecution in rural Eritrea.
Laws forbid child marriage

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but in many villages girls are still
married in their early teens or younger.

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Women in Eritrea are often depicted

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as Africa\'s most liberated sisterhood.
They fought on the front lines

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in the country\'s 30 year
war of independence.

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But here in Eritrea\'s poor rural heart
land women\'s liberation is a war

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still being fought. And it\'s
being fought most keenly

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in the hearts and minds of the women
themselves including the three

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we\'re about to meet. Once mere victims

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they can now be sisters in a
common struggle, if they choose.

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[music]

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Helping them decide is former
soldier Belainesh Seyoum.

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This was my best friend who was killed by
the Ethiopians. They suspected her that

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she was collaborating the… the
Eritrean liberation forces

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and so they just killed her. At that time you
know I start to thinking why? I didn\'t know

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what was going on in Eritrea about the
liberation forces, the movement and everything.

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So from that days onward then
I started to fight back.

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It wasn\'t just Belainesh who joined the army,
tens of thousands of young women enlisted too.

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Many came from conservative
families, Muslim and Christian.

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For the first time they were
equal partners with men.

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There was no distinction between men and
women. We used to work together in the kitchen

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and we used to fight against
our enemy together.

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Development experts wonder if the war
could be a president for the future.

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Women in Eritrea have actively
participated in the liberation struggle.

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When we know that they also those women
came from very traditional backgrounds.

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And one should ask why at one point in time

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those traditions were more or less set aside
and liberated those women to go and fight.

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Asmara, Eritrea\'s capital.

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Today Belainesh works for the National
Union of Eritrean Women, the female arm

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of the liberation movement. Much of
what she fought for has come true.

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The country won its war
for independence in 1991.

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New laws has been passed granting
women the right to vote, own land

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and choose their own husband not to
mention work in any job they like.

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When viewed from the city,

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Eritrea appears to be a beacon for
women\'s rights and a model for Africa.

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But travel in to rural communities

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as Belainesh does and the picture changes.

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Gash-Barka is a vast drought
prone region bordering

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Sedan and Ethiopia. It\'s already filmed (ph)
corner of the world and one of the poorest.

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Poverty and the status of the
women here are closely connected.

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The women who live here
mostly are traditional,

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85% of them depend on agriculture. So because
of this most of them are illiterate,

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they are unemployed and they are very poor.

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They work in a field plus they don\'t
own it, it is a man who owns it.

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So they don\'t decide on the
production even the women themselves

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believe that the man can decide.

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They believe that girl
child when she reached

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(inaudible) or 7th grade
is not uh… prevalent (ph)

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so most of the time you
find drop outs from school

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or uh… you know, they got married.
This is based on

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the attitudes they have.

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This young girl tells Belainesh she
was a child bride at the age of 12,

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now 14, she has an 18 month baby.

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In the Eritrean constitution
it says uh… a girl and a boy

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has to get married above…
above 18, below 18 is

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uh… is unconstitutional, its not… it\'s not
legal but this is against Eritrean law again.

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[non-English narration]

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Belainesh asks the young girl
why she married so young.

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My mother told me to get married.

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Ancient practices that can be harmful
to women date back centuries.

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So far back that women themselves have
troubles seeing their lives any other way.

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[non-English narration]

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Leyla Adem the first of our three sisters

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is a 22 year old mother of two girls.

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Belainesh\'s women\'s union led the fight to outlaw
circumcision and female genital mutilation.

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But Leyla doesn\'t hesitate to tell Belainesh
that her 3 year old daughter (inaudible)

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has been circumcised. It\'s
good for her she\'s saying.

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Leyla is uh… explaining uh…

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if a girl is circumcised, she… she
becomes a well developed girl

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and uh… on… on the other side she can
marry and she can have a husband.

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This is a secret behind circumcision.

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Soon Leyla\'s youngest daughter Menov
(ph) will have her first birthday.

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Tradition dictates that she too
must be circumcised. But this time

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Leyla have doubts. I am
not sure what I will do

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circumcising girls is part of our tradition.
But recently people have been warning us

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about the dangers of circumcision and
there is also government law against it.

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[music]

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Leyla could face a 10 year prison sentence if
she agrees to have her daughter circumcised

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but so far the law isn\'t
been widely enforced.

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According to the women\'s union more than 9 out
of 10 women in Muslim and Christian communities

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here are circumcised. That\'s
despite all the dangers

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(inaudible) to experts back in the city.

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The child in our country,
the child is circumcised

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was age below one year
so it is very difficult

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even to recognize which part to
cut or which part not to cut.

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And the circumcisers are
also very old people

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uh… who may not be able to identity
that part they want to cut.

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Sometimes there are a lot of
problems, a lot of bleeding because

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its… it\'s done with un sterile things.
Is there is infection

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some times uh… children
die due to circumcision.

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The grim facts are now being passed
along at workshops like this one,

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organized by the women\'s union.
Its part of a campaign of

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persuasion to convince people
of the need for change.

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Belainesh is hoping Leyla would
attend the next session.

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In the mean time Leyla has
a big decision to make.

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[music]

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Half an hour down the road is
the village of Magola (ph).

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Here Belainesh meets another women faced with the
difficult choice between the old ways and the new.

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Amina Ased Awed, our second sister
is a 35 year old mother of 6.

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She is just discovered
she is pregnant again.

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She shows Belainesh the room where all
her children have been born so far.

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I gave birth to all my
children in this bed.

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All six were born here. I
have never gone to a hospital

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and I never had any problems.

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Amina has been lucky. Nationally
there is about a 1 in a 130

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chance of women dying when they give birth,
in the country side it\'s much higher

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not surprising when you hear
what home birth can mean.

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Uh… What Amina is saying
is uh… yeah for me so far

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uh… I didn\'t get any
problems but we fear of

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so many things one is the…the… the women,

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the traditional birth attendants
are they use no gloves at all,

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they don\'t use the detergents for cleaning

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and they use birthing equipment
for more than one woman.

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That means we are labored to…
to be effected by HIV Aids.

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But Amina has a choice.

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In some villages like hers medically
trained midwives are now offering services

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to pregnant women in their homes.
There is even a small hospital

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with a maternity ward, and
trained obstetric staff.

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Evorsalem Zeroy is a midwife and a trainer.

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The midwives were trained how to identify women who
might have problems and they bring them to the hospital

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but many women refuse to
come to the hospital and

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in 90% of cases is (inaudible).

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Choosing between this and a
home birth may seem simple

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but for Amina it\'s an agonizing decision.

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But first her reason sound
a little unconvincing.

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The tradition is for women to give birth
at home and stay inside for 4 months,

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the wind and dust can harm a baby even
kill it. At the hospital they tell you

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to leave after 2 days. Belainesh wonders
if there could be another reason.

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If I go to hospital they will un stitch me

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but after the birth they refuse to do the re stitching.
The stitching is part of an ancient practice

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that makes home birth even more dangerous.

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One of the type of circumcision
is just sowing (ph) (inaudible)

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so it is so narrow that
the child cannot go out

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so even the traditional birth attendants

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has to tear it you know, they have to cut it
because and when they cut it, its not sterile,

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it just crude things like a broken uh…

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glass or something so
infection can happen again.

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Uh… bleeding can happen again so it
is really a life long suffering.

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Amina has had six kids at
home and knows the dangers

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but home birth does mean she can be
re stitched as tradition demands.

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For her it\'s a tough choice.

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We have these beliefs in our culture and I want
to respect them. We are in the middle of this.

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[music]

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Away from the country side
an unusual war memorial,

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time for reflection on what
could have been with out war.

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You know when I… when I… I see this,

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this machineries, this I mean tanks,

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armor vehicles and everything that
is collected here had this been used

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for the purpose of development
of women for example

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it would have been the benefit not
only for Eritrean women but also

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for the women of Ethiopia and the women
of in the (inaudible) of Africa.

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The long war and continued
border conflict with Ethiopia

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have had a devastating effect on
Eritrea\'s economy. In the country side,

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men left their families never
to return, women died too

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just not so many. So 4 out
of 10 families in Gash-Barka

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are now headed by women and their
priority is feeding their families.

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It\'s really uh… a war against poverty,

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that\'s what those women are doing every day.
They\'re trying to fight poverty with earn

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may be small means sometimes and sometimes no
means but every morning that women will get up

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she… she\'ll do everything possible
with in the… the… the her capacity

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to… to push back poverty. But
what if feeding your kids

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provokes disapproval from your neighbors?
Howa Mahmud Haj, our third sister is 29,

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she supports 4 daughters on her own.

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People here believe

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a woman should not go out and leave small
children behind but I have to support my family

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which is why I go to the market
every Tuesday to sell tea

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even though (ph) my neighbors gossip.

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What Howa earns at the market is
barely enough to feed her kids.

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But now she has an opportunity
to grow food for her family.

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A government irrigation scheme captures
water during the rainy season.

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It\'s financed by the
UN\'s international fund

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for agricultural development or IFAD. It\'s turning
more than a thousand hectors of arid land

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in to irrigated green fields.
The potential is enormous,

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sorghum and millet yields
alone could quadruple.

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The challenge has been defined farmers to
do the work. There is about 10% of the

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uh… economically active people
that are serving in the army

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and this is a heavy burden because
these are 10% that is not there

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producing extra food, that is
not there ploughing the field.

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But there are thousands of women like Howa,
poor women who need to feed their children

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and find a way to earn income.

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(inaudible) we decided 30 to 40% of
the land must be given to women.

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Howa\'s got herself on the list.

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She says a hector would provide enough food for
her family and there would be enough left over

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to sell in the local market.
It wont be easy.

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I would have two work loads, the house
and the land. I can\'t be like a man

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who has a wife to take care of him.

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But not being a man Howa
is faced with a dilemma.

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In her culture women aren\'t
permitted to plough land.

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With the rainy season just 3
months away, Howa has to decide,

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will she respect traditional
practices or take the land.

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In her village Leyla too has yet to decide

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if she\'ll respect tradition.
She\'s been invited to a workshop

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organized by the women\'s union to give local people
more information on female genital mutilation.

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Belainesh welcomes everyone but so far

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Leyla is not here. At the
last minute Leyla arrives.

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The war against FGM is still being fought

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but it appears Belainesh may
have won this small battle.

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Leyla is even convinced her father
and other relatives to show up.

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The instructor asks the audience

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why they would want girls
to be circumcised.

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Leyla\'s friend Mirium is one
of the first to speak up.

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Among the Asmara people if a baby girl is not
circumcised, her rights are not respected.

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If she dies she can\'t be buried
with other women in the community.

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If she is not circumcised, she is alienated and being
alienated is the worst thing for a young girl.

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This man raises another common belief.

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In the Quran it\'s written that
a girl must be circumcised.

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The instructor says it\'s not
dictated in any religious texts.

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What he is saying is we are full

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with what god has given us and we will not be
full if you are cutting parts of our body.

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So what we are doing to
our girl child is unjust.

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But this man still wants to
talk about the religious texts.

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Clearly its going to be a long (inaudible).

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If you start enforcing with out convincing

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the… the population or the communities,
uh… its may go underground.

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It\'s not easy in order to… to change
behavior. It has been there for a long time

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so you have to work for a long time

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so that people are convinced.

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After the workshop Leyla returns home,

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a family lunch, a chance to
talk over some of the issues.

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Leyla\'s pleased her father
turned up but still no decision.

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It was important that my father
and relatives were there.

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If they were to continue to attend such meetings
I am sure their attitudes would be changed.

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As for me I can\'t say, I can\'t
make up my mind in just 3 hours.

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Once again it seems it\'s the women

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who have to liberate themselves.

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I don\'t think it is the male,
it may have a started that way

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but I don\'t think now in Eritrea
men are pushing for it.

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I have never uh… heard a
man refusing marriage

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because she is not circumcised. They… they
wouldn\'t even know if she is circumcised or not.

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He wouldn\'t know, yeah, he wouldn\'t know.
So I don\'t think,

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it is a perception in women you
know, it is deeply rooted,

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
they said you know, they have a lot of uh…

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
attitudes towards this. So I think I don\'t… I don\'t…
I don\'t think we have women will have a problem

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
in changing men. It\'s the women who
will have to work (inaudible).

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
In her village Amina\'s still unsure

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
where to deliver her baby. She\'s come to the
new hospital for her first pre natal check up.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
It\'s a chance to find out how midwives
help circumcised women give birth.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
When a pregnant women comes
for their first time

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
to explain that we will unstitch her
for the delivery and then we tell her

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
about all the disadvantage of being re stitched.
We do the same thing with her husband.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
When it\'s all over we check in with Amina,

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
one last time to see how she
feels about the hospital now.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
The advantage of giving
birth in the hospital

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
is that the doctor closely watches you and
most important the equipment is disinfected

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
and there is no risk of
disease like HIV Aids

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
but still I am not sure.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
Leyla in the mean time

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
gets ready for evening prayers. There\'s 5 months
left before her youngest daughter\'s first birthday.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
It remains to be seen whether Leyla
is willing to defy tradition.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
There are so many influences,

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
neighbors, family members,
my father and husband,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
then there is our cultural beliefs. In my village
I don\'t know of any women who is not circumcised.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
[sil.]

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
[music]

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
But Menov could be the first if
the women\'s union has its way.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
Mean time Howa has been invited
to see the hector of land

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
that could become hers. The man from the
government has an offer that could help

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
resolve her dilemma. Women aren\'t
supposed to plough the land

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
but for the first year at least the government will
loan her money to pay for the man to plough it for her.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
[non-English narration]

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
If I get land I am prepared for me I am ready
to do what ever it takes for my children.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
Its poverty that\'s making
Howa so determined

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
and increasingly its poverty that\'s fueling
the women\'s liberation movement here.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
Due to poverty women are under educated,

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
women are suppressed by the community.
They think uh… women are always

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
inferior to men and they are
not allowed to do things

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
you know, if uh… that women is educated
and she\'s not dependent anymore

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
then she can say, yes or no you
know, she can… she can say

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
I am not going to circumcise my child,
no I am not going to have all this,

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
so she can decide for herself.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
To fight to end poverty and to liberate
women may draw its greatest lessons

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
from the war women fought, 40 years
earlier. The evolution came from with in,

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
no one came and said to every family you
need to give us a daughter to go and fight.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
The women did it for themselves and now
they are doing something to help the women

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
that stayed in the villages. And the message
is the same you cannot push a change,

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
the change has to come from with in.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Belainesh is ready to leave to Gash-Barka,

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
she\'s met three women, once victims, now she
hopes persistence in her common struggle.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
What does she believe, they\'ll decide.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
Leyla I believe she will not uh… circumcise

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
her second daughter.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
And Amina, I am not 100%
that she is going to deliver

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
in the head center, may be 65% will deliver

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
in the… in the head center
but 35% I am not sure.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
And the third one, uh… Howa,
she has a cultural pressure

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
but she will break away because
she has to come out from poverty

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
to send her children to school
as well as to feed them.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
Traditional attitudes doesn\'t change
with in a day or a month or a year.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
It needs a lot of time to change
it, to transform the women

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
to a better life. It took
Eritrean women and men

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
30 years to achieve independence for
Eritrea. It may take as much time or more

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
for women in these communities to liberate
themselves from harmful ancient practices.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
In the mean time fighters like Belainesh

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
continue to do battle on the new frontline.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:50.000
[sil.]