Not Yet Rain

Short Synopsis

"Not Yet Rain" is a short film to be made into a feature length documentary that profiles five women in Ethiopia whose lives have been overshadowed by an unwanted pregnancy.  Honest and compelling testimonies help contextualize the significance of Ethiopia's recent decision to legalize abortion and the impact it will have on the maternal death and disability that has plagued the nation due to unsafe abortions.   

Description/Treatment

"My name is Tigist. My father's name is Dawat. I was living in Seshemane Region. And a man raped me there in the tea room where I was working. I have no one to support me. That's why I need the abortion. I'm afraid of the procedure, but what shall I do?"

With this quiet statement, a young Ethiopian woman named Tigist breaks through the controversy that often surrounds abortion. Her story is one of five which are woven together in the documentary film, “Not Yet Rain.”

Despite the fact that an estimated 68,000 women around the world die each year from unsafe abortions and an additional two to seven million sustain long-term damage or disease from incomplete abortion, infection (sepsis), hemorrhage, and injury to the internal organs, the urgency of this women’s health issue - particularly how it affects women in Africa - has not reached the big screen. Desperate to end an unwanted pregnancy, many poor and uneducated women cross the African contient will pursue back street abortions or attempt to self-abort. The stigma associated with abortion, in a particularly conservative and religious country such as Ethiopia, compounds the problem, which is why Ethiopia ranked as one of the countries with the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. And which is why, in 2004, it made a radical change in its legislation to legalize abortion.

“Not Yet Rain” is a feature-length documentary film that puts a face to this dire women’s health issue by profiling women whose lives have been affected by unsafe abortion. Contrasting the stark beauty of Ethiopia’s rural landscape with the dark and unfortunate realities of the personal and societal struggles facing Ethiopian women, “Not Yet Rain” intends to do cinematically for unsafe abortion what "The Greatest Silence" did for sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and what “A Walk to Beautiful” has done for obstetric fistula.

The film begins by introducing the story of 19-year old Tigist and her friend Belynash, whose pregnancies were caused from rape and forced marriage. Shots of their living compound located in the rural town of Zeway illustrate the challenging conditions they live in.  They confess they knew little about pregnancy until they had been raped and missed their menstruation.  Without the support of their family and faced with an unfamiliar health crisis, they seek guidance from their local health care clinic. Despite providing free abortion services for minors and in cases of rape and incest, the clinic has to refuse services because the pregnancies of both Tigist and Belynash are too far along for the simple and affordable procedure they are able to give at the village level. Seeking care at a hospital requires money for transportation and services which neither young woman has. Tigist and Belynash’s heart-breaking journey to access a safe abortion serves as the cinema-verite thread of the film.

In order to relay the urgency of these two young girl’s stories, the film introduces other women who have been personally affected by the personal tragedy of unsafe abortions. Prior to the change in legislation, it was illegal for a woman to seek abortion services except when it endangered the life of the mother or the fetus. That was when the daughter of 65-year old Aster sought an abortion from an untrained provider. As this mother painstakingly recalls the incident that happened 14 years ago, she explains that because of stigma, her daughter initially wouldn’t confess what was wrong.  It took traveling to several health clinics and hospitals for her to finally confess to her mother that she was pregnant and had visited a woman who attempted to abort her pregnancy.  This untrained woman wrapped a glucose tube around an umbrella and stuck it into the young girl's uterus. After stirring the umbrella in her uterus, the daughter lost a lot of blood loss and hours later, died from hemorrhaging.

32-year old Asnaketch, fortunately, had a different fate. Asnaketch, who works as a security guard in her community, details the technique she used to self-abort. Through the use of a certain herb – a root from the countryside - she would put it up in her uterus and push down when bleeding occurred.  After many years of failing to conceive, she finally bore a son who she explains still has health issues. The motherly love she has for this extremely intelligent and socially conscious child, gives a warm and universal feeling to her story.

The final storyline follows Esnaget and Abebech, two women who live on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa. Three years ago, Esnaget was walking down a hidden street and came upon Abebech who was sitting and crying on the curb. Abebech explains she had no one, her husband who got her pregnant made her get a botched abortion and then abandoned her.

Esnaget, already raising three children of her own with the help of her mother, invited Abebech to her home and said, “You will eat what I eat, and you will sleep where I sleep.” Despite being poor and having no extra room for Abebech, she opens her home and shares a small bedroom where she, her husband, three kids and Abebech now sleep. Esnaget has given hope and companionship to a woman who said she was ready to kill herself. Asked why Esnaget would do so much for a woman she didn’t know, she replies, fighting back tears, “First, I am a woman. And when I had my first child, a man raped me and I had the baby, preventing me from continuing my schooling. I had a family so they helped raise my child for me. But my child’s life is always in my consciousness. Since I have that in me, in my mind, I don’t think awful towards any woman, because I think of my own luck." 

While “Not Yet Rain” is mostly character-driven, interviews with Ethiopian professionals who can give context to the situation in thei country are interspersed throughout the film. Of particular importance is the section focused on the legalization of abortion. Despite being one of the most religious and conservative countries in Africa, Ethiopia’s government took a strong stand against the unacceptable high numbers of women who were dieing from unsafe abortion and ratified their law. The 2004 law, which expanded the conditions under which women can seek safe abortions, made it one the most progressive in all of Africa.  Despite this opportunity. as we experience Tigist and Belynash's journey, many obstacles still keep women from getting the help they need.

“Not Yet Rain” which completed its first production trip and is raising funds for its second and final trip as well as post production and distribution in order to bring these stories to a wide audience. Despite its focus on a controversial woman’s health issue in Africa, the film aims to share personal stories that highlight family, child-bearing and need for acceptance that are universal and cut across racial, economic and class divisions. The goal of the film is to personalize the issue through compelling portraits of women whose lives have been so deeply affected by an unwanted pregnancy. The film does not intend to be overtly political or issue-based, rather illustrate the immense personal toll facing families and their mothers, sisters and daughters who don't have access to safe and legal services.

The film is currently in production.  A 30-minute rough cut has been assembled which will be used to raise additional funds. A 15-minute advocacy film is being cut from the footage to support Ipas, an agency who advocates for safe abortion worldwide and who provided the initial seed funding for the film.

Once adequate funds are raised, the director will return to Ethiopia to do follow up interviews with all of the characters as well as additional b-roll. Other stories to be interjected in the film include a cinema-verite scene depicting the urgency of doctors faced with caring for women who arrive in critical conditions at their hospital after an unsafe abortion and follow up of a young woman  who had to have her leg amputated because of a botched abortion.

Collectively, the stories portray the spectrum of challenges facing women with an unwanted pregnancy.