Miscellaneous
Home Delivery
Childbirth is at once one of the most joyous and the most painful moments of a woman’s life.Childbirth is at once one of the most joyous and the most painful moments of a woman’s life. Becoming a mother can be an extremely fulfilling experience for women, but it comes with many sacrifices, including carrying the child in their wombs for nine long months. In fact, in many communities in South Asia and around the world, the persistent scepter of death continues to loom large during pregnancy and childbirth, despite the many medical advancement made this century.
I made these photographs while on an International Reporting Workshop in Bangladesh, where like so many impoverished communities in Nepal, women, continue to opt to birthing their children at home because poverty and inaccessibility make hospital visits a luxury. Rina Mounda, 25 at the time, lived with her husband and his family on the Jagadishpur Tea Estate, a five-hour drive from the Eastern Bangladeshi city of Sylhet. Unlike many women who have the comfort of picking from a choice of hospitals and doctors, financial constraints meant that Rina had none. Instead she had to resort to a natural home birth with the help of a traditional midwife, fully aware of the pain and danger, to both her and the child.
This is her story, but at once is also the story of so many other women, not just in South Asia but the world over.
Text and Photos: Sajana Shrestha