ABOUT DR. VIRGINIA CARTER:
Dr. Carter was a senior vice president for Norman Lear and helped integrate groundbreaking social topics in All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, Facts Of Life and Different Strokes. She is the winner of an Emmy and two Peabody awards. Carter now works with PMC pro bono training scriptwriters to develop compelling dramas, attract and draw in the audience, achieve high ratings, use cliff hangers, and so forth. PMC produces entertainment education strategies to influence social norms of the audience, many in third world nations. Characters evolve into role models who practice gender equity, safe sex, and responsible family planning.
PMC SUCCESS STORY
Gugor Goge (Tell It To Me Straight)
In Nigeria, PMC produced and broadcast a radio drama titled Gugar Goge (Tell It To Me Straight). The drama was about a young Nigerian girl named Kande who is forced into marriage when she is only 11 years old. Soon after she becomes pregnant and at the very young age of 12, she finds herself giving birth to her first child. However, problems arise during her labor because her young body is not yet ready to give birth and her husband does not allow her to see a skilled birth attendant. After suffering from an obstructed labor for several days, Kandes baby dies and she is left with a condition called obstetric fistula, which literally translates to a hole, causing her to leak urine and feces. Kandes husband then throws her out on to the streets because of her incontinence and the resulting smell.
Kandes situation is one that is all too common in Nigeria, where obstetric fistula is a widespread problem. While nearly all cases of obstetric fistula are preventable and treatable, it is estimated that at least 2 million women in Africa, Asia and the Arab region are living with the condition, and some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases develop each year.
Kande finds herself in the same predicament as the millions of women suffering worldwide, but she learns of a treatment and is supported by her family to seek treatment. At the end of this episode PMC ran an epilogue telling listeners where they too could get treatment for their condition and provided them with information about fistula repair centers. As a result 43% of people seeking fistula repair cited PMCs program as the reason they were seeking services.
One listener, named Halima identified with Kandes story. She too was married off young, at just 15 years old. Then while giving birth to her second child at the age of 19, she also suffered from an obstructed labor. Her husband would not allow her to see a professional birth attendant. Luckily, the baby survived, but Halima developed a fistula. Her husband then forced her out of the house. Sick and desperate with nowhere to go, Halima went to live with her parents. For two years she suffered from the condition, until one day she began listening to Gugar Goge. She listened with her parents every week, following Kandes story closely, as it reminded her so much of her own life. And this is how Halima and her parents learned that she no longer needed to suffer from this terrible condition, and like Kande, she went to seek treatment, and her fistula was successfully repaired. Halima is now healthy and able to care for her baby.
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