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“Welcome to the World”: A Response
How do you view poverty and child birth across our global society?
The documentary shatters my previous perception of the West as insulated from the gruesome reality of poverty. The video exposes the fallacy that poverty is distance phenomenon as it is in our backyard. This awakening evoked emotions of shame for my ignorance of the relative poverty that has shaken the lives of ordinary American in the wake of economic downturn. Hitherto to watching the documentary, I assumed that privileged such as quality maternity care were a default amenity, especially in the United States. However, the plight of the poor American mothers when contrasted with those of mothers in developing countries the differences are defined. The documentary provides an insightful perspective on the struggles that poor women endure.
Unlike other documentaries addressing similar themes, this one was more authentic to me due to its accurate accounts of the women’s lives. Rather than a compilation of commentaries, the women were given they opportunity to tell their stories (The Why Foundation). The viewer gets to share in their loss of undergoing nine excruciating months only to lose the child two months after birth. The anxiety that the mother’s feel in light of the uncertain future for their offspring is evident by their facial expressions more than their words. In Sierra Leone, the mother in focus appears satisfied with the services of the midwife the lack of food is a more urgent need to her. The Sierra Leone segments challenge assumptions that quality antenatal care is limited to the confines of the clinics. The reality of inequity in the world abundance in some areas coexisting with abject poverty others elicits emotions of guilt. The joy of motherhood can in the blink of an eye turn to the grief of loss. While antennal care can be performed in the comfort of one’s homestead by traditional birth attendants the life and death issue arises in complicated births. The poor cannot afford the expensive cesarean section that can only be procured in clinics.
How is resilience relevant to all the families in the film?
Despite the high mortality rate, the mothers are not desensitized of the gruesome experience of child loss. Their recognition of the need to forge forward in the face of loss does not lessen the grief. The women find solace in the community from whence they manage to live an optimistic life. The familial connections help the newborns to approach life wit enthusiasm. The bursts of laughter as the women narrate their gruesome experience may cause one to forget the gloom that characterizes the documentary (The Why Foundation). Their culture appears to be an adequate coping mechanism until their next loss. The mothers recognize their essence in the nurture of legends of tomorrow akin to the doctors and midwives who are hailed as heroes in their respective societies. The families perceive the fact that they are alive is evidence that a better future awaits.
Welcome
to the world reveals the dichotomy in the social structure of the tree
different society as the essential amenities are reserved to privileged few.
While the marginalized communities and social classes struggle to survive to
fend for their newborns, the upper classes feign ignorance the former’s plight.
Like me, people fail to address the social inequity due to the lack of
immediacy they attack to the issue. To
me, documentary acts as a clarion call to action to overhaul the class divides
and make quality maternal care available to every mother.
Work Cited
The Why Foundation. “Welcome To The World – Why Poverty?” YouTube. 11 Jan 2013. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KigXe6RIczw
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