‘Learn from my story’: A participatory media initiative for Ugandan women affected by obstetric fistula

abstract

Silence Speaks is an international digital storytelling initiative offering a supportive environment for telling stories that too often remain unspoken and unseen and bringing these stories to relevant audiences. It facilitates workshops in which participants share and bear witness to tales of struggle and courage, resulting in short digital videos known as ‘digital stories’. The workshops challenge media legacies of voyeurism and naturalised representation by ensuring that participants, not producers, have primary control over what is shared. The guiding vision is to listen deeply, facilitate reflection and transformation and encourage involvement in collective action to support justice and human rights. In 2006, the project travelled to Uganda to gather stories of rural women who have endured obstetric fistula. This focus describes the methodology used, which offered opportunities for counselling, health education and women's leadership development. It includes story excerpts and emphasises concrete local uses for these unique media pieces for health trainings and in policy advocacy settings.

keywords:

• digital storytelling
• participatory video
• Photovoice
• obstetric fistula
• narrative medicine