15. Survive Or Die?

Borneeta is having trouble bending down to grab the rope of the bucket filled with water as her nine months pregnant belly gets in the way. She holds one hand under it to keep it stable and then bends her knees to grab the handle. She looks back to her house, but she can’t see her grandmother. She had a backache this morning, so Borneeta decided to fetch the water today.

When she finally gets hold of the bucket, the weight is too much, and she loses her balance. She falls into the hole of the water pump. It is not very deep, but she lands face down, so she has no possibility to get back up by herself. It is dark and wet and Borneeta does not know what to do. She tries calling her grandmother, but she is too afraid to raise her voice. When she finally manages to turn around and face the blue sky above her, she tries to calm herself before grabbing the edges of the hole to lift herself out. Then she rolls awkwardly onto the surface and just lays there for a few moments, breathing heavily.

“What is taking you so long?” Thakurma calls from the inside of the house.

“Coming,” Borneeta replies and continues fetching the water for their breakfast.

Inside she sees her grandmother bending over the cooking fire, and she opens her mouth to say something, but when she turns to look at her with her stern face, she keeps silent.

The next morning Borneeta’s belly has turned hard as a stone. She is too frightened to leave her bed, but her grandmother is already yelling at her to go fetch the water again. What should she do? What does it mean that her belly is so hard? Is that normal? Is that what other mothers also go through? Or is this the first sign of death?

Many women died during their pregnancies in her neighborhood in Bangladesh. This is normal. And a risk all the women take. But is it her turn now? There are no doctors close by that could help her, and even if there was one, she was too scared to go. What if she is dying right now?

Borneeta continues with her chores every day, ignoring the pain in her belly and trying to hide it from her grandmother and husband.

Then the bleeding starts. This she cannot hide any longer and her grandmother starts yelling hysterically when she sees her covered in blood. She calls the elders of the village to check on her.

In the end, the baby is dead, but no one knows what to do with it, or if it will come out by itself. The family does not have the means to travel to the next town to a real doctor, so they wait. They wait to see if 14-year-old Borneeta will survive or die with her dead baby inside of her.