(http://images.publicradio.org/content/2010/12/23/20101223_fartun-weli_33.jpg) | When couples struggle with infertility, the social pressure can be intense. In Somali culture, an age-old tradition holds that a woman must have children to fulfill her role as a wife. Fartun Weli is challenging those notions by talking about them publicly, earning attention in Minnesota and back home in Somalia. Weli, 40, provides a welcome ear for women who have trouble becoming pregnant ands feel isolated because of the stigma associated with infertility in the Somali community. On a recent a home visit, she spoke to a Somali woman who, after having one child, hasn't been able to get pregnant again. The woman, whom MPR News has agreed not to identify, was anxious to talk openly about the subject with another Somali woman. "I checked out myself," the woman said. "They said this, you know, 'you have bacteria.' But it's like it's deeper than that. We don't know. We're in different country." |