Duka’s Dilemma

From the Hamar tribe in southern Ethiopia, Duka, the young heroine of Jean Lydall’s previous films, is now in her thirties. She is delighted to see Jean and her daughter Kaira once again, but is going through a difficult period as she has to come to terms with the presence of her husband’s second wife the young Boro. Boro gives birth to her first child, assisted by Duka and her mother-in-law. It is only when Duka also gives her husband Sago a son that the relationship between the two co-wives reaches a point of equilibrium, between hierarchy and solidarity. Sago, however is worried about the future: Will he have the strength to plough his wives’ fields when his second wife gives birth to other children?