Prologue: Rahnia’s Reproductive Journey
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Published:July 2015
This chapter chronicles the story of Rahnia, whose reproductive journey to Dubai is told in her own words. Rahnia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian Muslim woman, who is grateful to the United Kingdom for taking her in as a teenage refugee. Rahnia and her Sudanese refugee husband, Ahmed, are now citizens of the British state. Yet, Rahnia and Ahmed’s path to reproduction in Britain is anything but straightforward. Eight difficult IVF cycles there lead to the birth of only one child, a daughter Wisal. Feeling “desperate” to provide Wisal with a sibling, Rahnia begins a global search to find a trustworthy IVF clinic. Her journey leads her to Dubai, which she perceives to be the Middle East’s most cosmopolitan city. There, Rahnia is lucky to find Conceive. Yet, in Conceive, Rahnia almost dies, due to a dangerous reproductive tract infection lingering in her fallopian tube. Although the infection is cured at Conceive with intravenous antibiotics, Rahnia’s eighth IVF attempt—her journey to find “bright light at the end of the tunnel”—comes to an end.