they had visited a healer to seek remedy due to the suffering related to their prolapse. Often they approached an '*awaki*', '*tenquay*' or '*yebahil hakim'*. These healers lived and operated in their local communities and offered diverse treatment options, also for prolapse. Most of the women had been asked by the healers to arrange ceremonies at their homes, like the ones conducted by Aberash. One woman had moreover been provided with small wooden sticks to be tied around her waist like a belt, while another had received a type of plant named '*kutegna*' to be squeezed and inserted into the vagina. One woman who blamed her prolapse on being hit by the 'evil eye' had for years protected herself by staying inside the home as much as possibledo that and get treated*. *It's only those who are lucky who get any cure*. *How could a poor woman like me afford to buy a sheep*?*'* (Respondent 2, focus group discussion 2).

Rahel's story {#sec018}
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We first met Rahel at the hospital. She was 39 years old, divorced and had suffered from prolapse for the previous 15 years. Rahel, like Hanna and Aberash, had never got the chance to go to school and was illiterate. To make a living she was a daily labourer, working as a cleaner and cook in wealthier people's homes. She married the first time when she was nine years old. During the following years she experienced urinary leakage at night. Due to her problem, her husband started to disrespect her, and she decided to