The Fight Against Obstetric Fistula
By: Aska Makori
Posted on Saturday, March 21, 2020
They say that the world is less of good people; we have adapted to this. Sad as it is, it is true. A famous Swahili saying goes kila mwamba ngoma, ngozi huivuta kwake. Basically, people live for themselves nowadays; the world is selfish.
Maybe…
We recently lost a beautiful soul, a soul dedicated to putting a smile on the faces of women cast away from their communities, women labeled as dirty and undeserving of love; women suffering from Obstetric Fistula. On Wednesday 18th March 2020 the world lost Elinor Catherine Hamlin.
Born in Sidney, Australia in 1924, Catherine purposed to help women. She trained to be a doctor and, in this course, met her husband Reginal Hamlin with whom she embarked on the journey to work in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. They were to be there for a couple of year but the deprived state of women in the country saw her dedicate her life to helping them.
"These are the women most to be pitied in the world, they're alone in the world, ashamed of their injuries. For lepers, or Aids victims, there are organizations that help. But nobody knows about these women or helps them", said Dr Hamlin, speaking to the New York Times in 2003, on the predicaments of women suffering from Fistula.
Obstetric Fistula is a condition sustained during child birth when a woman has prolonged labor without timely medical assistance. Women with this condition are left incontinent and with a bad odor hence isolated by the society.
It is a condition that affects millions of women, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Dr. Hamlin’s dream was to eradicate Fistula forever, a dream that she has left for her son and grandchildren to fulfil. She died at her home in Addis Ababa where she had been labelled the Ethiopian Saint, at the age of 96.
Maybe this dream will come true. Fistula Foundation was formed in 2000 by Richard Haas and his daughter Shaleece Haas, to help women suffering from this condition. It is located in San Jose, California. It has pioneered treatment networks in Africa where it is connecting more women with life-transforming surgeries. In 2014, it launched a collaborative network of hospitals to provide care for women in Kenya and has partnered with WADADIA (Women and Development Against Distress in Africa) to train community workers and local individuals who raise awareness about fistula.
Kenyan socialite now enterprenure, Huddah Monroe has Huddah Foundation for helping needy disabled kids. Musician Akothee started Akothee Foundation to cater for hunger-stricken residents of Turkana, King Kaka aka Kennedy Ombima started a campaign, Bank on me Menstrual Walk 2019, to keep school going girls in class by providing sanitary towels for them but Musician Sylvia Barasa aka Rawbeena Kenya has decided to do it differently. Instead of starting her own foundation, she has aligned with WADADIA in helping Women with Fistula.
Coming from a humble background herself, she labored to mark her name in the Kenyan Music Industry with songs such as Koloni, Nipoze, Kitabu, the most recent release Kiboko and her popular Collabo with Fena Gitu, Romantic. She is now based in Finland. During her media tour in January, she spoke fondly of her effort with WADADIA to raise awarenes in Kenya's rural areas where women give birth in poor conditions. An estimated 3,000 new cases occur annually in Kenya.
Fistula was seen as a shame and women suffering from it rarely spoke about it. They spent loads of money on expensive perfumes to cover the smell since they couldn’t afford the surgery meant to change their lives. Fistula Foundation changed this for them by partnering with selected doctors and hospitals to provide high quality fistula repair surgery.
"My heart is deeply moved by any woman with fistula. She is someone’s daughter, sister, wife, aunt, or friend. Usually she’s lost her baby. Her body and spirit may be broken, but she is resilient. She wants what you’d want for yourself or someone you loved; a new start at life"
~ Kate Grant, CEO, Fistula Foundation
Maybe the world is not short of good people; maybe good people rarely talk about it, maybe good speaks for itself, maybe one day Catherine Hamlin will look down to earth and smile because maybe one day, her dream will come true...maybe.
