Help a mother, help a woman
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Imagine that you are an impoverished 12-year-old girl living in sub-Saharan Africa or Asia and recently were married off to an older man. Imagine giving birth alone, without any pain medication, with maybe only a woman from your village to help. Imagine that the labor lasts for days because your pelvis is just too underdeveloped to allow a baby to pass through. Imagine that you are blamed for being unfaithful or told you have been cursed because the labor is so difficult. Now imagine that after days of excruciating pain, a dead baby is born and you discover that, for some reason, you are now constantly leaking urine and feces. You smell bad. You have nerve damage in your legs that hinders your ability to walk. And now, because you cannot control your bodily functions, the older man that was your husband abandons you. You may or may not have a family to support you, but no matter, because you feel you are cursed and you are ashamed and you are in pain. This scenario, or a similar one, changes the lives of an estimated 100,000 females each year. These girls and women have developed obstetric fistula, a hole caused by days and days of obstructed labor. The pressure of the baby against delicate tissues in the uterus and vagina causes the tissue to die and a hole forms between the vagina and the bladder or the vagina and the rectum. Often, fistula can be fixed by a skilled surgeon with little or no long-term affects. But there are too many variables that keep the girl from receiving this care. Of course, she may not know that there is someone who can help her. The care may not be available in the rural area that is her home. The transportation may not be available to get her to the nearest clinic. She probably will not have the money to pay for the surgery that costs about $100-300 US dollars. The clinic may not have the resources to take care of her for a week after the surgery, to make sure she is healing correctly. And then, how will she readapt to society after she has been shunned and felt ashamed for years? I want to help. Maybe I can drive the truck that helps the girl get to a clinic. Or maybe I can work with social workers to help the girl re-enter her community. Who wants to help with me? Read more about obstetric fistula:
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Thanks, Ross. Although obstetric fistula is common in countries such as Nepal, India, and Pakistan, I have really only done research in Africa. There is an important fistula hospital located in Addis Ababa and programs to end fistula have been implemented in Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, and Benin, among others. Right now I'm networking and trying to find a job/volunteer opportunity that would take me over to one of these areas so I can interview people and write about it first-hand.
I was completely unaware of obstetric fistula. What developing countries is this most prevalent in? I'll email the orgs you listed and hopefully they can join the NGO section of Matador and it will be easier for you to get other members involved. Thanks for this post...