For years, Tabitha lived with the condition not knowing who to share with her sufferings. As she aged it continued to worsen. One day she decided to confide in her daughter and her daughter in law of her condition. They were very supportive of her and sort to get her treatment. It was during their quest to get their mother treatment that they heard of Makueni Fistula camp for women leaking urine and stool. They went to their mother and brought her to Makueni Mother & Child Hospital.

On discharged sitting between her daughters, she is very happy that she is not leaking anymore and she laughs as she is being explained the exercise that she has to do to strengthen her muscles. She looks over to her daughter and tells her to keep reminding her of the same. She says “it was not too late for her; she has control of her urine and stool until the toilet”

In the late 2018, she was diagnosed with cysts, and the doctors recommended that she goes for surgery for the removal of the cysts. To her, the surgery was supposed to be a simple process. After the surgery, she noticed she started leaking urine. She went to sort treatment at Kabete Gardens in February 2019 and after repair was done it was still not successful. While still at the hospital, she kept talking to her children on phone who gave her strength to carry on. She was discharged and went home, with a fresh wound, being weak and having a 3 year old child carrying out simple house chores was an uphill task for her. It was not long before the husband burnt a few of her good clothes and chased her out of her matrimonial home. With no money, she sought the support of the brother in law who gave her fare to go to her sister’s place. While still at her sister’s place she heard of the fistula camp at Makueni her sister encouraged her to come and try her luck once more. She sits at the hospital bed with faith that all will be well. She will is consoled daily by the voice of her children and prays that she will stop leaking and be reunited with her family.

As the norm of the school for every girl discovered to be pregnant, suspension was imminent. She sort for guidance from her mother on the pregnancy and so she felt what she believed to have been labour pains but did not bother about it. She stayed home and the labour continued and lasted 7 days. While at home, she felt the urge and the pressure of the baby coming out and with all her strength she pushed the baby out delivering at home. The joy of looking at her baby boy overwhelmed her so much that she did not notice that she was damaged. Nobody had cautioned her on what to expect after delivery of her baby.

After a few days, she noticed that she could not control the gas that came through her birth canal. Being a teen mother, she decided to consult her mother and other elder women within her family for advice on what that could have been. Everyone gave her the same answer that it was a normal occurrence after birth; that the reason was that during the birth of her child, cold air must have entered her body through the birth canal and that, was the air coming out. She took their word as truth, after all, these women had been in that journey long before her, they therefore, knew better so she thought.

After several months, she vowed to herself that it was a matter of time and everything would go back to normal. Her urge to continue with her education led her to the decision to leave her child with her mother and go back to school to finish secondary school education. It was then, that she noticed that  all was not well, even after washing  herself, she noticed her under pant was not clean; stool was passing without her being able to control. Her body started having a stench and this lead her to lose her friends. She was eager and determined to get better. She sought for treatment from different clinics and all she was given was medicine that was meant to clear the smell. The medicine however didn’t help; she finally resorted to keeping to herself, finish her education.

After completing secondary school in 2014, she resulted to staying at home assisting in household and farming activities to avoid public interaction. She lost appetite of consuming food, with the mind-set that eating made the situation worse. During gatherings where it was mandatory for her to attend, she would attend but refrain from eating in order to remain clean. It was not until; the year 2019 that she saw an advertisement on Television for a fistula camp and recognized that the condition explained on the advertisement was what she was suffering from. She called the numbers provided but being miles away and with no job or income she could not afford to attend. She explained her predicament on phone and when she was told she will be facilitated with transport to attend the Nyeri Fistula Camp nothing could hold her.

Jennifer believes her life has been given back to her. Looking back at her child Daniel, now 8 years old, she is looking forward to normalcy to her life with no shame. She parts by saying “I thank Safaricom and The Flying Doctors Society for helping me, May God Bless you and may you continue doing the good work”

“All was however not well, I noticed stool coming out and I could not even control gas. It came out with a loud noise especially when I sat for a long period and the worst was there was nothing I could do” She exclaims as she joyously smiles to her other baby who is almost 8 months.

Margaret, in addition to being a farmer in her village in Mweiga, she was an active member of the community. She was involved in church activities, her children school activities and different ‘chamas’ meetings. For her, meetings were a must to attend to contribute to the society. She however, did not let her condition affect her way of living and interactions. She told her husband Simon what she was going through and he understood. Margaret later got three other children in hospital, but her condition was not fixed.

A year went by and 2 more thereafter she resorted to living with the condition not knowing whether she would ever get help. She however found comfort in the support her husband provided and devised a mechanism for coping with her condition. She narrates that over time, she realized that to minimize stool she’d have to eat minimal. For the gas she practiced for a while but figured out that the gas builds up when she sits for long. She decided that when she attends any form of meeting she will only sit for a minimum 15 minutes and stand up to let the air out without noise and that is how she managed to live with Fistula for 15 years.

In 2019, when she saw an advertisement of a fistula camp on television, she told the husband that she would like to seek treatment. Her husband agreed and brought her to the hospital. She was screened and told to go home and wait for a call on when she would attend the hospital for treatment. Margaret says she had faith that she would be treated, she acknowledges that the God she serves was greater than her problems. So accompanied by the husband, they went home but on waking up on Sunday morning, they received a call from the hospital to come for admission on the same day.  She went back and got admitted.  She received free surgery on Monday, 28^th February, 2019. “I am so happy I have been fixed. I want to thank Safaricom and you Flying Doctors for making me well. May God bless you, and to any woman who is suffering I would like to tell you that treatment is there do not hide, come and get treated” She exclaims and continues “I will be an ambassador, if I hear of any woman with fistula now I know where to send them”

Being a naive uneducated girl, Mary did not understand what was happening to her and thought it was a normal thing after delivery. She later gave birth to five more children but nobody ever told her that she could get help. Living in isolation, she feared travelling or staying with people for fear of messing. Whenever she had to move around, she fasted to prevent stool from coming out. Her husband did not leave her but he married another wife claiming that Mary was dirty.

Mary tried seeking help from the local health centers but they turned her down and referred her to Nairobi which she could never afford. When a health worker from her region told her about the Kitui camp, she was sure that her chance to finally get help had come. Through FDSA who facilitated her travel, Mary was repaired and she is now healed and very happy. “I feel new again, it’s been many years of suffering but finally I got help, I will only pray that God will bless you abundantly for your good work”

Not knowing who to share her worry with, Mercy kept it to herself. When her husband started noticing the bad smell and the uncontrollable flatus, Mercy got worried. His husband became abusive and would embarrass her in front of visitors calling her names. Physical fights set in and Mercy was only confined to her house since the husband warned her about leaving the house to go to work. He said she was an embarrassment since she could not control her gas and stool.

Mercy, who was then a hair dresser, now remained confined and would not make a cent. Whenever she was found not in the house, it called for physical abuse. When things got worse, he threatened to kill her “I will do anything just to get rid of you” he would occasionally say. Fearing for her life and that of her children, Mercy fled to her brother’s house since her parents were very poor and could not take her in with her three children. She began a new life in the new environment. She was well received but within a month, she felt the need to start working to support her brother in feeding the huge family. She started braiding neighbors but due to the bad smell and the gas, she would have to fast all day so as to be able to work without embarrassment.

“I never went to church, I was always afraid of farting and of stool, I remained in the house and prayed to my God that he would heal me. I didn’t know where to seek help.  I felt an outcast but I had to live for my kids. My husband has never checked on us for 5 years now, not even to ask about his children”. When she saw the advert on TV, Mercy knew that this was her only chance to get healed. God had heard her prayers. She called the number displayed on the screen and she got fare to travel to Kitui. ‘Now am healed, I will go and give thanks to God for healing me; I can now dance and sing to the Lord in church. I will work hard to set up my own salon in Eldoret town. My son is now in class seven and I have to take him to secondary in a year’s time. Am very happy and May God bless you for the good work you’re doing to save us.’

By Lesley C.

A friend will ask, how are you? Often we reply, am OK. But inside we’re not fine at all. We are all created as beautiful vessels. But sometimes the vessels break. We break, emotional, spiritually or physically. Others can be mended, others take long and others suffer silently alone without being mended.

A woman is a beautiful vessel, made by God. We are strong vessels but life can be so hard and leaves us broken. Though broken a woman can smile and takes care of her baby and family, carrying the wound and scar for years. I thank God that this scar wasn’t on our face, coz all women could be ugly, and we carry this scar for our families, our clan, our community, and our country. Without this scar there are no people, no presidents, no CEO’s, no Doc’s, no life on earth, this is the scar of ‘life’, scar of pride, scar of honor.

Today we come out to honor our scars, to heal our scars and to tell the world we are still the most beautiful and strongest vessels made.

We thank our Almighty Potter, who is mending our hearts and our scars through the gifted hands of our surgeon’s through the Flying Doctors Society, Created by our own children brought into this world by the scar.

Fistula doesn’t choose the vessel to destroy, whether you are poor, or rich, educated or not. It’s like any other disease but carried by shame and stigma.

Let’s lift our pride high women. This is a Scar of pride and Honor. We were beautifully and wonderfully made. Let’s shine and dance with Pride & Honor.

We call upon our children, our husbands, brothers & sisters. Don’t abandon us as we struggle to bring forth humanity.

GOD BLESS US. WE ARE PHENOMENAL WOMEN, GOD’S OWN CREATION

See Photos here

FDSAs key intervention in the area of Medical Outreach is in conducting of surgical repairs for a condition known as Obstetric or Vesico Vaginal Fistula. This intervention is done in the form of VVF Surgical Medical Camps held periodically throughout the year in various hospitals.

Kenyatta National Hospital, being the largest VVF repair centre in the country receives over 400 VVF related cases each year, close to half of the 1,000 VVF cases nationally. The funding is earmarked for a project, run by FDSA aimed at reclaiming women’s dignity as well as protecting families and marriages from disintegration – a key consequence of VVF. A significant part of the project includes training of local specialist gynecologists, surgeons and registrars in fistula surgery as well as building capacity on the ground to handle Fistula.

Obstetric (or Vesico Vaginal) fistula is a devastating condition affecting poor rural women and girls. It manifests as an abnormal communication between the urinary bladder and vagina, which leads to uncontrolled, continuous leakage of urine and/or fecal matter. The condition most often occurs as a complication of obstructed labor but can also be caused by radiation, surgical trauma or accidents.

Inadvertently, majority of VVF incidences occur due to lack of access to qualified health care personnel during the labor period especially in cases of obstructed birth process.  The situation is usually worse off for new mothers, especially teenage mothers because their pelvis is still too small for the baby to pass through. Obstructed labor can therefore lead to injuries to the mother, child or both. This condition has perverse effects on the emotional well-being of the sufferer and completely destroys the individual’s social capacity. Obstetric fistulas affect women of all ages and account for 8% of maternal deaths worldwide.

The Flying Doctors’ Society of Africa (FDSA or The Society) was established in 1971, to raise funds for the spread of Medical Outreach in Africa through a membership scheme which guarantees free evacuation services to paid-up members. The Society also raises funds through fundraising activities, selling branded merchandise as well as donations. The Society is a charitable organization which puts to good use all unutilised subscriptions not spent on evacuations by funding Charity Evacuations and Outreach Programmes that ensure Medical facilities are accessible across the region. Since its inception, the Society has contributed the equivalent of 1 billion shillings to the spread of Medical Outreach in Africa.

FDSA works hard to ensure people all over East Africa have access to life saving medical attention. Part of the proceeds from membership subscriptions are used to help people like Rose. Become a member or donate today and help by being part of the solution.

FDSA and OWIT joined forces to set up a Movie Night to raise funds to help fight Fistula in Kenya. This is done by funding a Medical Outreach programme that identifies gaps in health care systems and develops methods and intervention to support hospitals through pre-planned visits by specialists, who provide expert advice, services and training of professional health workers. Of particular interest to FDSA and OWIT is the area of Obstetric Fistula.

To help raise funds toward this cause, FDSA and OWIT held a Movie Night on 30th November 2012. This is the second event that FDSA and OWIT have put together in the past. Although there were weather and transport issues on the day of the showing, the event managed to collect a net contributed income of KShs. 454,350.

FDSA would like to thank all the individuals who bought tickets or attended the movie. FDSA would also like to thank our sponsors; OWIT, Consolidated Bank, Citi Bank, Genesis Investments and the Awendo Foundation for their support. A big thank you to our members as well who, through their membership, contribute greatly towards the Outreach Program as well. 

So many activities take place during Christmas, ranging from church to social outdoor events. More often than not, history always repeats itself and so we keep doing the same things over and over again every Christmas, year in year out. Am not saying that anyone should go against their culture or ignore the practices put down by ones culture and/or community…but hey, why not try out something different this Christmas? A change is as good as a rest, so they say. I have a suggestion, why not toy with the idea of mountain climbing as this is something most of us hardly do. One can decide to go solo or with a group of friends, if you ask me, I prefer the latter as you get to have more fun especially if you are an extroverted kind of person.

So you may wonder and ask yourself which mountain in East Africa to climb! Without a doubt, Mount Kilimanjaro is the most climbed mountain in East Africa. What people don’t know is that there are also other mountains to explore, say Mount Kenya. Mount Kenya is one mountain one can never regret having climbed especially with its scenery which is very spectacular to say the least. Despite the fatigue and all other things that come with it, one gets to enjoy so many things while climbing this particular mountain.

Before proceeding with your adventure, you may want to get a travel cover for yourself which will ensure that the best first aid is administered to you and that you are airlifted to a hospital in case of any impromptu accidents. The Flying Doctors Society of Africa (FDSA) provides you with this travel cover. So please sign up for our travel cover and let us deal with the unexpected. Happy travels! Happy Holidays!