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

The livestock farmer was even more elated when she conceived her eighth child. She knew the pregnancy, labor and birth would all go well –just as had happened seven times before, and she would be able to resume her normal duties and chores in the homestead.

Only that this time round, things did not go as expected. Nankin developed complications during labor which saw her deliver her baby through a caesarean section. But things would even turn more awry for her, for it was because of this surgery that she developed a fistula, which left her with unable to control her urine.

The bad news did not end there. The marriage which she had enjoyed with her husband broke down. This was after her husband deserted her following her inability to control urine, which would leave her with a permanent foul smell. She was left to fend for all her eight children. That was seven years ago.

On her own, she was left unable to educate her children as she cannot afford the related costs. She is also uneducated. Aside from that, two of her children are now deceased.

Nankiu has never been able to afford the luxuries of wearing nappies or diapers to contain her urine flow.

“I stay in the homestead most of the time. I only have to keep changing my clothes. This however has its own challenges because I cannot afford to keep washing my clothes all the time because access to water is a problem in the area I live in. Water is a treasured and scarce resource. My children and I have to use our water sparingly, so many times I have to stay with urine-soaked clothing all day long,” she says.

However, all that changed in September 2015 when a neighbor informed her about free treatment for women who leaked urine such as her. She then made her way to Kisii Level 5 Hospital where she underwent a successful VVF.

“I am happy, excited at being made whole again. It is a treatment that I could never have afforded, no matter how many years or decades I would have tried to save. I thank all those people who have made this possible for me. I will now be able to get out of the homestead and start looking for new business opportunities that will enable me send my children to school,” she says.

Nankiu is one of the 73 women who underwent successful fistula repair surgery at the Kisii Level 5 Hospital during the free fistula medical camp. She was one of the 31 women whose vesico-vaginal fistulas were repaired by a qualified team of doctors from Kenya. The camp was sponsored by the Freedom from Fistula Foundation (FFF) and the Flying Doctors Society of Africa (FDSA) in collaboration with the Royal Media Services and the Kisii Level 5 Hospital.

When she finally began experiencing labor pains, Mwikali decided to stay at home first as the pains progressed, until a time when she was sure the baby was just about to arrive. And it is exactly what she did.

However, when Mwikali arrived at the hospital, she was turned away, with the nurses telling her that her baby was not yet due. She returned home as instructed by the medics.

But at home, the pains did not stop and a few days later, she decided to return to the hospital. But once again, she was turned away, and told to return when she was sure her baby was almost coming.

Eventually, 18 days after she first experienced what believes were labor pains, she went to the hospital, ready to deliver her baby.

Mwikali describes her birth experience in the hospital as her worst experience ever.

“As my labor progressed and as I cried out with each contraction, calling out for the help, I was responded to rudely, with the nurses telling me to stop yelling or they would throw me out of the hospital. At some point, I remember receiving a slap from one of the nurses due to ‘my constant nagging’. I ended up delivering the baby on my own right there in the hospital ward, as the nurses engaged in pointless banter. None of them came to my assistance as I delivered my baby on my own,” a sad Mwikali remembers.

But her tribulations did not end there. She soon noticed that she could not hold in her faeces and urine anymore. After returning home with her newborn, the leaking stool and urine bothered Mwikali so much that she returned to the hospital, which was tens of kilometres away from her home. Due to the distance, which she needed to make on foot in rough terrain and under the scorching heat, she decided to leave her baby behind –under the care of relatives.

But once at the hospital, she was told that her case was severe and was immediately admitted. Sad at the thought of not returning to her baby that day, she could only hope that her newborn would be well taken care of by her relatives.

But the worst was yet to come.

A few days after her admission, she received news that her baby had died. He was only two weeks old.

“I was not around to offer him breastmilk. I come from a poor family where cow’s milk is a treasure, so my relatives were feeding him on porridge. I don’t know if they it was the porridge that was bad, or if it is because he was too little to take porridge. All that I know is that my baby –the only child I would ever have, died,” she says, a forlorn look on her face.

That was in 1963. For the last five decades, her life has been a miserable shell, where she hides from people because of her foul smell. Her life has also been characterized by constant visits to the hospital due to the issue, which has seen her undergo five surgeries that attempted to repair the fistulas. Only the second surgery was partly successful for it repaired her rectovaginal fistula. The vesicovaginal fistula was never successful.

In June 2015, while listening to her favorite radio station which broadcasts in her vernacular Kikamba language –Muusyi FM, she heard the call for women who leaked urine or feaces to make their way to the Kenyatta National Hospital in the capital city of Nairobi. And she did exactly that, hoping that the free services applied to all women –both young and old as she. Mwikali could not wait to be rid of the agony that her life had been for the last 52 years.

“It’s never too late for one to seek a better life even in their sunset years,” she told herself as she boarded a matatu to Nairobi.

After undergoing her sixth surgery which turned out successful, Mwikali was overjoyed, happy that she no longer leaks urine, but that she will never have to undergo surgery again.

“This is unbelievable. I had long given up hope of living a normal life again. Today, I am able to not only smile, but laugh out loud –something that I have not done in five decades. The nasty labor and birth experience, my son’s demise, combined with years of leaking urine and faeces robbed me of my laughter. But today, I can smile again. I can laugh again. Thank you Flying Doctors and the Freedom from Fistula Foundation and the lovely medical team that made this possible.”

Mwikali is one of the 208 beneficiaries of the free fistula medical camp this year. She is one of the six women from Kitui county who underwent successful repair surgery.

Story by Maryanne Waweru-Wanyama

“I remember labouring for days on end and when my baby finally came out, they told me that he was already dead. When I asked why he was dead, they told me that he was too big. I don’t know what happened to my baby’s body because I never saw him. They took him away and to date, I have never known where they buried him,” she says.

But those around her comforted her, telling her that she was still young, that she had her whole life ahead of her to give birth to as many children as she desired.

Irene was discharged from hospital the following day. But by then, she had already noticed something strange about her body.

“I noticed that I was unable to control my urine. However, it did not worry me as much because I assumed that it was something normal that happened to all mothers who had just given birth. I only hoped it would end soon. I was further comforted when I confided in my friend about it, who then assured me that as long as I ate a balanced diet, I would stop leaking the urine,” she says.

At that time, Irene was living with an aunt, having been orphaned when she was just a little girl.

“I followed my friend’s advice and tried as much as possible to eat a balanced diet. But it did not work. I continued wetting my pants,” says the girl who was forced to drop out of school after falling pregnant.

The previous jolly girl who walked tall and free now became a shadow of her former self, stuck in her own prison.

“I stopped meeting my friends and preferred to stay indoors throughout. I was too embarrassed by my leaking problem. At home, I would spread an old bedsheet which I would sit on all day long, wash it at night, dry it, then use it again the following day. It is a routine I have religiously undertaken for the last ten years. I practically have no social life. The four walls in my room are my only companions,” she says.

Last month, while listening to Egessa FM – a radio station that broadcasts in her vernacular Kisii language, Irene heard an announcement about a free medical camp in Nairobi calling on all women who leaked urine to access free treatment. Excited at the news, she quickly packed her bags and made her way to Kenyatta National Hospital.

A few days later, she underwent a successful VVF operation that repaired the injury she suffered during her difficult labor birth ten years ago. She was one of the three women from Kisii country who underwent a similar operation. This year’s free fistula medical camp, organized by the Flying Doctors Society of Africa and the Freedom from Fistula Foundation saw 208 women from across the country benefit.

Today, Irene is all smiles as she looks forward to the new phase in her life –she can finally reconnect with her childhood friends, and can finally get out of the house, literally.

Story by Maryanne Waweru-Wanyama.