Photo Caption
Norah, a 33-year-old fistula patient from Kenya, receives care from Nurse Vanis at Kisii Gynocare, a Fistula Foundation partner in Kisii, Kenya.
Your support will benefit women like Norah—a 33-year-old businesswoman from Sondu, Kenya—whose life was flipped upside down when she developed obstetric fistula. After enduring a difficult labor, she began to leak urine uncontrollably. Norah lived with this condition for three years, and each day of suffering further shattered her confidence. Once a sociable business person, Norah became a shut-in. She refused to open her beauty salon, out of shame.
“I didn’t know about fistula. … It was quite shameful for me to interact with people,” said Norah. “I couldn’t open my shop, because beauty and urine do not go hand-in-hand.”
Finally, after so much suffering, Norah was referred to Fistula Foundation’s partner Kisii Gynocare for free, life-transforming surgery.
Transcript
Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury that happens when a woman has an obstructed labor, but cannot access emergency help, like a C-section. The result is a fistula. It will leave her incontinent – and, all too often, an outcast in her community. At Fistula Foundation, we believe that no woman should suffer a life of misery and isolation simply for trying to bring a child into the world. The only treatment for fistula is surgery. And when it is done, it transforms their life. That’s why we’ve built a network of surgeons and hospitals providing fistula treatment to women in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia. A surgery that costs as little as $619 can give a woman the priceless gift of health.
