Heaven Help Us

Last night while in bed, I did what I usually do i.e. read through pregnancy forums, articles and websites on my iPad. The topic that starts the reading/search is usually something I was experiencing on the day and then finds its way from there to anywhere else but always within the pregnancy, motherhood and childbirth space.

A term that came up in one of the forums that I clicked through was “fistula”. I’ve never heard of fistula, didn’t have a clue what it is but somehow knew it had something to do with obstetrics and birth issues.

Inquisitive as I usually am and also hating not to understand things, I researched the term fistula and I was shocked to find out what it means.

There’s legitimate reasons for fistula to happen then there’s utterly barbaric causes of fistula.

Obstetric fistula is an abnormal hole between a woman’s vagina and her bladder or rectum, which causes chronic incontinence.

LEGITIMATE REASONS:

•          Pro-longed labour (most frequently in underage girls)
•          Inadequate medical care during childbirth (trained doctors or midwives are not available)
•          Lack of availability of c-section delivery

BARBARIC REASONS:

•          Sexual assault (gang rapes, brutal rapes etc)
•          Harmful traditional practises (genital mutilation)

"After enduring days of agonizing, obstructed labor a woman's body is literally broken by childbirth. During labor contractions, the baby's head is constantly pushing against the mother’s pelvic bone — causing tissue to die due to lack of blood flow to this area. All of that pushing creates a hole, or in medical terms a "fistula", between the birth passage and an internal organ such as the bladder or rectum. A woman cannot hold her urine, and sometimes bowel content as well.

Her baby is unlikely to survive. If she survives, a woman with fistula is likely to be rejected by her husband because of her inability to bear more children and her foul smell. She will be shunned by her community and forced to live an isolated existence. These women suffer profound psychological trauma resulting from their utter loss of status and dignity, in addition to suffering constantly from their physical internal injury."

source: http://www.fistulafoundation.org/whatisfistula/

In many parts of Africa, fistula are common and a major health concern.

Everyone knows about the turmoil in Congo and the systematic rape among civilian populations.

Margot Wallström dubbed eastern Congo the “most dangerous place on earth to be a woman”.

In Congo, fistula is practically an epidemic. Thousands of women had been raped so brutally that they had fistulas. Most normal rapes, even really violent ones don’t cause fistulas so one can only imagine what these Congolese women have endured. It was more than just the rape, the sexual assault by a man or men, it was the introduction of objects into the women’s vagina like sticks, and weapons, pipes and lord know what else causing damage to her reproductive organs and insides which cannot heal or fix itself.  

What is in the hearts and minds of men to use this horrific tactic of war on females? All of this is too painful to even think about and it’s too awful for me to even continue writing….