Abebush was married for two years when she became pregnant. She went into labour in her village and delivered a stillborn child after 5 days of labour. When she regained consciousness she found she was leaking urine and faeces from fistulae both to her rectum and bladder. Her husband divorced her and she went to live with her widowed mother who was very poor. Abebush’s mother looked after her as best she could.

For the last 6 years, Abebush was kept in a little hut. She was fed once a day. All that time she lay curled up on the floor and after some time her legs became locked in contractures in the foetal position. She is unable to straighten her hips or knees or flex her ankles.

She was found by a partner Non Government Organisation which brought her to us in Bahir Dar. She was in a pitiful state. She was completely emaciated weighing barely 30kgs. She cried in pain every time she moved as her bones rubbed on the bed. She was very depressed. The first time she smiled after arriving at the centre was when my young son William came to cheer her up. William calls her the ‘tired lady’.

Abebush is only about 20 years old and has spent almost a third of her life locked away in a little room.

She has now been moved to our main hospital in Addis Ababa where she will receive much love, care and treatment to prepare her for the fistula surgery which hopefully will cure her and give her a new life.

Dr Andrew Browning

Her name is Sunday, and her history is recorded in the letter we received from a missionary working in a small remote village. It was headed "A cry for help from Southern Sudan"!

The letter told of a 3 day labour ending in the stillbirth of her first baby but leaving her with incontinence of urine. This kind missionary overcame many obstacles to contact us and to arrange for a young girl of 17 who had hardly moved from her remote village to be taken by road to Juba and then flown to Addis Ababa. The letter we received was touching in the extreme, with so many problems overcome.

Philip, the young man who accompanied Sunday was from the same area, but who amazingly had been in Ethiopia previously as a refugee with his family. So he was the ideal person to accompany her and to act as her interpreter when she arrived. He was a true Christian man and displayed the love of God as he sat beside her and talked to our staff. He even told us of some relatives or friends still living in Ethiopia. He lived in our hospital compound for a few days after Sunday’s operation, but as soon as she was making good progress he had to leave to return home to the Sudan, where he was to join a course arranged for him by his mission.

In her convalescence, Sunday was taught to embroider, and is now doing amazing work! I see her always busy sitting on the verandah with this skill, she has learnt here! We all admire her work and are so pleased to see her smiling face. Soon we shall be arranging her flight back to Juba, which fortunately is a direct flight with no change of planes in Nairobi!

Dr Catherine Hamlin

Aisha Mariam is only 14 years old, yet so composed and mature for her age! She comes from the remote arid region of the Afar area in the East of Ethiopia. She was brought by her devoted husband. Even before her surgery she had a smile on her face which is rarely displayed by this race!

She had delivered a stillborn baby after 3 days of labour, and was left with this injury causing incontinence of urine. Two other Afar patients are often seen sitting on her bed or on the verandah bench with her. These two have both been abandoned by their husbands and were brought to us by Valerie Browning, whose life is spent helping the Afar woman, in total dedication to their welfare. Soon Aisha will have her catheter removed, and be sent home, as hers was not a complicated repair and her convalescence has been smooth and normal. She will be given instructions on future pregnancies, a new dress, and money for the journey home and for her faithful husband too!

Dr Catherine Hamlin

The Hospital received two patients who looked similar. It was thought that they might be sisters but when asked the older of the two replied, "yes we are related, she is my eldest daughter".

Muche, the mother is 40 years old and has had a fistula for eight years. After an exhausting five day labour she delivered a still born child. Her husband, even though she was the mother of his four other children, abandoned her. Muche was ostracised by her village and endured a lonely and shameful existence.

Hawa, who is 25 years old, had been a first hand witness to her mother’s suffering and loss and feared that she would end up with the same problem as her. Her fear was realised on her fifth delivery when she too had an obstructed labour. After an excruciating four days in labour her child was still born and she was left with a fistula.

Fortunately for Hawa she only had to live with this problem for 7 months. As part of the Hospital’s prevention program a public health officer in Bahir Dar had organised an educational radio program in the Amhara region and Hawa and Muche learned about the opportunity to be healed.

Much hard work still needs to be done to prevent the terrible injuries caused by obstructed labour. One way of doing this is through education and creating greater awareness about obstructed labour so that young girls like Hawa will not face the same problems as their mothers.