Your parents get a divorce when you’re five.
You have to go live with your Aunt. You are not allowed to go to school. You become the house servant.
You decide to run off with your sister to work as maids for room and board.
A neighbor tells you he can find better work for you out of town. Instead he sells you for $10 and keeps the money.
The buyer rapes you. And beats you. And your sister.
You are thirteen. He is sixty.
He bought you to be his second wife. He is forty seven years older than you.
His first wife whips you because she is jealous of you. You don’t know where your sister is anymore.
They don’t let you out of the house because you might run away. You are a slave.
You become pregnant.
Seven months in, you run away to your local village.
However, your family is gone. No one wants to help you.
You try and drown yourself in the river, but your uncle finds you and takes you back.
You can’t afford a midwife. You try to have the baby yourself.
Your pelvis is too small and the baby’s head can’t breach.
You are fourteen years old.
You are in obstructed labor. The baby is stuck inside you.
For seven days.
You’re unconscious and someone is summoned to help.
By this time the baby has been wedged against your pelvis for so long that the tissue between the baby’s head and our pelvis has lost circulation and rotted away.
You wake up to find your baby dead. You have no control over your bowels.
You have an obstetric fistula.
You can’t walk or stand. The nerve damage is too great.
The word pain is not a sufficient description.
People say you are cursed. They say you should leave. You can’t stay here.
Your uncle wants to help, but his wife fears it would sacrilegious to help someone cursed by God.
She urges him to take you outside the village and leave you to be eaten by wild animals.
He gives you food and water.
Then he takes you to a hut at the edge of the village.
They take the door off. They want the hyenas to eat you alive.
After dark, they come.
You can’t move your legs. There is a dead baby inside of you.
You wave a stick frantically at the hyenas to fend them off. You shout all night long as they circle you.
You are fourteen years old and as alone in the world as can be.
Morning comes. You must leave your village.
You are determined to live.
You heard of a missionary in a nearby village. You drag your legs out of the hut. You crawl in that direction, pulling your body forward inch by inch with just your arms.
You are nearly dead when you arrive at the village over a day later.
The missionary rushes you inside and saves your life.
He later takes you to the to the capital city. He brings you to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.
You find scores of other girls and women also suffering from obstetric fistula.
You are examined, bathed, given new clothes and shows how to wash yourself and your uncontrollable waste.
The acid from the urine on your legs no longer eats away at your skin.
The floors are mopped several times an hour to avoid puddle build up.
The local gynecologist, Catherine Hamlin, is a saint. She takes you under her wing.
Catherine Hamlin & You.
You cannot be fully repaired. Thankfully, therapy helps you walk again. You settle for colostomy.
Catherine puts you to work in the hospital. You change linens, help patients wash, but are curious about what the doctors are doing.
The doctors realize you are a smart girl and give you more and more responsibility.
Over the years you work hard and help countless women overcome the same challenges you once faced.
You are illiterate, yet you are promoted to senior nurse’s aid.
Your name is Mahabouba Muhammad. You are a hero.
We are climbing Kilimanjaro so there will never be another you.
{ 3 comments }
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
Hi! My name is Diane Schmitt. I am a junior at Cornell University majoring in food science. I plan to obtain a Ph. D in food science and to pursue a career in product development and research. In addition to my involvement in Fistula Free Climb I am an active member of the food science club, Developing Solutions for Developing Countries Product Development Team, and the Danisco Product Development Team. Furthermore, I am currently doing research in the effects of phenolics on the survival of microorganisms in wine.
I woke up yesterday morning at 7am and haven’t slept since; I pulled an all-nighter for my Anatomy and Physiology exam. Sometime around 3 this morning, as I was embracing facts about partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the respiratory system, I came across this table in my textbook to help understand arterial and alveolar pressures. The increasing altitudes, starting from sea level, included 20,000 feet, which is the approximate height we will ascend to conquer Kilimanjaro.
After just finishing what was probably my most stressful week of the semester, I am now ready to focus more on the climb! I used to swim a lot, and was particularly good at pushups and sit-ups. Unfortunately, I haven’t done them in ages. I started back up yesterday though, and I can feel the improvement in my sore muscles already. I’m glad to be getting my strength back, and I’m also going back to lap-swimming to get back in shape there too. It’s so much easier to do all these things when I don’t have to study for tests!
