Fistula Case Studies
Ayabush's Story
We met Ayabush in the fistula hospital's physiotherapy room. Overcome by shyness, she turned away, as the doctors told us her story.
A double fistula caused by a six-day obstructed labour had left Ayabush permanently incontinent. The smell of the constant trickle of urine and faces running down her legs made Ayabush's husband desert her and her community shun her presence. Like many desperate Ethiopian women afflicted with incontinence, Ayabush thought she could stop the seepage by lying down. So she lay down.
For six years Ayabush lay motionless on a hard wooden board on the floor of her hut. Although her husband had left her, she was lucky that her brothers and sisters fed and tried to clean her. But they were unable to prevent her muscles from wasting away and bed sores forming as she lay immobile year after year.
The Fistula Hospital's Dr Ambaye found Ayabush on one of her outreach trips to Southern Ethiopia and brought her back to the Hospital. She underwent intensive physiotherapy to regenerate her wasted muscles before the doctors were able to perform the necessary surgery to mend her fistula injuries. After six years of lying on a wooden board, Ayabush returned home to her family, her work and her life with her dignity restored.
Mamitu Gashie
Every woman who passes through the doors of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital adds to its incredible history. Indeed, many of the staff first arrived as patients themselves. But no-one has had quite such a dramatic impact as Mamitu Gashie.
When Manitu arrived at the Hospital many years ago, she was an uneducated peasant girl, frightened, weak and in terrible pain. A few weeks later she was completely cured and ready to go home, but Mamitu felt there was more for her at the Hospital.
The Hamlins were always in need of helpers, and Mamitu stayed on to do what she could. She performed the twice daily chore of changing the bedlinen and she cooked and cleaned. After a while she started with post-operative care and was invited by Dr Reg Hamlin to come into the operating theatre to observe. Before long she was a surgical assistant and, after helping in hundreds of cases, she carried out her first operation.
Mamitu is now one of the worlds most experienced fistula surgeons. On August 3rd 1989, both Mamitu and Dr Hamlin were awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, the greatest honour for any surgeon.