Judith

Judith was married at the age of 16. She married so young because she was living in poverty and her parents could not afford to take care of her. She lived with fistula for 20 years.  It was her first pregnancy with her first husband where she developed fistula.

She was forced to go the Traditional birth attendant (TBA) by her parents as they believed in using TBA for delivering babies. She stayed for 3 days and the TBA was not able to deliver her baby.  She was taken to the hospital but by the time the doctors operated on her, she had already lost the baby. She noted she was leaking urine when she woke up from her operation. 

Judith suffered for so many years and visited many hospitals but was never treated. She gave up hope of ever being cured from this condition. To make matters worse her first husband left her and remarried another woman in her village. Judith met another man who accepted her for who she was and they married. He has been supportive for all the years they have been together and he continues to support her today.

In 2022, she was referred to the centre by the district hospital. She came to the centre in January and was operated on the same month.  Judith’s fistula operation was successful and she has been dry ever since.

During the 20 years she had fistula she felt so alone, and was not able to move around in her village freely.  People in her village used to talk ill about her and did not want to be near her as they said she smelled.  Her own friends use to laugh at her and this made her depressed. She felt sad all the time.  Now Judith is a happy woman and she is free from fistula and living her wonderful life. She is enjoying doing the things she loved and missed.

Judith was one of the lucky women to be selected to participate in the goat farming project.  After receiving her 3 goats (2 females and 1 male) in 2022, both of the goats give birth to male kids.  One goat gave birth in November and the other goat gave birth in December. Judith moved her goats to her mother’s home for safe keeping as they were unsafe at her home. Judith uses the goat faeces for manure to grow her crops and one day dreams of owning her own land and building a house for her family.

 I am very grateful that FCC for curing me.  Without the centre I would not be where I am.  Words fail me to express how I feel.  You transformed my life.