New Life

     My blogs have been primarily about the Maasai. This group of people greatly impress me as they live a hard and difficult life and survive despite the challenges. This link is to the Selian Lutheran Hospital which was built to serve the Maasai people in the northern Tanzanian area.
     One of the speciality services offered provides surgical repair for women who would otherwise face the possibility of dying as an outcast. Vesico vaginal fistula repair allows the women a new lease on life. This is described as a silent epidemic due to the "inappropriateness" to discuss such a personal concern.
     The belief of the Maasai is that when a woman becomes pregnant she should not gain weight so that the baby is small at birth which would allow for easier delivery. Unfortunately the growing fetus does not know this and grows while the mother's health actually gets put at jeopardy when she needs to be her healthiest. This practice of limiting the mother's diet makes for a more difficult childbirth many times causing trauma to the birth canal and surrounding tissues. A vesico vaginal fistula develops resulting in constant leakage of urine and/or stool. This makes the woman "unclean" which can result in her becoming an outcast and possibly being divorced by her husband. These women are forced to try to survive any way possible with many dying.
     The Selian Hospital does approximately 100 repairs annually free of charge to the women. These women stay at the hospital until fully healed and then are given a bus ticket home. The women are also given a new kanga (cloth wrap worn by the women) as a symbol of their new life.