Celestine Likim Omuse, 53, is a happy woman after going through a successful fistula reconstructive surgery. Celestine, a mother of one has been indoors for the last six months. This is in contrast to her personality. In normal circumstances, Celestine is a jovial and outgoing woman.
Celestine has been suffering from a fistula since October 2022. Fistula causes infections, pain, and bad smell, and often triggers stigma and the breakdown of family, work, and community life. Celestine, a church leader in her fellowship, says the last six months have been the worst in her entire life. She has not been in a position to serve her people well.
She points out that, she has been in awkward positions since the condition has disabled her from carrying on her duties as she ought to. “It has been tricky to serve in my condition. I had to look for survival tactics. I would sometimes attend meetings late to avoid messing with the clothes I have on or arrive late and leave early. Failure to do that I had to keep excusing myself. I feared traveling long distances or places we would spend a night out on a mission” says Celestine adding she has been avoiding long meetings like a plague.
Celestine says that she realized she had the condition six months ago when she went to the hospital for surgery. “Initially I didn’t know where I was ailing from but I knew all was not well. It’s not normal for a grown-up to pass urine unexpectedly,” she says.
When it started…
The mother of one notes that it all started in 2019 when she developed some problems in her uterus. She started bleeding heavily. This saw her seek medical advice. The doctor’s test revealed she had some growth and hence advised to do an operation,” she says.
After the operation, Celestine went back home but this time something was amiss. “It’s back home she realized all was not well with her. I would pass urine without my knowledge at night and sometimes during the day time. The experience made her restless,” she remarks.
She notes that the situation was so embarrassing and has been among the top secret in her life. “I didn’t want anyone to know about it but I opened up to my husband, a fellow woman leader in the church and my daughter-in-law,” she says
Celestine says that the three were her pillars. They supported and encouraged her. “I flipped off from sharing the issue with my son but God helped me to open up to her wife. Since she is a woman and very close to me it wasn’t hard to share with her,” she says.
She notes that fistula is an embarrassing condition and hinders women from going on with their day-to-day activities like other people. “I think this is the worst condition ever as you can’t mingle with people comfortably and humans are social beings. There is no way I can live alone and expect development in my life,” she says.
Celestine encourages women suffering from the condition not to keep quiet as they might find help. “It’s good to share whatever situation you might be going through as you don’t know where your help might come from,” she observes.
She says in her case it’s a fellow woman who shared with her about the campaign that was being conducted in Webuye County Hospital by the Flying Doctors Society of Africa, M-PESA Foundation, AMREF, and Royal Media Services.
At the time I even didn’t have fare to the hospital, I walked almost 50 kilometers but I can’t regret it since I got treated and now I am healed. “I got operated on. The operation didn’t take long. We have been treated well with dignity and I am very grateful that I am okay again,” she adds.
She observes that sometimes courage is all we need to overcome some situations, “since I am a woman leader I will volunteer to reach out to fellow women and find out whether there are those keeping quiet and suffering from the condition,” she says.
“I want them to know fistula can be treated and I will direct them on how they can get help,” Celestine says happily.
Although the full global extent of this problem is not known fistula has crippled thousands of women worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, fistula strikes roughly 50,000 to 100,000 women and girls every year, mainly in resource-poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
In Kenya, approximately 3,000 women and girls develop fistula every year, while the backlog of those living with untreated fistula is estimated to be between 30,000 and 300,000 cases.
