Tafetu – whose name means “Sweetie” – has lived anything but a sweet life. She was born and raised in a remote rural village in North Gonder in the northwest of Ethiopia, where life was hard. The village was two days by foot from the main road and closest market town, and basic social services such as healthcare, clean water, and transportation were inaccessible.
Tafetu was married off to a husband at the tender age of 14. For Tafetu and many girls her age, married life brought more challenges. She shouldered the burden of maintaining her home while little more than a child. Each day, she fed her husband, walked long distances to and from the closest water source – carrying heavy loads of water on her back to her home. Then it was into the jungle to collect firewood. She was often up before the sun and in bed long after midnight.
Tafetu has been pregnant five times, but only two of her sons were born alive. They are now ten and five years old. All her births took place at home, but her fifth labor was the most difficult. She labored for two days and finally walked six hours to the nearest health clinic. The healthcare workers at this clinic saw the challenge immediately and sent her to a government hospital by ambulance.
She survived this obstructed labor, but her child did not. She was left devastated and leaking urine because of a condition that she’d never heard of before: obstetric fistula.
“This injury totally destroyed my life,” Tafetu said. “My husband left me because I am unable to serve him anymore. I became homeless and separated from my sons, staying with kind relatives between visits to the hospital while looking for a cure.”
After three months of recovery from this labor, Tafetu headed to our Mekelle Fistula Center. Her fistula was complex, and after attempting the first repair in Mekelle, she was transferred to the Addis Ababa Fistula Center for ongoing treatment.
In May of 2018, Tafetu received a diversion surgery at the Addis Ababa Fistula Center. She is finally cured.
“Had I not been here at Hamlin, I would have died. I am poor; I’d lost my family, and I was homeless. Where I am from, women like me have no hope. Now, this hospital is my home and the staff is my family. You restored my life, cured me, and are now equipping me with skills I can use to make a living for myself as I recover at Desta Mender. Nothing I say can ever express my heartfelt thanks to you all.”
You can give Tafetu and women like her hope. No women should have to suffer the double loss of her children and dignity the way she has. Donate now to ensure that more women get treated for childbirth injuries and can access the care that prevents them in the first place.
