With the help, medical care and preparation for a positive future, Deborah and Moses once again live as a loving family.
Deborah Acham embraces renewal. Today, Deborah Acham, 30, a fistula survivor, goes about her domestic chores humming melodiously at her home in Kadungulu Parish in Kadungulu Town Council, Serere District, in eastern Uganda. Her environment, including a lush plantation of sugar cane, yams and plantains, measures close to an acre and contains four neat traditional huts. It is a far more pleasant life than the emotional crisis Deborah was living through in 2020 when she came to to Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital seeking treatment.
Deborah suffered a triple tragedy while giving birth. A ghastly delivery of her fifth child ended in a stillbirth, an obstetric fistula, and a ruptured uterus, resulting in grief and uncontrollable urine leakage for three years until her repair at TWCH. She experienced social isolation and a bitter relationship with her husband, Moses—all romantic and supportive moments were gone. Unsuccessful treatments cost their family two ox-ploughs and some family land.
“Eong abull etuwo (let me break the guard),” (proverbial Teso language meaning being honest) says Moses. “The smell of ‘raw’ urine that leaks out uncontrollably is ten times smellier than ‘ripe’ urine that goes through the normal bladder,” he explains. “Our sex life became terrible. We separated beds, and then huts. I refused to eat her food because I felt she was unhygienic.”
Coming home again. Deborah’s surgery, recovery and participation in reintegration programs at TWCH attracted Moses back to a life with her. “I sat alone and thought to myself, ‘I didn’t get this woman [Deborah] with this [fistula] condition, and neither did she apply to the doctors to get it,’” said Moses. “I will go back to my loyal and respectful wife, and her forgiving, loving nature welcomed him.
A renewed partnership. The couple earns regular income from the sugarcane, yams and plantains planted in the backyard plot, and Deborah boils and sells yams on market day. “I’m now okay. Love has returned into our relationship,” says Deborah. “I can freely socialize with people. I used to be scared every time I went out in public—I feared the stench of urine that clung on me. That’s no more. My heart is now at peace. [My love with Moses] is renewed.” They both have become active community advocates seeking to help girls and women suffering from obstetric fistula.