For 20 years, Doris lived with fistula.
Doris is a mother of five and grandmother of sixteen from Kenya. She developed obstetric fistula during the birth of her first child, and for the next 20 years, the injury shaped nearly every part of her life. The physical effects of fistula were difficult enough, but the isolation and shame surrounding the condition made it even harder for Doris to participate fully in her community. Year after year, she lived with an injury she did not know could be treated.
That changed when the Let’s End Fistula Initiative, or LEFI, visited Chetais Hospital. For the first time, Doris learned that healing was possible. With support and encouragement from her husband, she traveled to Kakamega, Kenya, for surgery. After two decades of living with fistula, she finally received the treatment that would allow her to begin moving forward.
But Doris’s story did not end with surgery. When she returned home, she joined a solidarity group where fistula survivors could support one another and begin rebuilding socially and economically. There, Doris was encouraged to think about what independence might look like for her. With business training and a micro-loan, she opened a small retail shop.
What began as a modest source of income grew. Doris secured a contract to supply 30 loaves of bread each day to a nearby hospital, giving her a reliable stream of earnings. That income eventually helped her purchase land, creating another layer of security for herself and her family.
Doris continued building from there. She began making crafts, selling second-hand clothing, cultivating her land, and raising goats and cows for household use and sale. Instead of depending on one source of income, she created several. Through years of hard work, she was able to support her family and help provide her children with an education.
Her journey shows why recovery from fistula can mean so much more than repairing a physical injury. Surgery gave Doris her health back, but reintegration, community support, training, and economic opportunity helped her rebuild a life around that healing.
After 20 years of isolation, Doris became a business owner, landowner, farmer, and provider for her family. The injury that once limited her life no longer defines what she can do next.
Help Recovery Become Independence
For women like Doris, healing does not end with surgery. Your support helps locally led partners provide reintegration, business training, solidarity groups, and economic opportunities that help survivors rebuild on their own terms.
