Lizata’s Story: A 360 Kilometer Journey to Healing
For two years, Lizata lived without answers.
Lizata developed obstetric fistula after a difficult labor and emergency cesarean birth in Côte d’Ivoire.
Her baby did not survive.
Soon after, Lizata began experiencing uncontrollable leakage.
She spent months seeking help through hospital visits, but no solution came.
As the injury continued, its effects reached into nearly every part of her life.
She could no longer work.
Her marriage became strained.
And the isolation surrounding fistula left her feeling abandoned by the people around her.
For two years, Lizata lived with an injury that was treatable, but treatment remained out of reach.
Then a connection changed everything.
Returning home opened a path to specialized care.
Lizata eventually returned to her hometown of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
There, a relative connected her with a hospital where she met a representative from ARENA Medical Center.
For the first time, Lizata was connected with a team that understood her condition and knew how to treat it.
But receiving care required another journey.
With support from ARENA, Lizata traveled more than 360 kilometers to Ouagadougou.
After years of frustration and unanswered questions, she was welcomed with compassion and understanding.
And hope began to return.
One week later, Lizata received surgery.
The injury that had shaped two years of her life was finally treated.
At ARENA Medical Center, Lizata received reconstructive surgery to repair her fistula.
The procedure was successful.
For Lizata, healing meant being able to return to the parts of everyday life that fistula had taken away.
She could work again.
She could reconnect with her community.
She could look toward the future instead of organizing each day around an untreated injury.
“My life has completely changed thanks to reconstructive surgery. I can carry out my daily activities, and I also hope to have a child soon.”
Healing gave Lizata her future back.
After two years of living with leakage, loss, isolation, and uncertainty, Lizata is moving forward.
Her story is a reminder that women can live for years with obstetric fistula not because the injury cannot be treated, but because specialized care can be difficult to find or reach.
A relative made a connection.
ARENA helped make the journey possible.
Specialized surgery repaired the injury.
And Lizata was able to return home with something she had been missing for years:
the freedom to imagine what comes next.
Help More Women Reach Specialized Care
Lizata’s fistula was treatable, but the care she needed was hundreds of kilometers away.
Your support helps locally led partners connect women with specialized treatment and make life-changing care more accessible.
