Betty survived childbirth. Then she was sent home with an injury she didn’t understand.
Betty Nalule labored at home for two days with the help of a traditional birth attendant.
By the end of the second day, she was exhausted and severely anemic. Betty was transported on the back of a motorcycle to a hospital, where she received a blood transfusion and underwent an emergency cesarean birth.
Her daughter, Favour, survived.
But Betty’s ordeal was not over.
The prolonged, obstructed labor had caused an obstetric fistula, leaving an opening between her bladder and vagina and causing urine to leak continuously.
Betty remained in the hospital for three weeks recovering from childbirth.
She was eventually sent home still leaking urine, without an explanation of what had happened to her or information about where she could receive treatment.
The injury began changing the life around her.
Living with constant leakage quickly affected Betty’s relationships and sense of security.
Her boyfriend, Favour’s father, left her after the birth.
He told Betty he could no longer tolerate the smell caused by the leaking urine.
Betty was left caring for her newborn while also trying to understand an injury she had never expected and had not been told could be treated.
Her childbirth story had already included prolonged labor, anemia, emergency surgery, and the fear of losing her baby.
Now she was facing fistula too.
Then her sister told her about TERREWODE.
For the first time, Betty learned that treatment was possible.
Betty’s sister knew about TERREWODE Women’s Community Hospital and told her that specialized treatment was available.
The hospital in Soroti provides care for women living with obstetric fistula and other childbirth injuries, combining medical treatment with social support and services intended to help women rebuild their lives after injury.
Betty traveled to TERREWODE and received surgery to repair her fistula at no cost to her.
The treatment changed something that had shaped every moment of her life since giving birth.
She was dry again.
Sitting on her hospital bed with baby Favour in her arms, Betty described what that meant to her.
“For me, sitting here without worrying about urine anymore is a miracle.”
Then she added:
“I owe Terrewode my new life.”
Healing means more than closing the injury.
Treatment gave Betty room to look forward again.
At TERREWODE, fistula repair is part of a broader approach to recovery.
Women can receive specialized treatment alongside the social support and reintegration services that help them recover from the wider effects of childbirth injury.
The model recognizes that surgery can repair a fistula, but a woman may still need support rebuilding her confidence, relationships, livelihood, and sense of belonging.
TERREWODE also works to strengthen maternal health and prevent fistula so fewer women experience the prolonged, obstructed labor that caused Betty’s injury in the first place.
For Betty, though, the impact begins with something beautifully simple.
She can sit with her daughter without worrying about leaking urine.
She can imagine a life beyond fistula.
And she can move forward with Favour beside her.
