Aster’s story

“When I arrived back home I was ecstatic and entered the house kneeling and shouting with joy.”

Aster

Half a century ago, Aster gave birth to a stillborn baby boy. With no access to medical care her long, obstructed labour resulted in an obstetric fistula, a condition she has lived with ever since.

Despite her injury and incontinence, Aster continued to care for her husband and her home. She was never able to fall pregnant again. 

Earlier this year, help finally arrived for Aster. Hamlin’s Project Zero team came to her village looking for women with untreated fistula injuries. Aster and her husband were sceptical. Her husband says, “I believed her condition to be incurable at this old age and I didn’t want her to have empty hope.”

They reluctantly visited Hamlin’s Metu Fistula Hospital, where she received loving care and treatment for her injury. She has returned home feeling like a new person.

“They were like a family, very empathic. When I arrived back home I was ecstatic and entered the house kneeling and shouting with joy. I am very grateful. Now I am leading a happy life!” says Aster.