Reborn From the Ashes

How many thoughts do we have in a day? Have you ever wondered about this? According to the Laboratory of Neruo Imaging from USC, humans on average have 70,000 thoughts per day. I would love to know how many of my thoughts each day have to do with the "pressures" or expectations I feel the world pushes on me. I would guess...a lot of them! We all feel the need to be accepted and we seek to belong. We look at others and sort them. We find correlations and we make summations from this. All the popular kids wear blue shoes, I will wear blue shoes, thus I will be popular. Due to this we do certain things that we believe will influence others to accept us. Some things that are pretty ridiculous...I could tell you some stories about middle school. Yikes! ;) 

Sometimes no matter what we do we feel that the world has turned its back on us. We are left alone and yet everyone's eyes are on us. Hostile gossip and side ways glances.  Some have crumbled under the pressure of life, but others have risen. Very simliarly to Fawkes the Phoenix, they rise from their own bitter ashes a stronger being. 

“Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry. Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes.”
― J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This is my friend Sauda. She is one of the many people I worked with in Uganda this summer. She was faced with a struggle that could have crippled. Instead she has risen from the ashes! 

I would like to take you back several months ago. The setting is Mbale, Uganda on the east side of Middle Africa. Mbale is large and yet has the small town feel. Everyone knows everyone. You walk down the street, vendors are yelling and gossiping at the same time. Those that do not have jobs, just walk around town. Our hero, Sauda, is in a long term relationship. She is happy and healthy! Then she determines that she is pregnant. She tells her boyfriend the happy news and unfortunately he is not thrilled. He demands that she abort the baby, she refuses, and he quickly removes himself from the situation. He left...left her alone to deal with this pregnancy. Sauda found herself alone in a sea of people. I am sure that she felt the side ways glances and the gossip swirling around her. I never asked her how her confidence was affected by this, but I would imagine that she felt about 2 inches tall. The world did its best to push her down and yet she rose. She rose from the ashes of her old self and into a new beautiful being. Sauda made a decision. She wanted this baby. She also wanted to do more in life. She started a group to support women who have a fistula. I have come to find that no one in America knows what this is, unless they have taken Women's Health. A fistula is a rip that develops between organs. There are a few different types, but the most common occurs during an obstructed labor. It can occur between the vagina and the anus and is caused by complication during child birth. If the child is not positioned properly and the labor becomes constricted without proper medical attention, the women can develop a tear as the child is birthed. This is very rare in America, since most people have access health care professionals. However, in Uganda, this is not the case. Most people do not give birth with a doctor, they just give birth at home. If the labor becomes obstructed they may not be able to get to a medical professional in time. The child has a very high risk of death during an obstructed labor. 

Not only is this extremely painful, but it also carries societal repercussions. Many villagers still believe that fistulas are punishments from God or due to witch craft. The woman is shunned from the community. She is left to live alone with her condition. Some create communities in the jungle with others who suffer from fistulas. 

(This is a meeting of the fistula team...me, Katie, Sauda, Cristina holding Zam's new born, and Zam.)

Sauda helps to find these women and he them to raise money for the surgery that they need. It is a pretty easy surgery and fairly cheap due to the funding the government has provided. There is a hospital in Kampala that specifically treats fistulas. The woman has to pay for travel to Kampala, food while you are there, and the bed sheet for surgery. Sauda helps them to raise money for these fees. She also works to educate people about the true causes of fistulas. She explains the common misconceptions and how to prevent fistulas. All this while, she is pregnant and probably hoping that everything will go alright when she delivers.  She has chosen to help others even while she is dealing with her own struggles. 

I wish that I could guarantee smooth sailing in life, but unfortunately I can't. In fact I can pretty much guarantee that rough times will come, but you have the ability to rise. Rise from the ashes!