Shimider Fistula: Obstructed Labour

Habiba Cooper Diallo at the Word On The Street 2011 

In honor of Black History Month I am going to write a book review written by a young aspiring writer Habiba Cooper Diallo. At the age 15 Habiba has traveled around the world a few times and her love for her ancestors is  remarkable. 

The book in review,  Shimider Fistula: Obstructed Labour, written by Habiba Cooper originally started as an 8th grade short story writing assignment. When speaking with Habiba about inspired her to write such story, this is what she had to say:

Obstetric fistula is a childbirth driven illness that results from an obstructed labour. The physical effects it has on the mother includes incontinence, genital ulceration, nerve damage and infections that can ultimately result in death if not treated. The baby is almost always still born due to lack of oxygen during labour. Fistula also has many extreme social and psychological implications. Most women affected by it are ostracized and abandoned by their communities due to the sever conditions it leaves them in, notably incontinence. This gives rise to psychological issues and many women resort to suicide. However, what is most disheartening about it all is that  obstetric fistula is a completely preventative illness. The women who are fistula patients lack adequate health care facilities. I was inspired to become an advocate for the issue about 4 years ago when I read an article about a young girl, Anafghat Ayouba, who suffered an obstetric fistula . Her story was very heart-rending this today I am passionate about creating public awareness about the issue to see the eradication of fistula.   

Habiba has been speaking on this issue through her soon to be released book during the Word On The Street 2011 Festival  . She captured the audience while reading her story with a great passion for this issue. The story is based in Ethiopia and it describes the journey of a woman who is pregnant and, while accompanied by two youngens, a boy and a girl, she is finally making it to the hospital to deliver the baby who has died on the way before she got the chance to give birth. Although the woman has a great chance at attaining medical attention for her obstetric fistula which she acquired through her painful labour, many women from these part of the world are not aware of the medical attention that they can receive to prevent and treat obstetric fistula. Generally women live in shame and segregated by the other citizen often living with a stigma of shame. 


The fact that someone as young as Habiba, a 15 years old, had taken upon herself to talk about this issue so openly it is a reason to admire today's youth. I hope to see a change and I am confident that her book will create the awareness needed for us to talk about this issue that women in under developed countries are facing in today's society. Please stay tuned for the upcoming book. Details to follow. Until then, if you would like to know more about fistula you can check out this link from The Fistula Foundation.


If you are wondering why I used this topic to talk about for the Black History Month well, here is why:

• Habiba is a very involved African/Caribbean/Canadian youth in the issues pertaining not only to fistula but to the Black history in general.
• Fistula is an issue predominantly taking place in  sun-Saharan Africa and Asia.

D. 

Experiencing a better Lifestyle

I always brag about changing my life and the truth is I find it quite hard to do it at times.

I find myself to be quite the multitasker and when it comes to my own needs, I rarely follow up. I do work quite hard and being a single parent of two very small children it does have it's challenges. Although this should be of no excuse, my children ought to be more of an incentive where I become their role model to a better, healthier life.

I realized lately that I feel over stressed. I yell at everyone because of  the littlest things and my patience level is running on minimum. I try to discipline (for lack of a better word) my children and when I come up with a grounding solution it seems that it is easier, at that moment, to just let it go only because I can't stand the thought of having to raise my voice at my children once again. Yes, life would've been easier if I were to have the support needed or if I were to live in a society where we would all understand that It takes a village to raise a child , literally. I sometimes feel that everyone around me has very high expectations of me and if I ever dare to fall through the cracks once the same people seem to be quite happy to throw an "I told you so" expression in my face. And if it isn't the good old fashion "I told you so" I get the classic "Your children, not mine". Don't even get me started on the sperm donors because that's a whole other blog entry.

So how can I be everything to everyone? It is simple. I will not!

My life changing experience starts NOW and the solution is simple. I will follow the blog entries of Coverground.ca to help me in making the lifestyle changes I need to help me better my life. In addition, I will make a commitment to exercise my favorite workout  at least three times a week to start with, which will also help me rid of stress. Nutrition will also be a big part of this transformation helping me to a healthier success where I will start by eliminating the toxic food and replacing it with healthier alternatives. And to make it more official, follow my blog to make sure I keep my word and to give me a push if and when I need it.

Cheers.

D.