Today three things happened which made me think: ” What is wrong with the world?”
Firstly I treated a lovely lady who had extremely severe incontinence, just continual leakage when in the upright position- it made me think ……leakage just like when you have a fistula- like I’ve written about with Dr Hannah Krause and Professor Judith Goh and their wonderful work in Africa repairing the fistula patients. Luckily for this lady she lives in Australia and after a repair operation she will hopefully be completely continent.
Funny I saw her today, because tonight I had a meeting for our Qld branch of the Continence Foundation of Australia, and heard from Hannah that the agency that provides funding for a fistula programme in one of the (many) regions Judith and Hannah work in, may cease funding the fistula repairs as of June. Now that would be a tragedy because so many women rely on this funding in order to go back to living a better quality of life amongst their families and in their community, rather than facing a life of isolation and rejection because of their bladder and bowel leakage. Each operation only costs approximately $300 AUS which is pretty amazing when you consider the transformation in the women.
Lastly- just now, when I was catching up on Twitter, I read an article which stated that an Australian women’s magazine had paid $150,000 for some photos taken of a pregnant Kate Middleton in a bikini. Yes – I was aghast as well. $150,000 for some intrusive photos for the world to ogle someone when they were on their private family holiday.
And yet what good could have come of an investment of $150,000 by this magazine into a humanitarian project like fistula repair. Imagine the kudos in running an 8 page spread of photos – firstly of the sad faces of the women who trudge hundreds of miles to line up for Judith and Hannah; of the hospital, the nurses and local doctors responsible for their care during their stay; and finally the ecstasy once their catheters come out and they are dry and continent again- their smiles light up, their joy profoundly obvious.
International Women’s Day is on 8th March. What a wonderful gesture to make a commitment to such a project on this day. Many
Australian women would have new respect for any magazine that funded such a worthy cause. In case any Editors with buckets of money are interested, I’ll put in a link to HADA– the place to contact should you want to help this amazing cause.
Imagine leaking continuously from your bladder and bowel, every minute, every day, every week……with no pads. It beggars belief.
Everything that’s wrong with the world.
Everything That’s Wrong With The World
