Elsevier

Obstetrics & Gynecology

Volume 100, Issue 6, December 2002, Pages 1328-1332
Obstetrics & Gynecology

Current commentary
Fitsari ′dan Duniya: An African (Hausa) praise song about vesicovaginal fistulas

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0029-7844(02)02498-5Get rights and content

Abstract

The vesicovaginal fistula from prolonged obstructed labor is a condition that is no longer seen in the affluent, industrialized world, yet it continues to exist in epidemic proportions in sub-Saharan Africa, where several million women are estimated to suffer from this condition. The unremitting urinary incontinence that is produced by a fistula causes these women to become social outcasts. The problem is particularly acute in Nigeria, where the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs estimates that there may be as many as 800,000 unrepaired fistula cases. Because of the social stigma attached to their condition, fistula victims have often been subjected to major psychosocial trauma. Finding ways to help such patients reintegrate into social networks is an important part of their treatment. When fistula patients meet one another, they realize that they are not alone in their suffering. This article describes the use of a “praise song” by a group of Nigerian fistula patients as a vehicle for building group identity as part of a “sisterhood of suffering.” A transcription and translation of a Hausa praise song about vesicovaginal fistulas is presented, along with a commentary on the text that sheds new light on a problem that is unfamiliar to most Western obstetrician-gynecologists.

Section snippets

Fitsari ′Dan Duniya (Urine, the Oppressor of the World)

  • Fitsari ′dan duniya. Fitsari ′dan Dandi.

  • Urine, the Oppressor of the world. Urine, who has forced me from my home.

  • Muna neman lafiya; sun ce mu tafi Dandi.

  • We went out looking to be healed, but they said we were all whores.

  • Ciwo ya same ni tun ina yarinya ta.

  • This sickness “caught me” when I was only a young girl.

  • Ina zauna a gida na ji labari mai kyau.

  • I sat confined at home until I heard the good news.

  • Na ce: Wayyo, iya! Sai ki ba ni ku′di.

  • I said, “My word, mother! Give me the money!”

  • Zan je Jos

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the assistance of Mrs. Justina Kuzasuwat, chaplain to the vesicovaginal fistula program at Evangelical Churches of West Africa Evangel Hospital, in transcribing and translating the Hausa text.

References (12)

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