“My husband and I have gone through hard times that have hindered our family’s development,” 38-year-old Kagezi says.
Kagezi is a married mother of three from Kenya who gave birth three years ago by Caesarean section.
“Seven months after the c-section, she developed a swelling in the incision. She visited a hospital where she was diagnosed with incisional hernia,” explains our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF). She had surgery once, “but within a few months the hernia came back in the same area.”
“Due to pain, she is unable to lift heavy items and to bend to either dig or do laundry,” AMHF says.
Kagezi went back to the hospital and was told she could not have surgery without buying a mesh, a woven sheet used to support organs during surgery. She can’t afford to buy this or pay for her treatment.
“She is a peasant, but when she stopped digging because of the pain, she opened a small tea room in the trading center where she works everyday and earns money for her personal needs as well as contribution towards the education of her children,” AMHF says.
AMHF continues, “Her husband is a peasant as well, but he does farming on a small scale because they sold part of their land in order to pay for Kagezi’s surgery and to pay for medical bills for their children when they suffered severe malaria.”
For $220, we can fund Kagezi’s surgery to repair her hernia, relieving her pain and allowing her to resume digging and doing laundry on her own.
