Peninsula Doctor Helps Kenyan Woman Recover From Traumatic, Stigmatizing Medical Condition

When Dr. Debra Matitiyahu was in the second grade, the death of a family friend from Leukemia started her on a life-long mission from which she has never strayed.

“I thought, I want to be a person that makes it so that a young girl’s mom doesn’t die on her from a disease,” said Dr. Matityahu. “I want to cure illness. I never wavered.”

Dr. Matityahu went on to do precisely that, graduating from medical school and becoming an OB-GYN, practicing at the Kaiser Medical Center in Redwood City for the past twenty years. What Dr. Matityahu didn’t expect, however, is where else that elementary school vow would take her. For the past decade, Dr. Matityahu has been running a non-profit, Beyond Fistula, that has been helping women in Kenya rebuild their lives after a traumatic and stigmatizing experience.

It all started, Dr. Matityahu said, with a family trip that involved a month-long stay in Kenya. It was there she worked with a surgeon who specialized in repairing obstetric fistulas. Fistulas resulting from a traumatic birth can ultimately cause severe damage to a woman’s internal organs.

The fistula can lead to, among other things, loss of bladder control. As a result, many fistula sufferers are ostracized by their communities, losing educational and employment opportunities. “The women that came into the hospital that I met and I spoke with were devastated and depressed, and felt like it was their fault or they were cursed,” Dr. Matityahu said.

The surgeon Dr. Matityahu met was able to repair the fistulas, but there was so much more the women needed. She asked one of the girls, “What’s next? What do you want to do with your life?” The woman replied, “I just want to go back to school. I just want to study.” 

Dr. Matityahu learned that the woman originally dropped out of school after being bullied by classmates for leaking urine in class. In total, it cost Dr. Matithayu about $24 to provide the necessary materials like shoes and a uniform for her to return to class. Once Dr. Matityahu realized that such a small investment could make a big impact on a person’s life, she and one of her children started the non-profit that would become Beyond Fistula.

The organization helps women who have had fistulas repaired by teaching them business and farming skills as well as other ways to make money such as basket weaving. Beyond Fistula has so far helped more than 400 women rebuild their lives.

“I thought ‘If it was me that was in Kenya, and somebody came to visit and saw my life, would they do something to help me? And so I just felt like almost an internal obligation to be their voice, and figure out how to do it.”