Afghanistan--Fistula

The dvd I've been watching is "Motherland Afghanistan".  A documentary.  The cover states that one in seven Afghan women die in childbirth--the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world.  Appalling--and that doesn't count the women who live but whose babies die, or the women who live but develop some horrible problem.  I've learned what a "fistula" is and am more grateful than ever to live in America.  A fistula is a connection between two organs that shouldn't be there.  In the case of the poor woman in the movie the connection was between the vagina and the bladder.  She had been leaking urine constantly for four years, and her whole lower body was blistered. 

Human misery isn't unique to Afghanistan of course.  Which is all the more reason that I feel l like my life comes straight from the pages of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" today. After I finished writing this entry from my cushioned swivel chair in my personal office in my nicely heated home, with multiple rooms that I share with only two other people--I will take one of my favorite books--that I am able to read, and some clean underwear and pajamas, to the bathroom, where I will fill the tub with hot water that is clean enough to drink if I had to, and take a long soak using shampoo and other products freely.  After that I can enjoy the flushable toilet, and a decent toothbrush.  I'll kiss the cats--who eat better than many children, goodnight, and go to sleep on a first class mattress in a bed that I share only with Dave, with the fan providing a light breeze.  Catherine, who enjoys all the above luxuries, is already asleep in her own room.  Tomorrow is a holiday and all of us will sleep in.  A lazy breakfast will come from the well-stocked refrigerator...and so on it goes.