A Walk to Wholeness A Profile of Dr. Debra Matityahu B
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our blank, tiled walls encompass an intimate area. Figures in navy scrubs buzz around the room, occasionally bumping into each other along the way, preparing for the next key sequential moments. One lone operating table is the focal point of the space, complete with an anxious, but hopeful patient. As everyone begins to find their fixed location for the next forty-five minutes, the patient is administered their spi-
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nal anesthesia and the operation begins. Aside from the surgeon’s commands, alternative conversation arises from a resident. The student nurse glances over at Dr. Debra Matityahu, who had flown halfway around the world to observe the surgery, and casually asks, “So what do you guys do in the States for this?” Dr. Matityahu becomes overwhelmed by this question. As her eyes swell with tears, she replies, “We don’t have obstetric fistula in the United States.” ebra is the founder of the nonprofit, A Little 4 a Lot. This organization aids women, physically and emotionally, in Eldoret, Kenya who have suffered from a fistula: a severe child birth injury that can leave them with physical
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ailments and social isolation. A fistula is essentially a hole in the birth canal that forms during a prolonged and obstructed labor period, leaving a woman incontinent of urine and/or stool. This organization has not only spared these women from complete alienation from their communities, but has also emboldened Debra to take risks in asking for monetary donations and the time of others. Debra emulates the link between both aspects of this organization, as she is the true liaison between the United States and Kenya. For Debra, the culmination of the nonprofit has been sheer serendipity; her line of work alone has led her to this cause and to these women. Her father’s advice inspired her to found this organization. He said, “Do unto others, that’s all that really matters.”