As our regular meetings continue to give us a platform to share our problems, experiences on health issues have become the talk of the day. So many women share their experiences which they undergo in their day to day life in Germany. In Lagers women just live in pain and desperation since nobody seems to support them in solving their problems.
Have you ever thought of how they receive medical treatment? So many refugee women have no right to access an insurance coverage and they are offered with a temporary cover which only helps by granting minor treatment. Most women suffer from gynecological problems and get no medical attention since many gynecologists don’t know how to account for it financially and thus making the women go through a tough time with their bodies. Others go to an extent of forced Cesarean section when lucky to conceive while they could actually give birth naturally.
Have you ever imagined what life would be like if there could be equality for all women? This could bring a decrease of some avoidable health issues which are encountered by refugee women in the Lagers where they have to share the toilets and share the same washing machines with men and thus contribute to more gynecological problems since women are sensitive to bacteria and following infections especially when having their period. Thus we continue to emphasize on our campaign “No Lager for women and children!”
During our various empowerment workshops, most women cry out after realizing that they are always the double victims of the laws governing refugees in Germany as before they arrive here. This is after most of them share their painful experience on their different routes to Europe and one among the many explained how her life has been.
A young woman from Eritrea knew nothing until she arrived in Sudan where the smugglers advised her to take a pregnancy prevention implant since before she would reach her destiny she would have to face several incidents of rape. This was shocking but all of the women were forced to do so. The prevention was meant to last for one year which was an estimated period to arrive at their destination. She successfully managed to overcome all the struggles and finally arrived in Germany where she hoped to be safe and secure. Nevertheless she started suffering from severe bleeding and had to seek a medical attention from a gynecologist to whom she explained what had happened to her. But somehow the doctors feedback was more hurting than the condition itself. The gynecologist told her that it was her will to take the prevention implant and so the AOK or any other medical insurance would not cover for the removal.
The refugee woman tried to explain the risk she could have got like having a child with no father from being raped on her way but the doctor never understood. She was forced to retain her prevention implant which expired and started affecting her arm severely. It is until she decided to seek help from us where we tried to check solidarity gynecologist who will not only help her remove the implant but also give her therapy so that she can overcome the trauma she is going through.
This is just one case and many more still are left without solutions and since we cannot help all refugee women with similar conditions we are calling upon the responsible staffs to consider those issues not a personal wish of family planning. Refugee women don’t chose to have this implant done but the European policies on making it impossible to arrive here safely force us to take desperate measures.
Medically, ignoring our living situation results in more serious conditions which even cost more than proper and sensitive treatment from the beginning would.