PHOTO: Albert Sagbe, one of the men experiencing infertility
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
As the Merck Foundation’s More Than a Father sintensified in Liberia, two men living with infertility in the southeastern River Gee County have finally broken silence, despite the widely held belief that men experiencing this condition do not be bold enough to publically tell their stories.
The two men are Ben Saraih and Albert Sagbe, amid the general attitude of stigmatization towards people experiencing infertility in society.
According to www.medicalnewstoday.com, “Infertility happens when a couple cannot conceive after having regular unprotected sex. It may be that one partner cannot contribute to conception, or that a woman is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term. It is often defined as not conceiving after 12 months of regular sexual intercourse without the use of birth control.”
Breaking the silence on his infertile condition, Mr. Ben Sarsih, age 51 and a primary patient of infertility said since he exists on Earth he has never impregnated a woman and because of his infertility condition, any woman he proposed to, they usually refused him have a relationship with him.
Because of several women’s refusal to accept his love proposal, he is lonely. Any time a woman find out that he is infertile, they quit relationship with him the next day.
Ben explains further that his infertile condition is being exacerbated by his being far below average height and because of his “shortness, women don’t like me.”
He is desperately searching for a solution to his present condition, as he says he even trying to find African traditional solution to his infertility condition, since he says he doesn’t have to go hospital to diagnose what is happening to him.
Another infertile man, Albert Sagbe, age 42 is a secondary patient of infertility.
According to him, since he had his first daughter in 1992, he has never been able to impregnate any woman due to his current condition.
Albert explains that he has lost many relationship because of his infertility condition and that his current relationship with his fiancee is being marred by the fact that he is infertile and that she cannot conceive.
Since he began experiencing infertility, Albert narrates that he has never been to hospital, due lack of finance but he continues to use traditional medicine which is not still helping him.
One positive side to Albert’s situation is that despite his infertility condition, his current fiancee is still patient with him for now.
This secondary infertility patient explains that he has observed that sometimes his sperm can be thinker and at times watery.
Regarding stigmatization, Albert says he has not experienced it yet.