While I’ve been here over the past month I’ve dwelled a lot
on the parts of life here that are not so exciting or inspiring. I’ve felt frustrated over the loss of much of
the autonomy I had back home. My choices
of how I spend my time, where I spend my time, what I eat, where I eat, etc.
have all been very limited here. On a
day to day bases life is basically the same-old same-old as a Mercy Ships
crewmate, so it’s been hard to see the important things that have been going on
here. I’ve been overlooking what Mercy
Ships really does for people.
As an example, for
the past month the hospital has designated an entire ward to treating women
with vesico-vaginal fistulas (VVF). You
may not know what this is. I didn’t
until I got here. A VVF is a hole that
develops through the wall of a woman’s vagina during child birth. This doesn’t happen to just any woman. It is caused by both circumstantial and
physical factors. These women have
little to no access to health care. They
mostly live in rural communities that are several days journey away from a
hospital. They have no health
professionals nearby to aid in the delivery of their child. Often these women are married at a young age,
like 14, and have not fully developed.
The other women that are older may have poor nutrition and have not
grown to their full stature. These women
that are small do not have pelvises that are large enough to deliver a child
through their birth canal. As a result
of these factors when these women become pregnant they often times have
difficulty delivering the baby. The baby
is unable to pass through birth canal, and can be stuck for several days. While the baby’s head is stuck it is blocking
off the blood supply to the wall of the birth canal. Without blood supply the tissue dies and a
hole is left behind. In almost all
cases the baby is lost. In addition to
the immense amount of emotional damage, these women are left with physical
damage too. The holes that are created run
right through into the bladder and/or the rectum and therefore these women
become permanently incontinent without medical treatment.
The thing that grabs
my attention the most about these women is the social stigma they face. The incontinence is what pushes them out of
their homes, families, and villages.
Because of the holes in their vagina they can’t control their urine and
feces, so they constantly leak. With
constant leaking comes constant smell.
People don’t want to be around smelly people. They are often rejected by their family and
community because of their inability to function in normal life.
Mercy Ships tries to
locate as many VVF women as they can when they arrive in the country. They sent a screening crew into the interior of
Guinea to
evaluate women with incontinence problems.
Once enough women were screened and selected to fill-out the surgery
list they were scheduled to be admitted to the hospital. They arrived over a month ago. When first they arrived they came in clothing
that had been soaked in their own waste.
The smell was so strong that it permeated through the whole
hospital. I wasn’t even involved in
caring for them, but I could still smell their presence. It was hard not to be bothered by it. I was challenged to remember that it’s not
the fault of these women that they smell.
After showering and having their clothes laundered the smell was a lot
more controlled.
The surgeries have
been going on for about a month now, and while there have been many challenges
fixing these women, some have been healed and are now continent. The amazing thing about these women is their
joy and appreciation for being loved and treated like a normal person by the
Mercy Ships crew. Another extraordinary
thing is that they have now found other women who have the same problem and
have faced the same challenges. Not only
is the hospital a place for physical healing, it’s a place for emotional
healing too. Even if they’re not fixed
yet you can tell that they are happy.
I have not
personally cared for these women, except for one shift when I got floated to
that ward, but from what I’ve learned about them I find a challenge for myself
when come back home. My challenge is to
not be one of the many people that reject or ignore people with unsightly or
unpleasant physical disabilities. I
think a common thing I do is blame people for their problem. I think, “Why can’t they clean up better?” Or
“Why would they let themselves be that way?”
It’s a strange human impulse to blame people for their diseases. If only I had the wisdom to always consider
that they may have no fault in their physical or mental disabilities.
If you’re interested
in learning more about VVF and the emotional struggle women go through with
this disease you should check out the documentary “A Walk to Beautiful” It’s very good.
Weekend out in Kindia
