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| Matakon, Jacqueline and Jose on deck 7 enjoying the sun. These ladies were our first 3 patients for Women's health in Cameroon. |
In the most northern region of Cameroon, Matakon, a 15 year
old girl is in labor. She did not choose to be pregnant this young. Her
marriage to a man over 3 times her age was arranged between her father and her
husband at the cost of a few cows. Now Matakon struggles to deliver a child,
but her tiny body is unable to do so. She is in labor for many agonizing days.
The baby dies inside her and she still struggles, until finally she is able to
deliver her dead baby. The nightmare however is not over. Matakon goes to sleep
without a baby in her arms. When she awakens she is wet. Had she wet herself in
her sleep? Matakon soon discovers that she is unable to hold in her urine.
During the prolonged obstructed labor she endured a hole formed in her bladder,
creating a fistula between her bladder and vaginal wall. Urine now constantly
drips down her leg, making her home and herself smell of stale urine. There is
nothing Matakon can do to stop leaking, and her husband does not have the money
for the expensive medical care she needs so Matakon continues to live as she
is. For 8 long years she in unable to control the urine that flows from her.
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| Matakon during her dress ceremony, |
Christine’s child has also died inside her. At age 19 she
has already delivered one healthy baby, but her second pregnancy does not end
well. She labors for days with an obstructed labor. She finally receives a
C-section, but the medical care she needed arrives too late to save her baby
and the damage inside her has already been done. She too has developed an
obstetric fistula and leaks urine for the next year.
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| Christine ready for her dress ceremony |
Jose has never had a problem giving birth. At 53 she has
five healthy children. 7 years ago she was in need of medical care and
underwent a simple operation. After the operation she discovered she was no
longer in control of her urinating. She went back to the surgeon many times,
but the surgeon dismissed her concerns. He refused to acknowledge his
malpractice. Jose needed a second surgery to repair the damage caused during
the first surgery, but she was out of money and did not have the energy to take
a doctor to court. Jose started praying for a way to be healed.
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| Jose during her dress ceremony |
This year in Cameroon I am working with a totally different
patient population then what I am used to. This year I am working in our
Women’s Health Ward. The majority of the patients we will serve suffer from
obstetric fistulas and have similar stories to the 3 shared above. A fistula is
nearly always caused by an obstructed labor; however, it can also result from a
surgical complication as in Jose’s story. A fistula can occur between the
bladder and vagina, the rectum and vagina or both. Women with fistulas will
have no control over their bodily functions and the resulting smell that
engulfs them many times ostracizes them from their communities. It is not
uncommon for them to be abandoned by their husbands and for them to live
isolated within a culture where relationship and community is usually valued
above most things. Imagine the feelings that many of these ladies must feel: helplessness,
hopelessness, shame, loneliness.
An obstetric fistula
is the result of poverty. They are preventable, but in areas of the world where
people do not have access to safe, affordable and timely healthcare they happen
all too often. Women in the west can also suffer from an obstructed labor; the
difference is that a women in the west has access to safe, timely and
affordable healthcare. She can get the C-section she needs in time to prevent
injury to herself and death to her child.
A fistula is a devastating condition which threatens to
steal a woman’s identity and hope. It seeks to make women weak, but in the very
short time I have known these women I have found the opposite to be true. These
are truly the strongest women I know. Despite their fears and uncertainty, despite
the distance they traveled, the doubts expressed by their neighbors, past
failed attempts for a cure, the many obstacles which have stood in their way
and made life difficult they retained hope within their hearts, they trusted
Mercy Ships to help them and they usually did it with a smile still on their
face. They have not allowed the difficulties in life to snuff out their joy.
The 3 women above are some of the first who received surgery
onboard the Africa Mercy a little over 2 weeks ago. It’s a delicate surgery and
not always successful. It takes a couple weeks for them to heal and they stay
with us in the hospital during that time. What a joy it is to work on this ward
and serve these woman. We laugh, love, sing and sometimes cry.
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| Singing during the dress ceremony |
On Monday I was able to celebrate the healing of these 3
women and 2 others during the ship’s first dress ceremony of the year. The
dress ceremony is a time where the hospital chaplaincy provides each woman with
a new, clean dress to symbolize their new start in life. They leave the ward
and chaplaincy helps them prepare for the ceremony by fixing their head wraps,
make up and jewelry. The time symbolizes the preparation of the church as the
bride of Christ. They then enter the room to applause, cheers and song as we
rejoice with them for their healing. They share their testimonies, sometimes
through tears of joy. The party then continues in the hall and back on the ward
with hugs, more songs, tears and laughter.
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| Christine sharing a more serious part of her beautiful testimony. |
What a joy it is to witness the end of a journey and the
start of a new one within these woman’s lives. I am so happy to report on their
physical healing, but there are deep wounds these women carry inside them that
are not physical. Please pray for our ladies that during their time on the
ship they would also find healing for any lingering emotional and spiritual
wounds they carry with them. We want the woman coming to the ship to see their
value and worthiness the way God sees them and we do this through the love that
we show. Our love for our patients has not gone unnoticed. As Jose so
eloquently put it during her testimony: “I have never seen love displayed in
the way it is on Mercy Ships….. [because of that love] I was healed even before
I received surgery”.
