The agonizing story of 20 VVF patients and a CSO’s remedial acts of benevolence

They were stories of once very beautiful and attractive women turned to shadows of themselves; abandoned by husbands, family and friends, most often without homes and jobs, wallowing in abject poverty and dwelling in the thickets of despair and despondence with seemingly no end in sight.

 

Imagine the emotional breakdown, the traumatic experience of a woman seeing people deliberately avoiding her; the public ridicule, the shame of knowing that she emits some rancid odour emanating from dripping fusty urine or faeces from her most coveted feminine part.

 

Such is the lot of women suffering from a gynaecological condition called Vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF) and its ugly twin, Recto-vaginal fistula (RVF), which most often are not directly the fault of the women.

 

Vesico-vaginal fistula connects the bladder to the vagina, causing urine leakage, while Recto-vaginal fistula connects the rectum to the vagina, causing fecal leakage. The both conditions are often associated with prolonged obstructed labour or previous surgical mistakes, and can lead to social stigma and other complications.

 

Concerned about the plight of such women, a Non-governmental, global humanitarian Organization, Hope Empowerment Love Life and Oneness, simply known as HELLO International, under its”She Matters Initiative”, recently sponsored surgical repair of over 20 women with the condition at the National Obstetrics Fistula Centre, Abakaliki, Ebonyi state capital.

 

The repairs which was done in collaboration with the hospital, also incorporated a one week skills acquisition training and empowerment of the women by HELLO International.

 

Some of the skills bequeathed to the women included soap and deodorant making, reusable sanitary pad making, the making of snacks and various types of confectionery, among others.

 

In a brief graduation ceremony organised for the women on Friday, May 30, at the hospitals hall, where they were given gifts of equipment and take-off resources for their skills by the Organisation, some of them narrated their ugly experiences, causing a general overflow of empathetic tears.

 

A common denominator in their stories was the association of the ailmen to labour and child birth.

 

Mrs Stella Ajagba, 24 years, from Imo State said her problem started when she wanted to deliver her first baby and had a prolonged labour resulting to the death of the baby in her womb.

 

She continued: “They transferred me to another hospital for a surgery, and after the surgery, I started seeing myself leaking urine all over.

 

“This lasted for two good years.

 

“I was later sent to another hospital and there was nothing to show.

 

“It was while in that hospital that someone told me about this Fistula Centre in Abakaliki.

 

“I came straight here, and when I got here, I was so happy with both the environment and their mode of operation: the food, the services.

 

“In fact they have been taking very good care of us.

 

“I thank God for the successful surgery, and I thank everyone who has contributed in one or the other for me to be free, and most especially, I appreciate HELLO International for this great sacrifice.”

 

Cecilia Michael, 39 years, from Ogoja in Cross river state said she has suffered in the condition for 22 years.

 

She narrated: “Before this VVF, I was pregnant and they were twins.

 

“When I was about to deliver, I was in labour for 4 days, after which I was taken to the hospital.

 

“The twins died in my womb.

 

“My husband left me in the hospital, and because my father and my family found out I had VVF, they abandoned me since 2002.

 

“It was someone that directed me to come to Abakaliki VVF centre, and as I came I met friends; I met mothers, brothers and sisters and I have faith that I have been healed.”

 

She said she left her family compound and relocated to another village where she was taken care of by a pastor due to the stigma.

 

“I don’t have family again, because of this problem; I don’t have brothers; I don’t have sisters, no family members; I have abandoned Church, I have no business I’m doing.”

 

Probably one of the most touchy narrations was that of Mrs Esther Nlemadim, a 44 year old beautiful woman from Bauchi State, married to Imo State.

 

She has been living with RVF for about 5 years, going from one hospital to another without solution.

 

When she came to the hospital, she was also discovered to be having a thyroid issue.

 

She said she has been in the fistula Centre since January this year receiving some medical attention.

 

She narrated: “The problem that brought me here is Recto-Vesico Fistula (RVF).

 

“I developed this problem when I was giving birth.

 

“I have four children, and because my Babies are always very big, I usually received several tears during child delivery which I suspected were not well stitched.

 

So after some time, I found myself leaking faeces; It was as if I was having pile.

 

For the past five years, I have been going from one hospital to another without any solution.

 

“It was one of my doctors in Federal Medical Centre, Owerri that referred me to this place.

 

“I have been in this hospital since January this year.

 

“When I came initially, I was referred to the general surgery unit.

 

“When I was prepared for surgery, they discovered I had a thyroid problem and the surgery was cancelled.”

 

She further narrated how her husband abandoned her and her four children and got another woman.

 

With no money and no longer working because of the problem, she was only getting help from a student she once helped graduate from the university.

 

“Because of this RVF, my husband abandoned me with 4 children and took another wife.

 

“I was an enterprising tailor in Owerri but I’ve stopped work for some years because I can’t even sit down to operate a sewing machine due this problem.

 

“My coming to this place was sponsored by a student I helped to graduate from school, who was later got a job in Port harcourt.

 

“He has been the one paying my hospital bills since January I came here up till now that this organisation, HELLO International, came to sponsor my RVF surgery.

 

“My prayer is that this will be the end of this problem for me and my other colleagues here.”

 

The women with mixtures of tears and joy pledged to effectively utilise the acquired skills and start-up resources to sustain themselves through the period of their recovery and beyond.

 

They expressed deep gratitude to the organisation, HELLO International for coming to their rescue and hospital’s management and staff for their diligence and care towards them, praying God to reward them abundantly.

 

The founder and President of HELLO International, Dr Nkeiruka Agbazue said the surgery was sponsored under “She Matters Initiative”, a project of her organisation aimed at empowering, caring and restoring the dignity of women and girls.

 

Agbazue, a young Nigerian American based medical practitioner said the gesture was her little way of impacting lives and giving back to the society, adding that she solely sponsored the surgery, the empowerment and other activities of the organisation out of savings from her job in the USA.

 

She explained: “Because of what we do, I have the privilege of travelling around the world, and I noticed a similarity around quarters: women are restricted, they do experience a kind of systemic barriers to education, healthcare, employment, and even opportunity for political positions.

 

So we decided to form a subsidiary of HELLO International, called “She Matters Initiative, and we are here to elavate, equip and empower our women.

 

“Based on statistics, a lot of women here are undergoing gender-based violence, from physical abuse to not getting adequate care that they deserve throughout pregnancy, pre, intra and post partum.

 

“Because of this some of them have injuries that they have to deal with for many years.

 

“We are here in Ebonyi state to address gender-based violence generally.

 

“And today we are here in NOFIC on the healthcare part, particularly on the reproductive health of women.

 

“Many of these women, probably because they visit quacks or are not given adequate care, a lot of them were in labour for many days and consequently developed VVF or RVF and have been leaking urine or faeces through their vagina for years.

 

“So, for the 20 women, we are not only sponsoring their free surgery, but also providing holistic care for them which includes psychological therapy to enable them reintegrate into the society; physiotherapy to reactive the pelvic floor that has been inactive for so long.

 

“We are also equipping and empowering them with some skills to enable them sustain themselves because for the first six month after their surgery, they are not supposed to go to farm or do strenuous jobs in order not to injure the area and have a relapse.”

 

Agbazue who said her organisation is open to partnership, stated that she has been the sole funder of the exercise, working in collaboration from the United Nations Population Fund and the Ebonyi State GBV taskforce.

 

She noted that her organisation, apart from project, is also involved in a wide range of other humanitarian activities including school feeding in which they were at the moment feeding over a thousand children in different states, in collaboration with the Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu, Dr. Yetunde Adeniji.

 

On the organisation’s motivation for their actios, the Programme Director of the organisation, Maureen Okafor added: “We are propelled by love for humanity.

 

“I was here February 6, during the UN sensitization on FGM, and I was touched by the condition of these women.

 

“I related this to my sister, the founder and President of our organisation, and she decided to fully fund the exercise.”

 

Speaking to the repaired women, the Chief Medical Director of the Natiinal Obstetrics Fistula Centre, Abakaliki, Prof. Johnson Obuna, represented by Dr. Philip Osuagwu: said the centre also has ancillary care departments such as dialysis, maternal and child care as well as skills empowerment plan to help women who has gone through successful fistula surgery to sustain themselves till full recovery.

 

He appreciated HELLO International for the initiative and commended the federal government for their various interventions in the centre.

 

While he admonished the women to take care of themselves and ensure that they always seek qualified medical care, Obuna charged those within reproductive age to ensure that their next delivery after recovery should be through caesarean section.

 

Others who spoke including HOD of Social Works, Ifeoma Mighty-Chukwu and the head of Nursing Services, NOFIC, Abakaliki, Patricia Uche Ani, epresented by Dr. Perpetua Eze, encouraged the women never to despair, assuring them that nothing has changed in their dignity as women.

 

While Mighty-Chukwu appreciated HELLO International for the rehabilitation and the reintegration programme which she said was hitherto deficient in Fistula care in Nigeria, Eze added that the dignity of the women has been restored by the act of the Organisation.

 

Speaking to newsmen earlier, the lead surgeon and the acting HOD, Obstetrics and gynaecology department of the hospital, Dr.Dantani Danladi, acknowledged that the cause of VVF is multi-factoral.

 

He however described its prevalence rate as a reflection of the socio-economic status of the country, implicating poverty as a remote cause.

 

He said: “If the socio- economic status of every individual in this country is improved, most of these problems people are encountering, like delay in going to the hospital, problem of transportation as well as delays in attending to patients in the hospitals will be eradicated.”

 

He challenged the government to come up with policies that would improve the economic status of the people, and admonished women to always seek professional medical care, especially during pregnancy.

 

Indeed, the task of eradicating VVF and RVF is a collective one.

 

Beyond empathy and promises, only active love as demonstrated by HELLO International can help restore the hope and dignify of our women with VVF in Nigeria.