Hundreds of women gather each year at Evangel Hospital in Jos, Nigeria, for a reunion celebrating their healing from vesicovaginal fistula (VVF)

Birth injuries are the most common cause of vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), often due to giving young girls in marriage before their bodies are mature enough to give birth. Most of the deliveries are in village huts, far from medical help. The baby gets stuck in the birth canal, and his head wears a hole between the birth canal and bladder or rectum, causing constant leakage and a horrid stench. These women are usually driven from their homes, and they suffer greatly from social isolation and appalling poverty. Many of them walk for weeks seeking help.

At Evangel Hospital, skilled surgeons repair the damage, and after a period of rehabilitation, the women are able to return to their homes—odor free and healed of their disability. During their time at the hospital, the women experience the love of Christ for the first time in their lives. As a result, many of them give their lives to Christ and return to their villages as believers, sheltering their precious faith “under their veils.”

Freedom

At the VVF Reunion, these women from various tribes and languages dress in matching wrap-around skirts and dance together to the “Freedom Song,” lifting their hands and singing with joy.

Ba damuwa, ba damuwa,
Tunda yo yo ya kare.
(No problem, no problem, the leaking is over.)

Freedom from VVF means freedom from stigma, shame, humiliation, and alienation.

	Ngosonom with Susan

Susan Bertrand, a short-term nurse at Evangel, reports, “I cried tears of joy as I witnessed many who had suffered for years dancing because they are healed. I got to know many of them during the previous year. I know their names and their stories. I’ve seen their tears. Words cannot describe my feelings of joy in seeing these transformed lives.”

During Susan’s ministry in Jos, she befriended Ngosonom, a VVF patient who tested positive for HIV. Antiretrovirals improved her health dramatically. She joined the sewing program, part of the skills training initiative at the VVF center. When she graduated, Susan gave her a sewing machine to take with her on the seven-hour bus trip back to her village.

Ngosonom is not only dry, she is thriving and supporting herself with a tailoring business. Susan is now studying at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, USA, preparing for long-term service with SIM.