Numbers

I was lost in Powell's, the largest book store in Portland, but I finally found the book I was looking for to read on my flight to South Africa. I am not sure who suggested, Half the Sky, by Kristof & WuDunn, but it will be my recommendation for all of you to read. I read about women's oppression as I flew halfway across the world and then sailed to the country mentioned the most in the book, Sierra Leone. The statistics just floored me as I read about child slavery, maternal mortality, and my passion- women suffering from vesico-vaginal fistulas. I read it again on my 36 hour flight home to Texas again just to remind myself why I am moving missions, living on land, and working with local nurses and doctors to help heal their country. 
"The most common measure is the maternal mortality ratio (MMR). This refers to the number of maternal deaths for every 100,000 lives births... In Ireland, the safest place in the world to give birth, the MMR is 1 per 100,000 live births. In the United States, the MMR is 11. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is 900, and Sierra Leone has the highest MMR in the world, at 2,100." The MMR is a statistic to express the risk during a single pregnancy. In simple numbers, but high for sub-saharan Africa, a woman's lifetime risk of dying in childbirth is 1 in 22. In America, the risk is 1 in 4,800." Behind these numbers there are names, faces, and their stories- here are a few that captured my heart in the first days at Aberdeen Women's Centre. 
I was in temporary housing for a few days and then moved to my apartment above the maternity side of the hospital. As I walked to and fro with boxes, I saw two ladies with swollen bellies resting under the shade of a tree. These two, Hawa & Alimamy, are pregnant and waiting to deliver any moment by c-section. You can see their excitement in their eyes because a few years back they were the ones on the VVF ward. Maternity nursing is a new thing for me, but I am excited to be a part of it here at AWC. 

Fatmata and Alimata did not know each other, but something in common brought them together. They are both teenagers, married, and have lost a baby being in labor for days. They smelled like urine and were shunned by people in their town. These girls are always together walking around the hospital and their beds are right next to each other in the ward. Fatmata had her surgery last week and Alimata was in the operating room when I left on Monday. They will be recovering for a few weeks, but you can tell the healing has already started. Their smiles are contagious. My days at AWC were busy with orientation and getting small jobs done, but the ladies always wanted me to come sit with them. When I return, if Fatmata and Alimata are still at AWC, I imagine they will finally get to braid my hair. 

Bintu is the youngest patient (2nd from the right) and Mama (below) is probably one of the oldest on the ward. They both are precious to me as I sit with them making cards. Bintu takes her time to get from the ward to the courtyard for crafts and chop (meal) time. She is 14 and can barely walk. When she was struggling to give birth, people in her village, placed weights and heavy stones, to force the baby out. Bintu will have a long road of physical therapy and eventually surgery to repair her fistula. This is Mama- forgive me, I don't remember her name, but thankfully, "Mama" is universal in Africa. She wanted to see herself so she asked me to take a picture of the "old lady" referring to herself. I pray she will heal completely and have a gladi gladi ceremony soon- complete with a new dress before she goes home. 

On my first working day, a woman came in with an abruption- the blood supply to the baby had separated prematurely. An emergency c-section was performed, it was too late for the baby, but we were worried we might lose her. Just three days prior, Mercy Ships crew had donated 60+ units of blood, and we were able to use four bags just for this woman to save her life. Donors are rare and blood is in critical shortage in the country so this was a huge answer to prayer for the hospitals in Sierra Leone. This woman could have been another statistic, another number in a woman losing her life giving birth. It is comparable to five jumbo jets' worth of women die in labor each day. For every woman that dies in Africa, at least 10 other women suffer from childbirth injury such as fistulas. These statistics drive me and others to help women in Sierra Leone as we hope the numbers change- one mother and baby at a time.


Half the Sky, by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn, Vintage Books, 2009