End of Togo Field Service

As the end of our Togo Field Service has come and we are sailing towards the Canary Islands as I write this, I thought it would be a great time to reflect on the last 6 months in Togo. How it has impacted my life in such a way that I will  never forget it!I also thought it would be good to show some of my favourite pictures (I may repeat some from previous blogs).

Wow, where do I start?? January...... it seems like such a long time ago but then sometimes it feels like we just arrived in Togo! When we first got here I was apprehensive thinking how am I going to cope with the job and how am I going to be able to relate to my patients. I was soooo nervous, even though I had done a few weeks of nursing in Sierra Leone I was still nervous. I should have not have worried!! It was such a blessing working with such an amazing team of nurses, but not only that, the translators on the ward were sooo great! They made taking care of the patients so much easier. But lets go back to the big screening day! What a day! An eye opener for sure, the people waiting for hours and hours just to be seen; the last hope for them. Having had their problem such as tumours, cleft lips, VVF's, contractures and hernia's for years, this was their last chance of gaining back their lives!

It was such an amazing sight, and feeling that maybe we could help, but also there was the thinking we cannot help all these people! There is so much need and we were only there for 5 months. After that big day we started surgeries and rebuilding the patients lives.

I started on the ward for a week or two and then I moved to the job I love - dressing changes! Plastic patients need their bandages changed often, the days were long and some times hard but it was a good opportunity to get to know the patients and rejoice with them when the wounds are healed and they are able to use their arm or leg for the first time in years!!!

I had a great team working with me in dressing changes!! Fran the Physio from South Africa (who always made you laugh and gave the best hugs ever!) and then Rachel a physicians assistant, she was such a great encourager and adviser!

Then the plastic surgeon had to leave so I went back to the wards. This time I was looking after the VVF ladies. Where exactly do I start with this chapter of my life, as I am writing this my eyes start to blur as a tear comes down my cheek. I learned so much from these ladies. Those first weeks were some of my hardest in my nursing career. I am a paediatric nurse (children's) I don't look after adults! Then I am not use to this type of surgeries and the care they needed. It was a big learning curve and at times I wanted to give up, but thanks to wonderful people supporting me I was able to carry on and I am so thankful for that as I got to love the ladies and enjoy looking after them. They have also taught me to have hope even when everything seems to be going wrong. God can make things possible when things seem impossible. My faith has been renewed from being rock bottom thinking 'what am I doing here' to knowing why God brought me here.

I love how Africans don't smile very much when they have their photos taken!

Fortunately we had time to have fun with the ladies and many a shift we would have a game going. I will always remember their smiles and their laughs, its especially warming that they came to the ship all sad no hope and feeling unloved by the people who should be loving them and that we have been able to show them love and given them hope.

As the wards started to close and the final surgeries were performed it was a good time to realise how much has happened in the last few months and how God has been among us through everything, of course I am also taken back to the time when we lost one of our patients, but I am thankful that she was able to come to know Jesus as her Saviour!





Here are some pictures of the patients and ward translators on deck 7 and on the ward!!!

Deck 7 time!

Enjoying time with our ward translators, who did an amazing job!

Even though I was working on the ward and many days I would stay on the ship, I was able to get to know Togo and Benin, I had a great time visiting places and getting to grips with new foods and cultures! Travelling became interesting getting squashed in a taxi became the norm, instead of 5 people in a car there could be from 7 to 9 people.

Togo

I will miss Togo for it is a beautiful country from the golden beaches that look spectacular to the mountains.  It was a great opportunity to be able to visit Benin a few times as it was also beautiful and the people were very welcoming.

Benin

Next time hopefully I will blog from Tenerife where the ship is having some work done to it. We will be there for 2 months in that time I will be going home for 2 weeks to meet up with friends and family.

VVF Land

VVF, what does it stand for? Vesicovaginal fistula

Wikipedia explain it as this "VVF is an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder and the vagina that allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault"

The ladies waiting to be seen on screening day!

In normal terms it means that there is a hole between the bladder and the vagina, this means urine leaks through the vagina, therefore the ladies have no control of their urine.

How does this occur? Mainly it occurs when a woman is in labour for a few days, the baby gets stuck in the birth canal, the baby's skull puts pressure on the pubic bone, the surrounding tissue dies due to the pressure which then leaves a hole. The fistulas can also occur in other areas such as the rectum, uterus, urethra and ureters. This problem mainly occurs in under developed countries where obstectric care is minimal. For a lot of the ladies they have to walk for days to reach the hospital and then they are faced with huge bills.

Dress ceremony

They come to the ship to have surgery so the hole can be closed so then they can pass urine normally, instead of leaking all the time. The ladies come having had a difficult life, most of them would have had to grieve for the baby that died, but the main problem is that the families and communities they lived in before the problem started have rejected them. The community sees this as a curse so they do not want the woman to be there. They struggle to live as they cannot get a job, who is going to employ someone who constantly is peeing and therefore smells all the time of urine???.

Most of the husbands leave them as well, there is no one there to love them and care for them, while they themselves are thinking why me?
The first few days on the ship they are quiet and withdrawn, but as time passes there is a change in them, they start smiling and singing along to the worship. They start chatting to the other ladies who are in the same situation as them. Us nurses and crew members who come and visit them show them the love they have not experienced for a long time or maybe never, they start hugging you and kissing you and saying thanks! I have come to love these ladies so much, they may have had a physical and emotional change but I have also learnt so much from them; there is always hope!
Unfortunately not all have had a successful surgery and it is very hard to see them discharge knowing that they are going back to the same place they came, but hopefully they will know that there are people who love them unconditionally and more importantly that God loves them for who they are.

After they have had their surgery and are doing well they are ready for discharge. We have a dress ceremony for them, this symbolises the new them.. They receive a new dress, a bible, soap, mirror and lotion. At this time they can give a testimony, there is usually a tear shed as they tell what they have gone through. It makes you think how lucky we are in "the west". These ladies have had it rough but they still thank God.

One of the ladies who is dry and is celebrating in the dress ceremony!

I have had shifts where I was so busy and things kept going wrong, and at one stage I really did not want to carry on nursing the VVF ladies, but I carried on and I am so pleased I did. I really want to say thank you to the people who help me through this difficult time. The pleasure I have now of knowing these ladies is great, they give you a big smile when you walk in to the ward and hug and kiss you, and I am so blessed to have been a part of their lives!

The last 4 ladies on the ward

Mark 5:25-34