les fistuleuses

so ali and i have safely returned from niamey, niger. the weather in oxford is BEAUTIFUL and we're in love with warm showers, eating apples, and drinking water from the tap. :)

so i thought i'd post some pictures of the fistula ward/women since the majority of my time was spent with them. my research was on international eradication efforts of obstetric fistula, and if the campaigns coordinate with demographic realities on the ground. for those of you who have no idea what obstetric fistula is (which is totally understandable, it's been completely eradicated in the first world), it is simply a hole which develops between the vagina, urethra and/or rectum, resulting in incontinence. the hole or fistula develops as a result of obstructed, prolonged labour, and is symptomatic of the almost complete lack of medical facilities in impoverished countries: especially niger where 80% of the population lives in rural villages. because the women are leaking urine and/or feces, they are almost always determined as outcasts in their community and abandoned by their husbands. they have to go through pretty incredible lengths to arrive at this hospital in niamey to get repairative surgery. sometimes they have to be operated on multiple times (one woman had 13 attempted repairs before she was finally healthy), and therefore live in this outdoor courtyard for years on end.

so here are some pictures of the hospital etc.:

one of the general courtyards of the hospital, on a particularly empty day. the hospital is made of multiple rooms connected by outdoor corridors and courtyards. usually they are all completely packed with people - i honestly couldn't say what most of them are doing there... waiting for medical care? waiting for a loved one? trying to find a shady spot to rest in? hard to say really.


the fistula courtyard. some 60 women live there at one time, a number which can fluctuate up to 100. the women recover from their surgeries here, wait for more surgeries, and help each other get through it all.

emily, amadu, major, mariama, and haoua in front of the courtyard. emily was the peace corps worker there, amadu was a social worker with the women, major the general nurse in charge of them all, and mariama and haoua were previous fistula patients who now live and work in the fistula ward as nurses. they are all wonderful! i love these people!



some pictures of ali and me with the women (there are tons more where that came from - but i decided to just post 2). the first picture is of a particularly wonderful woman who we interviewed: fati, who has been leaking urine for 7 years and had multiple fistula surgeries. she had actually attended 7 years of school and could even recite the french alphabet (amazing in a country where 90% of women are illiterate). she had a 12 year old daughter who was also in school - she truly has lived outside the expected norms of nigerien women, and we praised her greatly for it. what's tragic is that she still developed a fistula, despite her forward-thinking lifestyle. the health care of the hospital she delivered the baby at was simply ill-equipped and under-staffed to help her through the complicated labour. but she was one of the many wonderful women we interacted with while working there. i can't say enough about this experience - it was absolutely fantastic. and i'm eternally grateful to ali for coming all the way to niger with me. :) she's the best friend i could ask for.

love you all - i'll post more pictures, plus elliott sent me an email with a bunch of really good basic questions about life in niger that i'll answer via blog-post. sannu!