2007 Photography Contest
Best of Show
photos by James H. Kenney Jr.
Western Kentucky University - Bowling Green, KY
Evangel
Women with vesicovaginal fistulas, also called VVF, a condition causing incontinence due to having children too early in life - sometimes at 11 years old - have become modern-day lepers in many cultures in Africa. Evangel Hospital, in Jos, Nigeria, is a haven for these women, providing them physical healing and practical help to give them a second chance in life.
Many young women lose their children during childbirth, then they lose bladder control. Many women have to wear some kind of bag or use a bucket because they constantly leak urine. This causes the women to smell; their husbands often leave them, their families often abandon them, and they become social outcasts.
In August, 2006, a team of doctors and nurses came to Evangel to help with surgeries and to try out new techiques in VVF care. Since there were numerous women in need of care, the "waiting room" was constantly crowded.
International Volunteers in Urology, an aid organization based in Salt Lake City, Utah, came to Evangel to help with surgeries and diagnosis. They performed numerous surgeries during their 12-day stay.
IVU's mission is to travel the world to lend expertise - and comfort - to those in need.
IVU anesthesiologist James Mahoney and the rest of his team endured long hours under trying conditions.
Only a fortunate few of the 800,000 women in Nigeria suffering from VVF receive the care they need.
A recovery room at Evangel Hospital in Jos, Nigeria, is not only filled with patients but family members as well who have often traveled great distances to be with their loved ones.
Evangel patients and family take advantage of heavy rain to collect water for washing, bathing and drinking.
Since Evangel cannot afford to feed family members of patients, and since their stay is often many weeks or months long, food is prepared in a makeshift lean-to just outside the VVF Center.
Care for the women of Evangel does not stop at medicine. They also provide recovering VVF patients with training in weaving, sewing and cooking. This arms the women with a trade once they return to their villages.
In a life full of pain, suffering and ridicule, the women of Evangel find hope and friendship in those who share a common goal: to get dry (no incontinence) and to lead a normal life.
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