At first glance, Mercy* looks like a typical 12 year old girl. She's tall and thin, with long, skinny arms and legs, obviously the product of a recent growth spurt. She smiles when you look at her, and politely greets you, as any good Nigerian girl would do.
But tucked beneath her clothes, she hides a secret. Everyday, all day long, feces slowly leaks uncontrollably from her vagina. She intentionally wears her skirts and dresses a bit baggy, so as to better pad herself and to try to hide the problem. But everyone knows. You need not get too close before you'd identify the telltale odor emanating from her young body. In fact, everyone in her village knows that Mercy can't control her feces, a problem that places her outside the communal society in which she lives. Although she has been able to attend school, that doesn't keep her from being the odd one out, never quite able to integrate with her peers. There is no end in sight and no relief; her mother has taken her to clinic after clinic with no one able to help.
In July, Mercy and her mother made the long trip from their village two states away to come to our VVF hospital, hoping against hope that maybe this time someone could help. After a brief exam we gave them news they've never heard before - that her problem can likely be fixed! She was scheduled for surgery, which I performed last week. Under anesthesia I traced the fistula, about the width of a pinky finger and a little over an inch in length, and set to work. After a 30 minute operation, the fistulous tract and its openings were closed and repaired back to their normal state.
This morning as I was rounding in the VVF ward, in the background I could hear a small voice quietly singing. I thought nothing of it until I came to the last bed, Mercy's. It was the joyful song of a tiny voice who had returned to childhood. "Any problems?" I asked. "No," came the reply. "Are you leaking?" The only response was a smile that stretched across the room, acknowledging her new freedom. Freedom from leaking feces. Freedom from smelling like an outhouse. Freedom from always being the outsider. Freedom to be a little girl again.
Mercy is free now. I discharged her from the ward and scheduled her for our weekly "Freedom Ceremony" where on clinic days we recognize women (and sometimes girls) who are now free from leaking urine or feces. Her treatment came free too, as a result of external grants funding our care to these suffering females. But she has paid a price. She has suffered with a debilitating problem since an age before the limits of her memory. A problem that led to ostracism and mocking and condemnation from adults and peers alike. And all of this as a result of being raped while she was only an infant.
Please be praying for Mercy. As she completes her physical healing may God continue His spiritual and emotional healing. As she returns to her community and school, may she be able to forgive those who wronged her, and through her graceful response, may they come to repentance. Pray also that her experience will enable her to be a support, encouragement, and champion for women and children suffering as she has, and that through this, she may lead them to the True Healer, Jesus Christ.
"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" -Mark 8:36
*not her real name
