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• Foundation gives succour to patients in Ebonyi
From Emmanuel Uzor, Abakaliki
Vesicular Virginal Fistula (VVF) is a very devastating ailment that makes life unbearable for the victim. Apart from the excruciating pains associated with VVF patients, many of them are often subjected to all forms of social discrimination and stigmatization.
As a result of the crisis associated with the ailment, many women and girl children have been suffering in secret in their homes to avoid being stigmatized by the larger society.
The construction of the National Obstetrics Fistula Centre (NOFIC), Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has therefore enabled women with VVF to undergo treatment. However, after undergoing corrective repairs and surgeries, these women are still faced with various challenges, including economic and societal problems.
Chidimma Peace Mbanasor, a 2016 Mandela Washington Fellow, was recently moved into action by the problems facing women treated and discharged from the centre without any form of livelihood to sustain them. Her love for the VVF patients dates back to her days at the centre when she was undergoing her primary assignment, as NYSC member.
Mbanasor assisted 60 of the patients by distributing skill acquisition equipment to them after completing her vocational rehabilitation and economic empowerment programme for them, which took one week. The training was targeted at the socio-economic reintegration of the women at the centre who might have undergone fistula repair surgeries, especially those abandoned by their husbands as a result of their medical condition.
The participants attended sessions on skill acquisition and entrepreneurship, hygiene, and reproductive health and were empowered with free start-off packages in their chosen areas of interest.
Mbanasor was awarded a public diplomacy grant by the United States Consulate General in Lagos to carry out the project. Contingent upon availability of funds, the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos works with non-government organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, and individuals, through small grants, to provide financial support to a specific programme or initiative that support shared goals.
She was moved by the conditions of the patients: “The majority of these VVF survivors are peasants, petty traders, and housewives who have difficulties supporting themselves let alone their families. The situation became even more complicated when they were abandoned by their husbands and family members.
“Equipping women who have undergone fistula repair with self-sustaining skills can strengthen their capacities to care for themselves with a view to helping them reclaim their lives and return to their communities with pride and independence after treatment.
“The true definition of a life-well-spent is a life lived for others and dedicated to the service of humanity. I am delighted to restore the lives and dignity of these women that the society has condemned and excommunicated.”
Representative of the United States Consulate General, Anita Foster, commended Mbanasor for her gesture. She called for more empowerment of the patients after repairs, adding that one of their greatest challenges was how to survive after the treatment. She promised that the consulate would continue to partner with the Chidinma Peace Mbanasor NGO to empower and rehabilitate victims of VVF.
Chief Political-Economic Section of the United States Consulate General, Thomas Hines, said the consulate first met Mbanasor when they visited NOFIC in August 2015. At that time she was leading a rehabilitation and empowerment project for obstetrics fistula survivors:
“It is pleasure to observe her development as a leading public health and human rights advocate who advances children and women’s health and well-being. Ms. Mbanasor has been widely recognized for her leadership, and in 2016, she was selected by the United States government for its flagship Young African Leaders Initiative programme. As a Mandela Washington Fellow, she participated in an intensive six-week civic leadership programme at Wagner College in New York City.
“It is a great pleasure to see that Ms. Mbanasor has capitalized on the Young African Leaders Initiative to continue to make a difference in many people’s lives. The rehabilitation and empowerment initiative for obstetric fistula survivors that she initiated while serving in the NYSC continues today, restoring survivors’ dignity through vocational, entrepreneurship, hygiene, and reproductive health training. Of particular note is the emphasis to enable women to reclaim their lives and return to their communities with pride and independence.”
Public Affairs Officer of the consulate, Darcy Zotter, said, “untreated fistula can have a devastating impact on women’s lives due to a whole range of physical, psychological, and socio-economic consequences. We applaud Mbanasor’s renewed focus on Vesico-Vaginal Fistula survivors and for taking the bold step of providing support for them.”
Medical Director of NOFIC, Prof Sunday Adeoye, said he was not surprised about Mbanasor’s gesture. He noted that she showed great interest in the VVF patients during her NYSC days and was always punctual to duties to take up challenges about the VVF patients and commended her for continuing to show concern about the patients:
“We would like you to know that the trauma you went through and survived has made you a champion as many others have succumbed to lesser challenges. Thus we encourage you as champions to grab the next phase of your life with both hands as you contribute your quota to the development of yourself, your family and the nation.”
Head of Department, Medical and Social Work of NOFIC, Mighty-Chukwu Ifeoma, who also lauded Mbanasor, called for more of welfare packages for the VVF survivors: “The social implications for the Vesco-Vaginal Fistula patients are very severe, both the physical and social consequences are catastrophic. No escape is possible from the constant trickle of urine and constant ooze of stool 24 hours a day.
“These women become physically and morally offensive to their husbands, their families, their friends, and their neighbours. Indelibly stigmatized by their conditions, they are forced to the margins of society where they live a precarious existence, unable to earn a living except through begging or by the cheapest and most degrading acts of prostitution.”
One of the survivors, Chinyere Igwe, from Ezza South Local Government Area narrated how she was impregnated by a man when she was 14 years in 2009. She had VVF in the course of delivering her baby and was abandoned by the man responsible for the pregnancy. While thanking Mbanasor for her kind gesture, she also revealed how another man who promised to marry her after being repaired also got her impregnated in 2014 and dumped her. She suffered the sickness again while delivering her baby in the hands of a traditional birth attendant who the man responsible for the pregnancy insisted must deliver her of the baby.
