Kumba petrified by fear of death

Kumba is a 17 year-old girl, who said she was a Christian, last year delivered a still-born child after a long hard labour. Afterwards she leaked urine from a fistula, so in misery she went to the village medicine man. He, after tying herbs round her feet said that sand would pass into her feet and would rise through her body and cure the problem. If it reached her head, however she would certainly die.

Suddenly a Mercy Ships vehicle appeared in her area, offering surgery in Freetown. She climbed aboard, and soon found herself facing a white doctor offering an operation to cure her. She thought of the death-warning on her and was terrified. She asked repeatedly to be taken home to have the curse dealt with. At last after days of reassurance and teaching from Florence our counsellor and others she agreed to surgery. Two weeks later, cured but still anxious about the 'sand', here she is after her ‘gladi gladi’ going home.

Rugiatu - deadly complications

A 26 year old woman from Bo district is the head of the ‘bundu’ society in her village. Bundo is the W Africa wide practice that initiates virtually all girls around or before the age of puberty. Typically it is a 6 week period of training in all sorts of female roles in society, some healthy and some very frankly occult. The course ends with genital mutilation (called ‘female circumcision’ see www.wikipedia.org), which renders the girl ‘clean’ and fit for marriage.

Rugiatu developed a fistula from bearing a child and came to us for surgery. Her smouldering introspective manner indicated an occult involvement. Her operation was difficult but no problems were expected. Suddenly on the third day however she became feverish and developed pain in her upper abdomen. I felt a bubbling crackling sensation under the skin, and instantly knew that she had ‘gas gangrene’, a condition with a 50% mortality in the West. I injected antibiotics and transferred her to an emergency hospital where large incisions were made to drain off the infection. She survived. After 48 hours she underwent further surgery and 2 weeks later came back to us, her fistula re-opened. She is still spitting fire and venom at me in particular. She is going home tomorrow and will return in 3 months for further surgery.

Pray for a turnaround for this woman, and for protection for our staff.

Faithful staff

Thursday afternoon this week the heavens opened and on our way home we had to cross a river 150 yards wide with hundreds struggling to cross on foot (see video below). The back of our pickup filled to bursting with grateful passengers wanting to avoid and soaking and possible injury.

Freetown came to a standstill and most of our staff took hours (some as much as four) to walk home where there is no means to dry clothes. But next morning they were all back to work on time, bright and cheerful. We sang at devotions ‘Send us more rain……..!’

One member of staff’s relative is a little boy aged 3 who among others was drowned when several houses were washed away. A local newspaper wrote, ‘Freetown is congested with one third (not true) of the country’s population this could be evident by…. the illegal occupation of the dangerous and sloppy hills in Freetown by the downtrodden.’

Let it rain!

Clothed in brilliant green tropical plants West Africa looks so beautiful at the end of the rains. The view from our balcony has changed from the dry dust of February with a few scrubby plants to an eight foot wall of ochre plants and other edibles. The video taken outside Helen's office shows what causes the change.