2010 Journey to Jos

The tragic events that unfolded on the outskirts of Jos, Nigeria on March 7th have forced us to cancel our 2010 Journey to Jos mission. With over 300 people killed, we felt the region was too unstable to safely conduct our planned activities. One of our doctor’s and Project HOW’s acting medical director, Dr. Ene George, has decided to travel to Jos despite the danger. She will be supporting the staff at Evangel Hospital as they conduct roughly 200 fistula surgeries during a two-week timeframe. Dr. George has family in Jos that she will be staying with and has promised us she will stay safe!


Led by the inspirational Dr. Sunday, the dedicated staff at Evangel Hospital hosts a vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) reunion every year in early March. The reunion is a chance for women who have had VVF econstruction surgeries at the hospital during the previous year to return and meet other women who are recovered VVF patients. VVF can devastate a woman both mentally and physically, so the reunion provides a support group of sorts, where women can share stories and ideas and give hope to one another. The reunion has a dual fold purpose in that the women bring in women and girls from their villages that are in need of VVF reconstruction. Our original mission was to provide medical support, in the form of surgeons and anesthesiologists, equipment and supplies, during the reunion to sustain the increased number of VVF surgeries during the reunion. Dr. George will be working alongside Dr. Sunday and his staff and will provide us updates when she is able.

A quick background on VVF: VVF is a serious complication of childbirth, where prolonged labor results in serious tissue damage and tears holes between the vaginal wall and the bladder. The condition occurs more often in women who become pregnant at a very young age. Their small pelvic size and lack of access to proper medical care during childbirth results in the type of obstructed and prolonged labor that causes VVF. If the obstruction is not addressed in a timely manner, the prolonged pressure of the baby’s head against the mother’s pelvis cuts off the blood supply to the soft tissues surrounding her bladder, rectum and vagina, leading to tissue necrosis. The baby usually dies and the woman is left with VVF.

Living with the effects of this condition can be devastating. Women are often discarded by their husbands and live as social outcasts with no way to support themselves. Due to their poverty, lack of political status, and the stigma that the condition causes, these women have remained largely invisible to the outside world.