Dress Ceremony

Imagine the last time you put on clean clothes.  Hopefully, you are thinking about this morning.  And if you are like me, you will probably wear the same pair of jeans for the next week until they become “really” dirty and I put them in the wash. 

Putting on clean clothes doesn’t happen for women with fistulas.  With continuous leaking, the women do not own clothes that smell and look clean.  If they have money to buy soap, they spend much of their time washing their few precious dresses, trying not to smell and offend people around them.  However, with few resources, women with fistulas in West Africa do not own a piece of clothing that has not been tainted by the problems of continuous leaking.

During their time with Mercy Ships, the women with fistulas are not only given a life-changing surgery, they are also given spiritual and emotional counseling to help re-establish their self-esteem and feelings of worth and value.  At the end of their stay with Mercy Ships, the women are given a “Dress Ceremony.”  In this special ceremony, the women are honored for their internal and external beauty, strength, and bravery.  They are given a completely new outfit, jewelry, and beauty products.  The women are celebrated for their worth in God’s eyes and their new beginning, living life without this horrible condition. 

            I had the privilege of attending two dress ceremonies since I have been here.  It is especially special because the women in the dress ceremony have been my patients during my time working with the VVF surgeon. 

The women and their new dresses are so beautiful!

The women are welcomed to the ceremony with music and drums.  

And, of course, there is dancing.  This is Africa!

Each woman tells their story of how they have got this condition and how they have lived with it.  One woman was in labor for two weeks while she was running from war.  Many of the women have lived with this condition for ten to twenty years! 

These women have changed me.  Their strength inspires me.  

Their painful stories have forever altered my thinking about what I “need”.  

I am so blessed.