Published in Living Hope Newsletter, January 2012
Since Living Hope launched the reconstructive surgery programme to restore dignity to mutilated women, the following has been completed:
- 108 ladies in total have been identified for surgery
- 23 surgeries have been completed to date
- By November 2011, 21 surgeries (mainly for reconstruction on ears) were on a waiting list. These ladies have been assessed and are awaiting surgery.
- 59 ladies are awaiting assessment and they will be attending discipleship and trauma counselling. Including this group of ladies, there are 90 surgeries pending.
The process of identifying, assessing, counselling and eventually conducting surgery is long, taking up to over 6 months or more for each lady. But what a blessing it is when they are restored, heads held high, with a sense of dignity, value and purpose.
Reconstructive Surgery Process
- IDENTIFICATION
Women are identified for surgeries by well-trained field teams. These teams travel deep into the villages to find and reassure those ladies who are hiding – ashamed and abandoned. The goal of the teams, "every sub-county, every parish" to offer every woman who has been mutilated an opportunity to access help. Many women testify that this action of going all the way to look for them is the first sign that we love them.
- TRAUMA REHABILITATION /SPIRITUAL DISCIPLESHIP/SKILLS TRAINING
The ladies are picked up from several locations in 7 districts and brought to the Living Hope Centre (GUSCO site) where the ground team prepares for them by making their beds, and packing "care packages" for them. These packages include toiletries, undergarments, towels, etc. The care presented is an experience these abused women have never had in their lives.
The ladies undergo trauma rehabilitation workshops over a period of ten days, aimed at releasing them from the effects of their past experiences, They are introduced to Christ and His principles for living through the spiritual discipleship and empowered with handicraft-skills training to provide them with a skill that can supplement their income back home.
These skills include making purses and bags from waste shopping bags and drinking straws, making paper beads and buttons and jewellery from calabashes that are widely grown in the area.
This period is a necessary time of empowerment and restoration for the ladies. Through nutritious, daily meals and consistent medical care, their physical bodies are given a chance at recovery, restoration and rest from the hard labour they endure in the villages.
The women also receive a full medical check up and treatment where required.
The purpose of this time is to prepare the women's body, spirit and soul for forthcoming surgeries and for a new life. During this time, initial assessments are carried out for candidature for actual surgery.
- ASSESSMENT
After two weeks at the centre, the ladies are transported to Kampala where they stay at Buloba Village, while assessments and scheduling is carried out for surgeries at CORSU (Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services Uganda) Hospital. Ladies are accompanied by a nurse and doctor.
- SURGERIES
Ladies return home after assessment and return to the Living Hope Centre (GUSCO site) before returning to Kampala for the actual surgeries. On admission, the ladies stay at CORSU for up to two weeks, depending on the nature of the surgeries. They are attended to by fellow Living Hope ladies who stay with them for the duration of their stay in the hospital and during the recuperation period in Buloba Village and at the Living Hope Centre (GUSCO site). Some ladies return for multiple surgeries.
- FOOD PACKAGES AND LOSS OF INCOME COMPENSATION
Because the ladies are usually the major breadwinners in the home, their absence from home can cause hardship to children and other dependents. To offset this, the women are given a food package when returning home and some compensation for loss of income.
