Sometimes a woman needs urgent care while Dr. Andrew Browning is in surgery at the Fistula Hospital in Barhirdar. The nurses do their best to help until he can tend to the woman in need. Often, their needs rest in the psychological aspect of their experiences. Healing does not end after their surgery. After being released from the hospital, women return to their daily lives of back-breaking wood collection, water fetching, navigating numerous disappointments and bracing against fear of repeated painful bodily injury.
A psychologist is unheard of in rural Ethiopia, and women are accustomed to bearing their own problems. They live for their children, and will repeatedly return to a man who causes great physical pain, just to live out their desire for motherhood.
At times I get asked why I do so much international work when there are so many needs in the United States. I have pondered this a lot during this trip. I think part of the reason is that I am in awe of seeing women with such an unwavering commitment to raising their families and keeping the cycle of life going, despite such dire hardships. The explosive joy when they see their first baby, a tender touch on the cheeks of their pleading children, a knowing smile they give to one another, the giggles when they carry a heavy load of wood on their hunched backs when they see me, a firenje, the fierce support they lend to one another. All of this is so magnified to me, living in a society where my life is so easy yet insular.
These women remind me of the power of grace, and the depths to which a loving hand can heal. I watch them interact with one another, and am humbled by their devotion to life.
How can I not extend a reciprocal hand?
