Life to the Full

When I left the hospital tonight I thought about walking around the hospital to avoid ‘the band’. I was tired from working and was ready to just crawl into my bed. I had not heard any noise yet so I figured it was safe to walk the normal way. Nuhu is the anesthesiologist and we found out the other day that he is also the manager of a band in town. Of course he is. We hired him to bring his band and put on a show for us. When I arrived to the front of the hospital Ashley and Mark were sitting on the hospital step while the band was setting up. I knew I was going to have to stay to witness this… the bass was just getting warmed up playing Amazing Grace while some other people were watering the sand in front of where the rest of the band was setting up. I sat down next to Ashley and we looked at each other and reminded each other that this is just another day in Niger, watching someone water the sand while instruments are being brought in and people are arriving. It didn’t take long to realize why they were watering the sand. That would be the dance floor. When the music started there were four girls who shuffled along in a line and danced, or shuffled, in a large circle through the sand. We all jumped in and followed and before long the fistula women from the village started wandering in from behind the hospital. They came and sat along the step to the hospital but after one or two of them got up and danced I knew the best was yet to come. People from all over the hospital, compound, nearby towns started showing up. I think we emptied out the village and all the fistula women came, even the two patients from the ward who had surgery were there. There were people dancing on the walkway to the hospital, on the ground, and as the circle continued to shuffle its way around and around I kept thinking to myself: John 10:10. This is living life to the full. Not just for me, but for the fistula women. Looking at all the women there laughing, jumping as Dr Steve had a laser pen he kept scaring them with, dancing, chatting, going up to dance then running back and giggling, just sitting and watching, laughing more. This is living life to the full. Even the woman who brought me to tears just a couple days ago knowing the chance of her being dry was slim, she was out there dancing, singing and laughing. I don’t think I have seen such a large group of VVF women laughing so much and just living without fear or shame. They were women sharing their lives together. The teenagers danced together. The older women sat and laughed. Everyone in between lived. No fear. Just John 10:10, living life to the full.