Bintu, Sierra Leone 2002

Bintu was only 9 when rebels overran her village during the Sierra Leone civil War. There was no warning and no chance to flee. Bintu was abducted by a rebel leader.

Bintu was only 9 when rebels overran her village during the Sierra Leone Civil War. There was no warning and no chance to flee. Bintu was abducted and suffered injuries to her body and her soul.

They lived in the jungle and the leader’s subordinates buried the opposing rebels killed by the murder unit they followed. But when he died in a raid, Bintu was passed on to his successor. She was repeatedly violated and developed an obstetric fistula – a tear between the bladders and the birth canal. From then Bintu leaked urine and faeces constantly.

Then one amazing day during a routine attack on a village, Bintu’s sister saw her and called out. Together they escaped into the jungle and walked for weeks, begging food from the villages they passed by. They heard their mother had survived, and the girls made the long journey that finally lead to their mother’s arms.

Bintu’s mother took her to a clinic in the capital Freetown, but her injuries were too severe for them to attempt surgery. But they had good news – the Mercy Ship was coming and surgeons on-board had the instruments and expertise to perform an obstetric fistula repair for her.