"For our stuggle is not against flesh and blood" (sorry, this is a long one)

I have been working with the VVF women now for the last 3 days. This was the first night of 3 night shifts in the same ward. Little did I know at 930pm what I would be walking into. First, here is a little history.
Bed 17 (Ramatou) and bed 11 (Kolani) are from the same village up north, Muslim, and met on the bus coming down here. Realizing they were going to the same place for the same thing and from the same village, they had an instant bond. Ramatou is the only one who spoke Kolani’s language, although Ramatou could also speak French. Ramatou was going to be discharged but we kept her for Kolani since she was the only one who could speak her language. Kolani was really upset when we told her Ramatou was maybe going to go home, so relieved when we let her stay. I had also been told in report that Ramatou had become a Christian and since then Kolani and her had not gotten along as well. Clemintine (our awesome ward discipler came down to pray with them and talk in the morning yesterday and they went for a walk and things seemed to be fine the rest of the day.
So I walk onto my shift and there was a lot of noise on that side of the room. Bed 11 and 17 seemed to be arguing with the other ladies chiming in. I asked the translators what was going on. He kind of gave me the same story as I had been told. There was only one translator (who wasn’t stationed in my ward) who kind of spoke 11's language. He came over as well. I was told bed 11 acted up a bit the night before as well and that tonight she was paranoid and not going to sleep , saying she thought the white men were going to kill her. I’m not sure if this is because she was Muslim and her friend was converted, or what. But later she tried to warn the others that she had seen me pouring poison. We finally calmed everyone down and I gathered the translators and some other nurses to pray. One of the translators said that this was a spiritual battle and the woman would not find rest until she finds the Lord. I agreed that this seemed to be spiritually rooted. Another patient later was saying that Kolani had a "bad spirit" and it could not find a place to go while on the ship so she (Kolani) wanted to leave.
Well, we finally got everyone calmed down and Kolani was just sitting on her bed. I was sitting at the computer and had a curtain up to block the lights from the patients at night. I heard a yell from behind the curtain. I pull the curtain back and Kolani was crouched by bed 14. Now bed 14 is all upset cause she was sleeping and woke up to Kolani just crouched by her looking at her. Well, this got the whole side of the room in an uproar again. All the ladies woke up and starting talking loudly back and forth. Bed 14 refused to go back to sleep and wanted a light on because she was freaked out by Kolani and said she had a bad spirit and was practicing witchcraft. I told her I would take the curtain down and leave the light up front on so I could watch Kolani so the others could sleep.
Everyone went back to sleep for about another 30 minutes. It’s about midnight now and I look behind me and Kolani is standing by bed 17 now. I go over there and this commotion wakes bed 17 up. Kolani refuses to leave "her friend’s" side and says she wants to sleep with her. This gets everyone riled up again and the translator and I decide we need to move either bed 17 or Kolani. Bed 17 was fed up with 11 always bugging her. We figured we wouldn’t be able to get Kolani out on her own will so we decide to move 17 into another ward. Bed 14 wanted to leave too, but we can’t move everyone. Well, moving her friend made bed 11 more upset, but there was no compromising with her.
Again, things calmed down for about an hour…Kolani went back to sit on her bed. However, anytime anyone would come into the ward or the phone would ring she would get startled and stand up and go over to bed 19 and shake her legs, wake her up and cause more commotion. This happened almost every hour or two. The translator and I finally had to take turns sitting in a chair at the end of her bed so she could not get out. At times when she had gone to bed 19, the translator and I had to forcefully pull her back to her bed and sit her down.
At one point at like 3am during another escapade, 14 came over and started yelling at Kolani again. The translator interpreted that she said, "I have Jesus in my stomach (they use that instead of heart here) and if you come near me He will kill you!" Thank goodness no one else spoke Kolani’s language or I feel like that would have been another whole ordeal.
I spent most of the night reading scripture and praying for Kolani and for protection for the other women against whatever Satan had in His mind to do. It was a long night needless to say. At 6am I went to empty her foley catheter and it was not by her. I was so confused cause I had been watching her and she had it with her all night. I finally found it under her bed. The translator had fallen asleep watching her at one point and I’m guessing this is when it happened. At this point I am beyond frustrated. She had just had surgery 3 days ago and was now dry from leaking urine...if she pulled a catheter out, that would cause some serious damage. However, when I saw the catheter, she had managed to tear the rubber part so the bulb of the catheter was still in her. She would not let me touch her to get it out. I paged the VVF coordinator on call and we discussed what to do. We decided to leave her alone and wait until bed 17 comes back and see if we can get it out without having to hold her down. This is where I left it at shift change in the morning.
I went to bed and slept until about 4pm. I ran into one of my roommates who was in B ward in the morning and asked her how it turned out. It took them until 10am to convince her to let them take out the catheter. Then she still refused to stay here. We are not going to hold them against their will, so she got discharged. I guess midmorning she calmed down until the Jesus film came on at which point she just sat in her bed and screamed for 30 mintues. They had her then sent to the hospitality center. On the way out she sat in the middle of the hallway and screamed again. When they finally got her to the hospitality center she caused more chaos and either left on her own or was kicked out. So now she is wondering somewhere in Cotonou, even though she is from up north.
I continue to pray for her that she finds the Lord and that the devil will release His grip on her. I also continue to pray for Ramatou who will be going back to the same village that her faith will remain unshaken and used to convert many in that village and even in Kolani’s life. I praise God for His grace and protection last night as it got a bit scary at times. This was the first time in Benin that I really was involved in something like that. I know there is a big spiritual battle going on and it is even more prevalent here with all the voodoo and witchcraft we are surrounded with. I truly believe everything that happened last night was spiritual. I also continue to pray for the other ladies on the ward that God will protect them and not be affected by Kolani. I know Kolani is a precious child of God and I pray so hard that she will find Him and His freedom and love! The spiritual warfare going on is very real! I am so thankful that Ramatou became a Christian!. Our God is a God of healing and reconciliation emotionally, spiritually, and physically. What an awesome God we serve! He is breaking bonds, revealing His love, giving freedom and healing right in front of my own eyes. The resistance from the enemy is very real, but our God is bigger!!!
Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."