Give Women Recovering from Fistula a Bright Future

Dear Friends,

We have just one day left to unlock exclusive support to train women and girls recovering from obstetric fistula at The Mabinti Centre. The GlobalGiving Girl's Fund Campaign ends today at 11:59pm ET. 

Your generous gifts have helped us reach women like Jesca with empowering tools and skills they can use to help rebuild their lives after living with obstetric fistula. But we still have time to secure a place on the GlobalGiving Girl's Fund, giving us access to additional funds and support.

We’re asking you to spread the word. Share our GlobalGiving project on your social media pages, make a gift if you have not yet had the chance, and encourage your contacts to give, helping us unlock matching gifts that will enable Mabinti to reach more women like Jesca.

We have come so far, and this is the final push towards the finish line. We hope you will join us!

Thank you,
The Kupona team

Dear Friends,

In celebration of International Women’s Day, your gift today goes further to support brighter futures for women and girls like Jesca.

After enduring a prolonged and difficult labor, Jesca discovered that her baby was stillborn, and that she was now living with an obstetric fistula. When her partner left her as a result of her chronic incontinence, Jesca suddenly had to support herself. Fortunately, she heard about the free, comprehensive fistula treatment offered at CCBRT. Her successful fistula repair surgery in 2007 was a major step forward in her recovery journey.

In 2011, Jesca took another significant step forward: she graduated from The Mabinti Centre’s socio-economic empowerment program after a year of training in sewing, beading, crochet, bookkeeping and entrepreneurial literacy. In 2013, she took yet another step when she accepted a full-time position as an employee in Mabinti’s production unit. Today, Jesca lives happily with her husband in her own home. “I am proud to work at The Mabinti Centre,” she says.

The Mabinti Centre equips women recovering from obstetric fistula with the skills and knowledge they need to rebuild their lives and become financially independent after experiencing the trauma and stigma of obstetric fistula. This International Women’s Day, we’re asking for your help: please support us in our mission to reach more women like Jesca through The Mabinti Centre.

How can you help?

1. Today only, your donation (up to $250) to our “Give Women Recovering from Fistula a Bright Future” GlobalGiving project will be matched at 30% while funds last.

• $55 supports the monthly allowance for one Mabinti trainee.
• $150 provides English lessons for one trainee for a year.
• $272 supports a sewing trainer and mentor for one month.
• $700 provides business starter kits (including sewing machines, scissors, fabric and a calculator) to four trainees when they graduate.

       2. Spread the word: follow this click-to-tweet link to tweet your support for The Mabinti Centre’s work. 

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate women and girls around the world. This International Women’s Day, thank you for being part of our incredible and generous community, and for your commitment to empowering women and girls!

With gratitude,
The Kupona Foundation team: Sami, Claire & Abbey

Dear Friends,

From today until March 14th, we invite you to join us as we celebrate the courage, perseverance, and strength of the women we serve in Tanzania. Women like Debora, Fadhila, and Naomi who have overcome the pain and trauma of fistulas resulting from obstructed labor or other childbirth injuries.

Today, these resilient women are living free of fistula, rebuilding their lives, and helping other women living with fistula to come out of the shadows to receive free, comprehensive treatment at CCBRT Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They are strong not only for themselves, but for the women around them, and we are so excited to celebrate them in the lead-up to International Women’s Day.

“Before I came to CCBRT, I did not have the courage to ask for the treatment prices because of my financial status. But when I came to CCBRT I was overjoyed to know I can receive treatment for free! I am so thankful for the surgery I have just received; it went very well. I cannot express how joyful I am!” -Debora, former patient at CCBRT

Over the next two weeks, we are excited to share their stories, hear from Kupona supporters who have spent time with women and girls living with fistula, and highlight healthcare workers serving on the frontlines of fistula care. We are partnering with our friends at GlobalGiving to ensure that these stories are told and that your impact can go exponentially further.

How can you get involved?

• Make a Donation on March 8th (International Women’s Day). Gifts made through our GlobalGiving project on this date will generate a 30% match while matching funds last.*
• Share with friends! There are bonus prizes available for the GlobalGiving projects that have the most donations and unique donors, so we need your help to spread the word! Share our posts with your friends and family and ask them to donate and share too!

What will your support accomplish?
Donations will support vocational training at The Mabinti Centre, our socioeconomic empowerment program for women recovering from fistula. Through a training program focused on crafts and entrepreneurship skills, Mabinti gives women recovering from fistula repair surgery the tools and confidence to rebuild their lives, open businesses, and regain their independence. It also prepares them to become ambassadors in their communities, helping to refer other women for treatment.

We are so excited for what the next two weeks will bring. We hope that you will join us in fighting for empowerment and healing for women and girls in Tanzania.

Warm regards,

Abbey Kocan
Executive Director

*Online donations up to $250 will be matched at 30%                                                                                                  

Dear friends,

It takes a village - thank you for being part of ours. As we take a moment to reflect after the rush of the holidays and before the demands of a new year begin, we want to say thank you.

Thank you for being an integral part of the Kupona community, our “village.”

Thank you for providing essential, life-changing healthcare to those who need it most in Tanzania.

This December, you helped us raise over $34,000. This means, in 2019 we will be able to:

• Provide obstetric fistula repair surgeries and holistic rehabilitation to 20 women like Brenda completely free of charge, giving them the opportunity for a brighter future.
• Train 196 health workers like Ladness to identify newborns with disabilities at birth and refer them for treatment, improving treatment rates and long-term health outcomes.
• Provide free eye consultations to 600 children like Emmanuel, ensuring that all children have the right to sight.

Your kindness and commitment to making a difference inspire us, and we feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work together with you toward achieving our mission. We wish you and yours all the best for a happy and healthy New Year!

With sincere gratitude,

Abbey, Sami and Claire
The Kupona Foundation team

Dear friends,

To all of our partners, donors, and friends, I want to say “thank you” for supporting Kupona Foundation and our Tanzanian partner CCBRT in 2018.

I was a supporter of this work long before I ever joined the Board of Directors. When one of my former clients introduced me to Kupona’s mission, it resonated with me. I originally came to Kupona because of that relationship, but I stayed for the mission.

I stayed because of mothers like Flora, who can now deliver their babies in facilities that are safer, better equipped, and staffed with well-trained medical teams. I stayed because of Kupona and CCBRT’s commitment to finding sustainable, lasting solutions like the new CCBRT Private Clinic. I stayed because of children like Paulo, who are receiving the care they need to walk, see, play, and go to school. I stayed because of the inspiring and dedicated healthcare workers like Dr. Brenda and her team that are saving lives every day in delivery rooms across Dar es Salaam.

I stayed because this work is solving problems and saving lives, not just today, but for generations to come. And I am so glad I did.

On behalf of the Kupona team here in the U.S. and the team at CCBRT, thank you for making this year both life-changing and life-saving. We have just one more day left in 2018. If you have not yet had a chance to give, please do so. By training two maternal healthcare workers to handle complicated deliveries, a gift of just $100 has the power to save lives.

Wishing you and yours all the best in 2019.

Happy New Year!
Robert Schwed 

P.S. This past October, I took my second trip to visit our colleagues at CCBRT, where I was privileged to see the impact of your generosity firsthand. My good friend and the newest Kupona Board member, Betsy Zink, shared her impressions from this trip in this brief blog.