Dear Friends,
As we shared in our last report, in honor of Mother’s Day and International Day to End Obstetric Fistula on May 23rd, this month we’re celebrating mothers and the healthcare workers who keep them safe.
Today, we also want to celebrate you for partnering with us to help women holistically recover from obstetric fistula, as well as to prevent and eradicate fistula in Tanzania, by sharing recent program updates from our local partner CCBRT.
In mid-December, ten trainees graduated from The Mabinti Centre’s vocational training program, after receiving eight months of instruction in skills like sewing, screen printing and beading, as well as numeracy, English and business. At graduation, each woman received both a diploma and a business starter kit that included a sewing machine, calculator, pair of scissors, and fabric. Just this month, Mabinti welcomed its 2019 class of 12 trainees!
The Mabinti Centre also took a significant step forward this spring when it opened a storefront in a popular outdoor shopping mall in Dar es Salaam. By increasing revenue from product sales, Mabinti will be able to increasingly reinvest both in its operations and in CCBRT’s fistula program, helping to provide free, high quality holistic treatment to more women in need. Take a one minute tour of Mabinti’s new store here.
Finally, at the end of last year, CCBRT’s continued advocacy led the government to agree to include fistula in the official training curriculum for its community health workers (CHWs). Based at the village level, CHWs are uniquely placed to identify and refer women living with fistula. CCBRT’s fistula program team is working closely with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health to teach all government CHWs about fistula, making them fistula “ambassadors” - a testament to the importance of engaging health workers to #EndFistula in Tanzania.
Thank you for helping make this life-changing work possible.
Warmly,
Abbey Kocan
Executive Director, Kupona Foundation
Dear Friends,
Each year in Tanzania, 11,000 women die due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, and 3,000 more develop obstetric fistula, a debilitating birth injury. We can change this. Our greatest resource in doing so? Front line health workers.
Studies of Tanzania’s over-congested, under-resourced health facilities have blamed “personnel motivation” and staff’s “low productivity” for many of the failures of the country’s health system. In contrast, our collaborative Maternal Health Capacity Building (MHCB) program focuses on encouraging, empowering and enabling front line health workers.
Dr. Timothy is one of our expert emergency obstetric care trainers and clinical coaches. He spends at least three days a quarter at each of our 22 partner facilities, working alongside health worker to address skill gaps through coaching, mentoring and engaging health workers to identify problems and implement solutions.
In the past five years, the generosity of donors like you has enabled MHCB to train more than 5,000 maternal and newborn health workers, empowering them with the skills and confidence they need to save lives and prevent obstetric fistula. The result? A 40% reduction in maternal deaths and a stronger referral system that’s better equipped to provide timely emergency obstetric care in order to prevent new cases of fistula.
What’s more, health workers trained by MHCB have a heightened sense of ownership. As one manager put it: “If today, there were 10 maternal deaths, I know that it doesn’t have to be like that tomorrow. MHCB works hand-in-hand with us to identify problems and implement solutions.”
Your continued partnership has helped us save thousands of lives and prevent traumatic injuries like obstetric fistula. As you celebrate Mother’s Day, I invite you to also celebrate the healthcare providers in your life and the healthcare providers in Tanzania, who are working tirelessly to create a better, safer tomorrow for mothers and newborns. A gift of $50 provides the resources necessary for four safe deliveries. A gift of $100 trains two maternal health workers to save lives at birth.
Happy Mother’s Day, and thank you!
Sincerely,
Dr. Brenda D’mello
OB/GYN, CCBRT MHCB Project Manager and Technical Advisor
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?
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?
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%
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