Give Women Recovering from Fistula a Bright Future

Dear Friends,

This Thursday, May 23rd is International Day to End Obstetric Fistula. While as many as 3,000 Tanzanian women develop fistula every year, many in Tanzania have never heard of it; the condition is still surrounded by lack of awareness, confusion and stigma.

Asha, now 44, developed fistula during the birth of her second child in 1996, when she was 23.

Without a skilled medical attendant present, Asha’s second labor and delivery was long and painful. Afterwards, like many women living with fistula, Asha was unable to control her urine or feces.

It would be six years before Asha even learned the name of her condition, which continued worsening as she gave birth to four more children. Unable to afford fistula surgery at her district hospital with her income as a local farmer, 16 more years passed before Asha learned about our partner CCBRT’s free fistula services.

In February 2019, after 22 years too many, Asha underwent a successful fistula repair surgery at CCBRT.

Realizing she could finally access treatment was “the beginning of a new life chapter,” Asha said. Read Asha’s full story here.

Obstetric fistula is preventable with access to timely, high-quality maternal health services. No woman should live with fistula for 22 years, or even two months.

Tomorrow, on International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, we’re raising awareness about fistula and mobilizing support to eradicate fistula in Tanzania. Stay tuned to learn how you can help, and visit our website, Facebook or Instagram for more stories from women affected by fistula and the health workers working tirelessly to prevent it.

Sincerely,

The Kupona Foundation team

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