Make Motherhood Safe for Tanzanian Women

“When I get a healthy baby I always clap and cheer, I just can’t help myself!” ~Sister Intisar

Intisar is a nurse in Dar es Salaam. The training she received thanks to your donations empowers her to save lives. After a few months of training and mentorship through our programs, Intisar felt equipped to use her freshly honed skills, receiving perfect clinical scores when she was assessed. One of her trainers called her "a champion of delivery and resuscitating newborns". 

Intisar says, “I want all mothers to have safe respectful care…I want every mother to enjoy giving birth – not regard it as a punishment…I’m happy to be able to pass the best practices on to even more nurses”.

What does she wish for the mothers and newborns of Tanzania? “Seriously, I want zero deaths.”

We’re not there yet, but together, we can help make Intisar’s wish a reality.

One week from today, on Giving Tuesday, you have the chance to further your impact. Thanks to our friends at GlobalGiving and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, every unique donation made on November 29^th (up to $1,000) through GlobalGiving will receive a 50% match until 11:59:59pm. In addition, all new recurring donations up to $100 USD per month per unique donor will have their first month matched at 200%.

Every donation you make to our program changes the lives of women in Tanzania, giving them access to the high quality healthcare they need and deserve. A donation on Giving Tuesday will go even further, equipping more healthcare workers like Intisar with the skills, equipment and supplies they need to manage deliveries safely.

This year, thanks to healthcare workers like Intisar, several of the hospitals we support have celebrated months without a single maternal death. We can’t stop now. Intisar’s wish for zero deaths is possible, but we can’t do it without you. Please consider making your Year End donation on November 29^th, Giving Tuesday, to stand with nurses like Intisar, and make motherhood safe for every woman and newborn we serve.

Thank you,

Abbey Kocan

Together, we are making stories like Ruth’s a thing of the past

Thousands of expectant mothers in Tanzania do not have access to high quality maternal healthcare, either because they do not make it to the hospital in time, or, when they do make it, wards are overcrowded, understaffed, and under-resourced. With your generosity, collaboration with the Government of Tanzania and support from other partners, the situation is improving. However, we still have a long way to go.

Ruth, a patient at CCBRT’s Disability Hospital, shared her story with us. “I was 20-years-old when I learned that I was pregnant. I was so excited to welcome my child into the world. When the time came, I had labor pains for a day before I went to the hospital. It took me four hours to get there. When I arrived at the hospital it was too late. My baby didn't survive. I was heartbroken, and it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse. Then, I realized I was leaking urine.”

Ruth developed obstetric fistula during the prolonged delivery. A hole had formed between her vagina and bladder, leaving her with chronic incontinence. “None of my doctors explained what was happening, and I left the facility with no idea what was wrong.”

“My community turned their backs on me. A Good Samaritan let me live with her, and I started to look for treatment. I went to several hospitals, but nobody could help me.”

That was in 1985.

Almost three decades later, Ruth was introduced to one of CCBRT’s volunteer ambassadors, one of 1,600 volunteers around the country tasked with identifying and referring women with fistula for treatment. After surgery, Ruth participated in group and individual counseling sessions and received health education, family planning advice and physiotherapy. At no point did Ruth have to pay for her treatment, food or stay in the hospital. Ruth lived with fistula for longer than she lived without it, but now she says, “I am finally dry and on the path to recovery.”

For Ruth, access to high quality maternal healthcare could have spared her decades of suffering. Thanks to your generosity, we are changing the status quo for expectant mothers in Tanzania. With your help we’ve trained medical teams, purchased critical equipment and refurbished labor wards so that stories like Ruth’s become a thing of the past. Over the next year we will complete construction of our new Maternity and Newborn Hospital in Dar es Salaam, providing high quality care to women at risk of complications, those requiring emergency interventions, and sick newborns, ensuring they have the care they need to survive and thrive.

At Kupona, we’re passionate about opportunity. In our 2015 Annual Report, available now, you’ll find stories of individual lives changed, figures that depict the scale of our collective impact, and testimonies from members of our community, encapsulating a year where we embraced opportunities to unlock potential like never before.

Your support is saving lives

In 2015, your donations and grants from institutional partners helped support the safe delivery of 78,000 babies and the distribution of over $90,000 of equipment and supplies to healthcare facilities in Dar es Salaam. Your generosity also helped facilitate training for hundreds of healthcare workers nationwide. These interventions have had a measurable impact on the quality of healthcare available to expectant mothers and their newborns. Since our sister organization, CCBRT, began building capacity in public healthcare facilities in 2010, the maternal mortality rate in the Dar es Salaam region has fallen by 30%.

“Now, thanks to my training from CCBRT, I can deliver babies using the vacuum technique and handle emergencies like eclampsia and post-partum hemorrhage. My facility is performing so well now.”

Nia, Assistant Nurse In-Charge, Buguruni Health Center, Dar es Salaam

We’re shining a light on a silent tragedy

In addition to saving lives, improvements to maternal and newborn healthcare are making a direct contribution to the eradication of impairments like obstetric fistula. In May, with support from our friends at Johnson & Johnson, we co-hosted our first Twitter chat on International Day to End Obstetric Fistula with CCBRT, UNFPA and Fistula Foundation. We made over 3.8 million impressions as we shared our vision of a world without fistula, and some of the lessons we’ve learned from CCBRT’s high impact programs in Tanzania.

On the same day, we launched the Drawing Out Obstetric Fistula exhibition at the New York University Kimmel Center, shining a spotlight on the experiences of women living with and recovering from obstetric fistula.

We’re excited to announce that the Drawing Out Obstetric Fistula exhibition, originally scheduled to close on July 4^th, has been extended until December 31^st, 2016. We’ve been thrilled by the response to this project, and we couldn’t let it close just yet. Thanks to our friends at Johnson & Johnson, the UNFPA-led Campaign to End Fistula, Fistula Foundation, and New York University for their continued support. You can visit this powerful collection on the 6^th floor of the NYU Kimmel Center on Washington Square South in NYC.

“The exhibition is a beautiful reminder that there is dignity and value in every person’s story. Not only does the artist capture the transformative power of a successful surgery, but also the inherent stigma-busting power of a woman who is unafraid to tell her story as someone living with or having lived with a fistula.”

~Zack Langway, Kupona supporter

Lives and communities have been changed by your support. You are the driving force that makes this progress possible. Thank you for standing with us to provide high quality maternal and newborn healthcare to the people of Tanzania.

Kind Regards,

Abbey Kocan

Bringing a silent tragedy into the spotlight

The first time I met a woman who was recovering from obstetric fistula surgery, I was faced with a reality I had been sheltered from for far too long. Four years later, while the level of awareness around this condition in the developed world has grown, there is still a lot of work to be done before this critical global health challenge is given a permanent place in the spotlight.

Imagine…

Imagine if, while giving birth, you or your partner faced a complication requiring emergency medical care. Imagine if that care was unavailable, and you lost your baby. You grieve for the loss of the child who was so close to living. You, or your partner, suffer silently, trying to find a way to cope with the physical trauma that leaves you incontinent, unable to work and further devastated by judgment and abuse at the hands of your friends and family.

“I lived like this for 10 years, with my mother. My neighbors told me I smelled, and forced me to stay inside. When my mother passed away, I had no one left to talk to, and nobody to look after me. I went to my father’s sister for help, but she told me I was cursed. She chased me away from her house and refused to let me live there. I was fired from two jobs, both times because of the smell.” – Hadidjia, fistula survivor

A Silent Tragedy

At Kupona Foundation we often refer to obstetric fistula as a silent tragedy, affecting members of our global community who struggle to make their voices heard even before they are faced with unimaginable trauma. It is made even more difficult to endure by the myths and misconceptions that are held up as fact in their communities. The women living with this condition are hidden from view. As a result, those with the power to change things are oblivious to their struggle.

Today, International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, Kupona Foundation, in partnership with Johnson & Johnson, UNFPA’s Campaign to End Obstetric Fistula, Fistula Foundation, New York University’s Kimmel Center for University Life and the College of Global Public Health, launch the Drawing Out Obstetric Fistula exhibition at the NYU Kimmel Center in New York City. The collection of work by artist Jac Saorsa is designed to shine a light on the experiences of women living with and recovering from obstetric fistula, to raise awareness about the condition, and to mobilize support for the programs and partnerships that work to restore women’s dignity. The women featured all received treatment from CCBRT, Kupona Foundation’s sister organization, at its Disability Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Since 2009, Kupona Foundation supporters have contributed over $1.3 million to the treatment and prevention of fistula.Together, we have rebuilt the lives of 3,987 women, and with our support CCBRT has grown to become one of the largest providers of comprehensive fistula treatment in the world. Our hope is that these drawings will open your eyes not only to the reality facing the women living with obstetric fistula, but also to the opportunity facing every one of us to change the status quo.

We imagine a world free from fistula, can you?

Fistula can be treated, prevented and ultimately eradicated. All it takes is a community of individuals and institutions coming together and taking action. By attending this exhibition you will become a vital part of this community.

Thank you for your support.

Abbey

The Drawing Out Obstetric Fistula exhibition is free to the public from May 23^rd-July 4^th, Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, Sunday 1pm-8pm (closed Saturday) at the NYU Kimmel Center, Washington Square S, New York, NY. All visitors must present photo ID at reception.Learn more about the exhibition: www.resilience.gallery

On May 23rd at 11am ET, Kupona Foundation will host a Twitter chat with support from Johnson & Johnson to mark International Day to End Obstetric Fistula. Please join this important global conversation by following the hashtag #FistulaDay

Dear Friends,

In 15 days, Kupona's sister organization, CCBRT, will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the opening of their Disability Hospital. 

Since 2001, the hospital has conducted hundreds of thousands of life changing surgeries, equipped medical teams to provide high quality care, and dedicated countless hours to build capacity in partner healthcare facilities. Today, CCBRT is Tanzania’s largest provider of disability and rehabilitative services, and thanks to your support, CCBRT is now changing the lives of over 1 million people every year.

The next chapter promises to be even more exciting. Together, we are moving closer to a Tanzania where access to quality healthcare is universal. Together, we are unlocking new opportunities for people like Malela.

Help us raise $150,000 by March 26th.

Over the next 15 days, Kupona will support CCBRT’s efforts to raise $150,000 in celebration of the last 15 years of life changing service. We need your help!

As a Kupona supporter you have an incredible opportunity to amplify your impact. Give through our GlobalGiving Microproject on March 16th, and our friends at GlobalGiving will match your donation with Bonus Funds. Help us continue serving people like Malela  for the next 15 years:

• $25 provides 5 physical therapy sessions for one patient. 
• $50 provides food for 20 patients at our Disability Hospital for one day
• $150 provides corrective treatment for a child with clubfoot, enabling them to walk to school.
• $710 provides corrective surgery and comprehensive rehabilitation for a woman living with obstetric fistula.

Thank you for your support along this journey.

Warm regards,

Abbey Kocan