October 2022
Welcome to the Maternal Health Fund’s October 2022 newsletter. Above you will find the newsletter’s new name, Strengthening Lives. Starting in November, the newsletter will also have a new format and a new home. We will still communicate with you each month by MailChimp, alerting you that the current month’s newsletter is ready for reading, providing you with a Table of Contents, and a link to where Strengthening Lives will soon be living on the MHF website.
Our Commitment:
Strengthening Lives and Supporting Healthy Mothers and Babies
Though the newsletter is changing, MHF maintains an unwavering commitment to the vulnerable lives of women and girls in Uganda and Ethiopia who suffer with the childbirth trauma of fistula. This drastic, localized injury robs women of their dignity; depletes their strength; and exhausts them emotionally with discomfort, loss and shame. Because they constantly leak urine or feces, and as a consequence, smell, they are often abandoned by husbands, families and communities, condemning them to hopelessness and loneliness.
MHF is dedicated to working toward a compassionate tripod of change: Prevent childbirth injuries with education, quality prenatal and obstetric care; intervene with appropriate fistula repair surgeries done by superbly trained physicians and nurses; and prepare newly healed women to reconnect with communities and families they may have lost during those humiliating times living with a fistula. The “fix” is not only surgical; it is helping women and girls create a new beginning—with reintegration support—of a more empowered, engaged and successful life.
Holistic Reintegration Saves Lives Rosette Tushabe’s story
Rosette Tushabe, from Rakai District, Central Uganda, developed a fistula while giving birth. After her repair surgery, TERREWODE helped her become a proud survivor. It is unimaginable to Rosette what her life would have been without her participation in the reintegration program at Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital (TWCH).
Early Difficulties
Rosette’s suffering began early. Her mother died, and her alcoholic father denied her an education and married her off at 14 to an elderly man. After multiple miscarriages, she finally gave birth to a daughter, and barely a year later, she gave birth again through a cesarian section at Rakai Health Center IV, but sadly, the baby was stillborn. Rosette’s surgical wound became septic quickly, and Rosette’s uncontrollable urine flow began.
Following this tragic experience, Rosette stayed with her father who heard on the radio about the fistula surgical camp at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. With logistics and costs coordinated by TERREWODE, the doctors there completed a successful fistula repair for Rosette. However, she had to cross an important bridge—from her difficult birth, her newborn dying, surgery and the shame of living with a fistula—to a healthy, confident life.
In Rosette’s Own Words
“At first, I didn’t know what it [social reintegration] was all about! But the team from TERREWODE visited me at Mubende Hospital where I was receiving treatment for fistula; they also promised to invite me for reintegration training. I went back home and prepared my mind to attend the 14-day intensive program. The dances, the fun moments and the knowledge I received during the program have been valuable.”
Reintegration Training Accomplishes so Much
Most TERREWODE clients take advantage of the reintegration training. And after her healing process, Rosette joined a new enrollment group of other survivors, many former fellow fistula patients. Their comprehensive program, which included literacy education, so essential to their futures, also explored maternal health and safe motherhood, obstetric causes of fistula, treatment and family planning. The participants left the program with skills and knowledge in human rights, gender equality, leadership, advocacy and entrepreneurship. They improved their capacity to earn personal income, create community support groups, and effectively manage savings and credit groups. In essence, the program equipped Rosette and her fellow enrollees to start a new life of dignity.
Staying connected with these forward-thinking participants, TERREWODE continues mentoring and supporting them in connecting with government poverty alleviation program opportunities, such as the Parish economic model, Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Project, Northern Uganda Social Action Fund and Operation Wealth Creation plan. Many, like Rosette, go on to serve in their communities as volunteer fistula ambassadors. It is very sobering and effective for other women and girls to hear from a peer/neighbor about the potentially tragic consequences of a labor and delivery gone horribly wrong.
Rosette Sees a Hopeful Future
“This training has made me think of a new beginning for myself. I have been cultivating maize and beans that I partly sell to earn a living. Now I am going to use this knowledge I received to start a daily business of selling pancakes.”
Your Donations at Work The Exciting Genesis of Bushulo Health Center
Ethiopia. MHF pledged an additional $200,000 to support the establishment of this new state-of-the-art facility, the only one of its kind in the southern region of Ethiopia.An Important Partnership
The project’s main objective was, and remains, to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in the region, while setting a new standard of excellence that could be replicated at other facilities. After some stops and starts, a partnership agreement was signed in June 2022 between Bushulo, Caritas Vorarlberg, MHF and the International Fistula Alliance (IFA).Prenatal Care Aims to Protect Health and Prevent Maternal Childbirth Injuries
Dr. Gemachew is busy attending to patients (see photograph of ultrasound procedure above) in the new outpatient department and overseeing “antenatal care” (ANC) services. In the first half of 2022, his department conducted over 1,000 ultrasounds to screen for fetal development, abnormalities and to anticipate and plan for any labor and delivery issues.Preparations to move the operating theatre, labor and delivery and inpatient services to the new building by April 2023 are well underway, including:
- Development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the new building
- Staff recruitment and training.
- Minor modifications to building and room layouts.
- Procurement of equipment, both local and international.
- Procurement of fitted furniture.
Please Help us Make Fistula a Thing of the Past!
Your generosity helps countless women in Uganda and Ethiopia heal their bodies, restore their dignity and ease out of isolation. In order to apply for and use private foundation grants, our IRS 501(c)(3) status requires us to obtain significant public donations from individuals. Your financial support makes all our work possible!
Each and every donation helps:
- Prevent women’s childbirth injuries, primarily fistula and perineal traumas through education and quality prenatal and preventive services.
- Provide women living in poverty with essential, free treatment.
- Train doctors and nurses with state of the art surgical and post-operative care techniques.
- Dedicated and highly trained woman’s health care teams save lives and help women rebuild their sense of self and self-worth.
Thank you.