Fundraising for The Fistula Foundation
In March 2017 I will be travelling to Nepal on a self-funded trek to the remote Annapurna Region. The 6-day trek will take them 8,200 feet into the Himalayas and will certainly be an epic challenge.
We are climbing for The Fistula Foundation, a charity that provides specialist care and support for women suffering with a horrific childbirth injury called Obstetric Fistula, caused by prolonged obstructed labour.
Obstetric Fistula is preventable and treatable – the fact it exists at all represents the ultimate failure of maternal health care to the poorest women and girls in the world.
Heartbreakingly, more than 2 million of the poorest women in the world endure a long and painful labour (sometimes lasting up to 7 days) only to wake up to the horror of incontinence, or worse, the double sorrow of also losing her baby.
If that isn’t devastating enough, because of the smell, these women are often abandoned by their husbands, ostracised by their family and village, and left to live the rest of their lives alone and ashamed.
In Nepal, where maternal mortality rate is among the highest in the world, there are estimated to be thousands of women suffering needlessly. With surgery, women can go on to live normal productive lives.
One surgery costs $586. $586 can give a woman her life back.
The charity provides free health clinics ensuring safer childbirth, childbirth education and free surgeries to restore the health of these women and heal the fistulas.
In Nepal the charity is helping fund:
Fistula surgeries
Equipment
Community outreach
Surgeon training
No woman should endure this suffering. Every woman should be entitled to adequate health services and proper care. Let’s help a woman regain her health, end the shame and isolation, rebuild her life and be a contributing member of her community again.
Any support for this truly worthy and important charity is greatly appreciated, so please help Gemma support The Fistula Foundation by making a donation. No amount is too big or too small and will all go towards transforming a woman’s life.
It is a cause that we believe is not widely understood or even known about, so please help them raise awareness by giving these women a voice and sharing their stories by forwarding this page to friends you think might be interested in contributing.
