A Day of Celebration as Ground was Broken in Uganda

I was privileged to be in Uganda last week to join the ground breaking ceremony on the site of what will be the new Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital – replicating the Hamlin Model of Care.

It was a wonderful day of music, dancing and celebration by the whole community.

The ceremony was attended by women with fistula, women who’ve had fistula treatment and been through Terrewode’s rehabilitation and reintegration program and many of Terrewode’s fierce and strong advocates against fistula. This project has extraordinary community support and there is a great deal of love for Terrewode and its founder Alice Emasu.

In a year’s time, there will be a fistula hospital here on the ground with capacity to treat 600 women a year. It will replicate Dr Catherine Hamlin’s model of care in Ethiopia.

Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia’s leading fistula surgeons will train the Terrewode surgical team and provide leadership to establish the same standards of clinical excellence.

There is a dire need here in Uganda with up to 200,000 women suffering with fistula and 1,900 new cases occurring each year. Terrewode is the bright spot supporting hundreds of women with fistula. With our help in building this new hospital, Terrewode’s impact will be stronger to the benefit of women and girls across Uganda.

One of my favourite images from the day is this little girl. When she grows up, there will be a world class fistula treatment facility on the ground right where she is dancing. The hospital will also have a world class delivery ward to stop fistulas happening in the first place so she will be protected.

This will be in large part, thanks to you our donors, who are making this hospital possible.

Click here to learn more about our new fistula frontier.

Author: Carolyn Hardy – Chief Executive Officer, Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation