Angola

A nurse’s devotion, a woman’s second chance, and how you can help more mothers heal. In a quiet hospital ward in Angola, Nurse Miguel Panzo Pedro leans beside a patient’s bed. The woman lying before him is elderly and tired—she hasn’t smiled in years. Then, something remarkable happens. As Miguel gently explains that her surgery was a success—that the leaking she has lived with for decades has finally stopped—her face begins to change. Her eyes fill with tears. And then, for the first time in more than fifty years, Teresa smiles. She smiles because her life is no longer defined by shame and isolation. She smiles because she has been given a second chance. She smiles because someone cared.   A Nurse Who Never Gave Up Nurse Miguel has been working with fistula patients for 13 years. Trained as a nurse and currently studying to become a doctor, he has made it his life’s work to help women heal from a devastating childbirth injury: obstetric fistula.  “What breaks my heart the most is the isolation,” Miguel says. “It’s not just the physical suffering—they’re robbed of their hope, confidence, and place in society.” Miguel has seen more suffering than most people could imagine. But he’s also seen something beautiful: the power of healing. That is what motivates him. “The most rewarding part is witnessing the moment they realize they are no longer ‘broken’—when they smile again, stand tall, and begin to dream about the future.”—Miguel, a nurse at our partner Unidade Fistula Obstetrica in Angola   Teresa’s Story Of all the women Miguel has helped over the years, one stands out: Teresa. Teresa lived with obstetric fistula for more than 50 years. She had been abandoned by her family, cut off from her community, and forced to live in isolation. No one deserves a life of misery, but for women with fistula, this kind of suffering is all too common. Everything changed for Teresa after she received  free surgery made possible by generous donors. When Miguel told her that the leaking had stopped, Teresa cried tears of joy. It was a moment of quiet triumph—a reminder of what’s possible when compassion meets action. Today, on International Nurses Day, we honor nurses like Miguel—those working behind the scenes to bring life-changing care to women too often forgotten by the world. They are advocates, healers, and lifelines. But they can’t do it alone.  “One of the biggest challenges is the lack of resources. Sometimes we have the skills and the will, but not enough equipment, staff, or funding to reach all the women who need help. It’s painful to know that help is possible, but just out of reach for some” said Miguel. Right now, you have the chance to support nurses like Miguel so that they can help more women like Teresa. Help us bring life-transforming care to the women who need it most.   Your gift can help a woman like Teresa smile again. Your gift can remind one more woman that she is worthy of love. That she is not alone. That healing is possible. Updated May 12, 2025

Florinda is from a small village in central Angola. A teenage bride, she became pregnant at 16. She went into labor at home and struggled for four days before she was finally brought to a hospital in Huambo, about 70 miles (over 100 km) away and the nearest place where emergency obstetric care was available. After a long drive over very bad roads, Florinda reached the hospital. Sadly, her baby did not survive.

Lia arrived at CEML with great misgivings - she had sought help at many places for her fistula but was given no hope. A friend told her that she might find help at CEML and urged her to go, which she eventually did. She told staff there that she sat on some rocks nearby, cried and repeated “God help me” over and over before coming through the doors.

Humankind has triumphed over diseases that used to kill millions - think plague, smallpox and polio - but we haven't seemed to slay the largest killer of them all: greed. In a riveting piece of stellar journalism, Nick Kristof and Adam Ellick of The New York Times posted this video about Angola that will likely enrage your mind as it grips your heart. For in this oil and diamond rich country, men, women and children are dying every day from preventable and treatable problems while the political elite enrich themselves, numbed to the suffering all around them.