Zambia

After Mailess Luo endured many hours of wrenching, complicated labor at home, she knew that she needed to see a doctor. However, the nearest health facility was many miles away, across harsh wilderness roads. In desperation, Mailess and her companions set out on foot. However, they were forced to wait for three hours to avoid a pride of lions they encountered along the way, feeding on an antelope carcass. In the end, Mailess had to travel to three different facilities before she found a doctor who could help her. By that point, it was too late. Her baby was stillborn, and she began to leak urine. Tragically, Mailess’s troubles were just beginning. No doctor was able to cure her incontinence. Her husband divorced her, convinced that she would never be healed. “I lost all hope I had for healing from this problem,” she said. After ten years of living with obstetric fistula, Mailess finally received a phone call from her brother that changed her life. The hospital where her brother worked—St. Francis Hospital—had just joined Fistula Foundation’s countrywide treatment network. He had seen it with his own eyes: women with her exact symptoms were being healed, thanks to highly trained doctors and nurses. Mailess could finally get the care she needed! Mailess’s fistula was complex, requiring multiple operations to correct. She recently received her final procedure at St. Francis Hospital—and for the first time in a decade, she is finally dry! Published 4/6/21

Thanks to support from donors like you, 21 Zambian women recently received life-changing fistula surgery! They were healed at St. Francis Hospital, Fistula Foundation’s partner facility in the eastern city of Katete. In March 2020, Fistula Foundation welcomed St. Francis Hospital into our countrywide treatment network and expanded our partnership with the Zambian Ministry of Health. This was only weeks before Covid-19 forced a nationwide lockdown in Zambia— but thankfully, after the initial shockwave of the pandemic passed, our teams were able to resume fistula treatment in the fall. St. Francis Hospital has been a lifeline to Zambian women in the country’s Eastern Province and beyond. This area suffers a high maternal mortality rate, and government stakeholders believe that there are many women with untreated fistula in need of care. Thanks to supporters like you, Fistula Foundation’s team in Zambia can once again provide transformative fistula repair surgeries to women in need, even amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Thank you for making a difference! This story originally appeared in the Spring 2021 edition of our newsletter, Transformations.

I can’t believe my three weeks in Zambia have come and gone. I’m writing this post from Chicago, waiting to return to my hometown of Tulsa and replaying everything in my mind. It’s bringing up a cadre of emotions. First, anger. It’s 2018 and this ailment shouldn't be affecting anyone, let along the numbers it does in Zambia.