Betty Nalule’s boyfriend abandoned her after the birth of their baby girl, Favour, left Betty with obstetric fistula. He said he could not bear the stench of the urine leaking from the hole between her bladder and vagina.
Too many birth stories are traumatic. Even the most modern medicine can’t spare all laboring mothers from wrenching physical or emotional pain — before, during or after childbirth. But modern medicine can prevent a devastating childbirth injury from ruining a mother’s life.
If only the mothers have access to high-quality maternal health care.
$1,200 provides one mother with a life-changing surgery
and Terrewode’s holistic reintegration program
$600 provides more than 200 meals to Terrewode patients
Any amount makes healing, hope and
a healthier future possible for more women in Uganda.
Betty was sent home from the hospital in Uganda leaking urine, without treatment for the fistula. She had labored for two days at home with a traditional birth attendant. By the end of the second day, anemic and exhausted, Betty was rushed on the back of a motorcycle to the hospital for a blood transfusion and a cesarean section.
Only 10% of babies survive the kind of prolonged, obstructed labor that causes obstetric fistula. Luckily, Favour was among them. Yet, during the three weeks Betty recovered in the hospital, she didn’t receive any information about her condition or where to seek treatment. Instead, she left the hospital without realizing what a terrible injury she’d suffered or how life-changing it would be.
Fortunately, Betty’s sister told her about Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital—the first and only medical facility of its kind in Uganda. It offers specialized care, social support, and reintegration services for women with obstetric fistula. The hospital also advances initiatives to prevent fistula, improve maternal health, and empower economic self-sufficiency among girls and women.
Betty received surgery to repair the fistula at no cost to her. Seated on her bed at Terrewode, Betty cradles Favour.
“For me, sitting here without worrying about urine anymore is a miracle,” Betty says. “I owe Terrewode my new life.”
Terrewode Women’s Fund started out as a capital campaign for the hospital where Betty and hundreds of others have received life-transforming care. Your continued support keeps Terrewode running, giving more women access to healing and hope.
Giving even one mother a new life is a miracle. Together we are helping so many more.