One operation can repair a fistula. But that’s not the end of the story.
Beyond the physical mending of scars and injury, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia provides rehabilitation programmes that help recovering fistula sufferers reintegrate into their community. For these women who have been shunned from society, this Hamlin Model of Care is a critical aspect of rebuilding self-belief and empowering women to live independently, with dignity and choices.
Every woman who undergoes fistula surgery at a Hamlin hospital also receives counselling, physiotherapy and basic literacy and numeracy lessons. This year, our goal is for more than 1,000 patients to complete skills training and handicraft education. However, some women require a lot more support.
From healing to independence
Opened in 2002, Desta Mender (meaning ‘Joy Village’) is a farm and training facility where up to 70 longer-term patients are provided with a counselling and skills training programme that is individually tailored to each woman. It has market gardens, an orchard and dairy farm as well as the Juniper Café where residents learn hospitality skills. The orchard and farm supply the whole of Desta Mender and the surplus is used in the main Addis Ababa Hamlin Fistula Hospital.
Here, patients live close to the hospital whilst gaining independence and learning new skills for when they return to village life. If a patient cannot be completely cured and has to have a stoma, she needs ongoing access to clean equipment and ongoing medical care.
Training ranges from farming skills and pottery, to catering and business skills. In some cases, our support also includes provision of start-up grants to enable women to establish their own business on their return home, to generate an income and rebuild their livelihoods. It enables them not only to survive but to thrive.
Find out more about Desta Mender in the video below:
It’s time to re-write these women’s stories
Below is the incredible story of Beburuyosh who used her personalised Hamlin rehabilitation programme to successfully find her independence and rewrite her story.
