Enable 50 Women in Angola to Generate Income

Hope For Our Sisters, Inc. is happy to provide our seventh impact report on the project that you have so generously helped fund through GlobalGiving. We began this project in order to support our partners at the CEML Hospital in Lubango, Angola, as they empower women recovering from fistula surgery with craft skills, gardening lessons, literacy/numeracy education, and teaching in local languages. We refer to this program as Aftercare. Many women who have suffered from fistula have been abandoned by their husbands and families, and are unable to return to their villages and pick up life as it was. Left to provide for themselves in a context that is so different from the life they expected, many women are deeply disadvantaged because of their lack of formal education and skills training. 

In the period since our last report in September, many exciting things have happened! Our team reports that recent rains have benefitted the communities in the area, where food prices have skyrocketed, and within the hospital, a visit from a Swiss surgeon enabled 27 women to have life-changing surgery to repair their fistulas. As they recovered in the patient villa, they took part in Aftercare classes that offered instruction on soap-making, jewelry production, and sewing. In December, the women sewed their own skirts for the Christmas celebration at the hospital. Women full of joy over their healing shared their testimonies and stories with the others, which offered inspiration and hope to those women still waiting for their own day to wake up dry. 

Thank you for helping us to generate hope and bear witness to these beautiful moments in Angola! This would not be possible without your thoughtful investment in our Aftercare program. We are so grateful to be able to come alongside our sisters as they learn, grow, and strive to become positive change-agents in their own communities, passing on their new knowledge and changing the perceptions of what women can achieve and overcome. We will continue to send reports every four months, and share photos and individual patient stories as able. Please spread the word to those you know who might be interested in our work, and follow along on our Facebook page (Hope For Our Sisters, Inc.). 

Links:

• HFOS Homepage