Enable 50 Women in Angola to Generate Income

The team at Hope For Our Sisters Inc., in partnership with the Aftercare team at CEML Hospital in Lubango, Angola, is pleased to bring you our latest impact report for our project to "Enable 50 Women in Angola to Generate Income". As always, we are so thankful for the support of each of you in bringing this program to our sisters who have suffered from fistula and are living at the patient villas in CEML, either awaiting or recovering from surgery. This program equips them with literacy, numeracy, and language classes and teaches them marketable skills such as gardening, sewing, and crafting that they can take forward into their lives outside of the hospital to support themselves and others in their families and communities. These women are able, and amazing, and so deserving of these opportunities. We cannot thank you enough for helping them to realize dreams to learn new things and become more self-sufficient. The growth of this program has also enabled it to become entirely self-sustaining - the sales of products made cover the costs of new materials for the subsequent projects!

Sixty-four women stayed in the patient villa between January and March, with 46 of these women needing surgery related to childbirth injuries. Some had remained for follow-up care and physical therapy, and a few arrived following a
difficult childbirth and will need to wait for healing before being able to have surgery for a fistula. A vital part of the care provided to these women during their time in the villa, in addition to the vocational and educational offerings, is socioemotional support. The team reported that this quarter was a time of heavy investment in the mental wellbeing of the women present. Patients are provided with a welcoming space, a place to be listened to, and an opportunity to regain their sense of dignity - this was especially needed over the first quarter of 2026. 

Because International Women's Day fell in this period, special attention was given to teachings pertinent to women and girls. During the week of March 23-27, which was dedicated to closing Women's Month, an intensive training session on the life cycle of a woman was held. During this period, topics such as conception, care during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, hygiene, beauty and nutrition were addressed. The sessions on developing healthy relationships and the importance of forgiveness were particularly appreciated. These seminars povided many moments of sharing, learning, and reflection, and several taboos related to women's health and role in society were discussed in order to break down harmful myths. The participants demonstrated great interest and satisfaction, leaving these sessions with a new perspective on life and greater awareness of their health and well-being.

One such woman was Hilda. Orphaned at a young age, Hilda became pregnant at the age of fifteen after moving in with a boyfriend. In spite of a prenatal consult, no one mentioned that the baby was in transverse position, which lends itself to near-impossible vaginal birth, and Hila began labor at home. After another day, she had a caesarian section in hospital. The baby died and urine began to leak uncontrollably.

The boyfriend's mother convinced her son to leave Hilda, who now found herself rejected by everyone, including her own siblings. A friend heard a presentation on fistulas in a nearby health post and a nurse there knew about possible treatment. Hilda was helped to travel to CEML for a surgical consult. As well as needing physical care, she was very emotionally wounded.

Though her first surgery went well and her fistula was healed, Hilda stayed on to receive emotional support. Several times she became hysterical, crying out and fainting. She tried very hard to please others and did some heavy work, and then she noticed she was incontinent again. Her fistula had reopened.

Thankfully, further surgery resolved the incontinence. The staff helped her process the rejection in her life and gave her lots of loving attention. During a course, Hilda was grateful to learn about relationships - learning how to forgive those who rejected her and how to start a healthy relationship with a partner. She has expressed great thanks for all that she has learned and received during her time at CEML. 

We hope you are continuing to find inspiration in these reports every few months. Feedback and questions are always welcome via email, sent to Cara at cbrooks@hopeforoursisters.org. To learn more about Aftercare between reports, or our other programs, visit the link below to our website or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook (Hope For Our Sisters, Inc.) or Instagram (@brookehfos). Thank you again for your generous support of this project and these precious women.

Links:

• HFOS Homepage