Healing Hands of Joy

Healing Hands of Joy is a 501(c)(3) organization that exists to bring hope, happiness and a second chance to women affected by obstetric fistula. Obstetric Fistula is a double sorrow. A woman loses her baby in long, painful, obstructed labor and then wakes up to the horror of incontinence. A woman with obstetric fistula is often abandoned by her husband, ostracized by her family and village and left to live the rest of her life alone and ashamed. Fortunately there is a cure and many women in Ethiopia are treated, but after living years in this condition and being married at an early age, women recovered from fistula have few options for their future. Join us as we fight to end fistula and give these women a brighter future.

//HHOJ NEWS

Dim lights	FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HHOJ Learn about the amazing way Healing Hands of Joy is helping end fistula in Ethiopia. HHOJ's Safe Motherhood Ambassadors is a unique program that empowers women to save lives and heal communities.
LISA LING SPEAKS OUT AGAINST FISTULA In this day and age, fistula is an ordeal that no one should have to endure - the wonder of child birth becomes a curse, turning a woman or girl into a modern day leper. Healing Hands of Joy is a unique program that gives them back their dignity and a meaningful place in their communities. - Lisa Ling - On Friday night, September 23rd, investigative journalist and host of Our America on the Oprah Winfrey Network teamed up with the UNFPA to support the work of Healing Hands of Joy, a non-profit working in Ethiopia to empower former fistula patients and prevent fistula. The evening featured a special screening of Oxygen Network’s film The Bride Was Seven where Lisa Ling investigated child marriage in Ethiopia. Healing Hands of Joy’s Founder and Executive Director, Allison Shigo along with HHOJ board member and producer of The Bride Was Seven, Amy Bucher were on hand to introduce the organization’s work training former fistula patients as Safe Motherhood Ambassador to prevent fistula in their communities and lead sustainable lives. Lisa Ling read a moving poem she wrote while in Ethiopia about the devastating effects of child marriage on young girls including traumatic rape and unwanted childbirth injuries such as obstetric fistula. Lisa Ling emphasized that Healing Hands of Joyis one of the only organizations in Ethiopia filling the gap in providing social reintegration for women who have suffered from fistula.

SAFE MOTHERHOOD AMBASSADORS

To empower former fistula patients and save mother’s lives we’ve developed a one-month curriculum to train former fistula patients as Safe Motherhood Ambassadors. They are taught basic maternal health skills, communication, and in some cases literacy training to monitor and promote the message of safe delivery to pregnant women in their villages.

FISTULA PREVENTION

Safe Motherhood Ambassadors provide voluntary support for maternal health in their community to save children’s lives and prevent childbirth injuries such as obstetric fistula. They will educate their neighbors about the causes of fistula and how it can be prevented.

COUNSELING

We are providing counseling to women who have been traumatized by being ostracized by their communities for having fistula. Many fistula patients need to know they are loved and have a purpose in live and Healing Hands of Joy helps these women move past the shame and stigma of having fistula so they can lead joyful, productive lives.

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

Our program also includes income-generating skills training to support their small business dreams and empower former fistula patients economically. We provide SMA graduates with a small start-up fund to help them lead self-sustainable lives.

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