Healing Hands of Joy

Pilot Project

Pilot Project Prospectus (Pdf opens in new window)

Pilot Project in Tigray Region of Northern Ethiopia, Mekelle Opening June 2010:

 

    • We will open a Healing Hands of Joy Project Center in Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region, to initially serve as a half-way house to feed, house, counsel, and train the women who are recovered fistula patients and wish to be part of the program.
    • This center will have the transformative mission of training those who have suffered from fistula to reintegrate successfully back into their communities as Safe Motherhood Ambassadors and to become self-sustaining members of their community so they can assist in eradicating fistula and in decreasing other maternal health problems (Prevention Focused).  
    • We were led to the Tigray region of Ethiopia for a number of reasons. The fistula rate is highest in Tigray (1.6% of all births compared to the 1% average for Ethiopia (one of the highest in the world).  The birth rate is an average 5.1 per women, 82% of women home deliver their babies and 15% of all pregnancies need emergency assistance. Early marriage is also prevalent and the maternal mortality rate is 1 per 148 deliveries. Because Tigray is extremely rural and mountainous many women don’t receive skilled maternal care and continuously suffer from obstetric fistula.
    • The Mekelle Hamlin Fistula Hospital recently opened to serve rural women who are suffering from obstetric fistula.
    • We will work with staff at the Mekelle Hamlin Fistula Hospital to predetermine possible candidates for the Healing Hands program who are outgoing fistula patients who have received treatment or are incurable. 
    • We will work with women on an individual basis to determine their education level, psychological, financial needs and future goals in order to support them.
    • We will start by hiring a midwife to staff the Healing Hands of Joy Project Center to work with women who are part of the Healing Hands of Joy program. Some will be trained as fistula advocates if they so desire.
    • The midwife will also assist village traditional birth attendants, government health extension workers and will train and help integrate former fistula patients who wish to become midwife or skilled birth attendant aids.
    • The midwife will hold bi-annual fistula advocacy workshops at the Mekelle Fistula Center for cured patients returning home to their villages.  
    • Women in the HHOJ program will be taught to locate fistula patients in their area for which they will receive compensation.
    • We will work with the Mekelle Health Bureau and regional Women’s Associations and Fistula Support Groups.

     

 

 

Program Development: Empowerment, Micro-financing and Fistula Advocacy

 

We will aim to provide a range of options to empower women as they reintegrate back into their communities:

  • We will provide psychological care and create Fistula Support Groups.
  • We will establish a micro-financing program to assist former fistula patients and provide business or trade skills and small loans.  We have established a relationship with the Womens Association of Tigray to assist in training the women to become self-sustainable. 
  • Other women will be trained as community volunteers to assist the Health Extension Workers with maternal health services (the govt. of Ethiopia has trained 30,000 HEW to work in health centers around the country). Currently, 2 women serve 5,000 people.
  • We will train fistula advocates to find other women suffering from fistula, mobilize transportation and to organize community education and outreach.
  • We will teach the women how to produce Safe Motherhood Kits to be distributed to Traditional Birth Attendants and Health Extension Workers in their villages. The women will receive compensation for every kit produced as a source of income to encourage them to remain active in assisting to improve maternal health care.  
  • We will help women locate education options and enroll them in local schools or provide scholarships for night school.
  • Some women will be trained as nurses’ aids to assist the Hamlin Midwives who will be working in Health Centers stationed in rural communities surrounding the Mekelle Hamlin Fistula Hospital.

Phase 2: To start implementing our pilot project we have established a US board of directors and are now fundraising to open our pilot project center in Mekelle, Ethiopia and travelled back to Ethiopia in February/March 2010 to accomplish the following in preparation for opening the center in June 2010:

 

  • Establish an advisory board in Ethiopia (Steering Committee established March 2010) 
  • Find a facility in Mekelle to house the Healing Hands Pilot Center and hire staff, including a resident midwife (We rented our facility on our March 2010 trip) 
  • Establish a relationship with the staff at the Mekelle Hamlin Fistula Hospital and meet several of the patients (patients were surveyed and a relationship with the Mekelle Fistula Hospital was established on our February-March trip) 
  • Secure transportation for women leaving and arriving at Mekelle
  • Continue the relationship with the Mekelle Health Bureau head and meet neighboring women’s associations and fistula support groups (We have signed a formal agreement with the Tigray Health Bureau)
  • Listen and learn more from the women recovering from fistula about their dreams, desires and basic needs.
  • Work with Intrahealth (an NGO that does pre-repair fistula work) to create a curriculum for training fistula women and performing community outreach 
  • Research and visit successful micro-financing projects in Ethiopia

 

Estimated Costs to open our Pilot Project Center in Mekelle, Ethiopia: $98,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Healing Hands of Joy
    3101 N Hampton Drive
    #1517
    Alexandria, VA 22302     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Content copyright . Healing Hands of Joy. All rights reserved.
Web Hosting Companies