Over the last month the Votoka team has been busy visiting patients in their homes, conducting mobilisation and awareness events, training ambassadors to help spread the message of hope, and even presenting on Radio programs.
Our team typically travels in pairs, for safety and security, and they work together to give lectures about obstetric fistula wherever they go. This map shows some of the municipal centres where our team has travelled - once they reach the municipal centre they then travel by motorbike or 3-wheeled tuk-tuk-like transports to the communes and villages. Most of these locations do not appear on Google Maps!
One of our Coordinators, Salomé, has spent this last month helping to train new Ambassadors. Before becoming a Coordinator in our team, Salomé was one of our first Ambassadors. Salomé herself was once a patient. Whilst waiting to be operated she told Petra, "I don't want to live". After she was operated on (and cured!) she came back to Petra. "How can I help?" she asked. "How can I help other women who have suffered like me?" Our Ambassadors are usually patients or their family members who have received the repair operation and want to spread the message of hope to others. There is no remuneration, it is something done from a place of love and compassion. As they have lived with this terrible injury, or watched someone they love suffer, they want to help others find hope. They are patients and community members who help spread the message of prevention, and the news of a cure!
Our other team members - nurses, translators, and trauma program assistants - have been visiting villages, health posts, and markets to spread awareness of obstetric fistula. The work is hard! There is much travel on pot-holed roads by share-taxi, motorbike, and on foot. Sometimes they attract such a crowd they need to use a portable megaphone. They get hungry, they get tired, they get sore throats and sore feet. But you never hear them complain! They have a mission and they are determined to help prevent obstetric fistula, and to help the women who suffer from this problem to find hope and health.
Meanwhile, our team in Moxico were invited by Radio Moxico to discuss the situation of Obstetric Fistula during a program about "Women's Well-being and Health in Society". Radio Moxico reaches 6 municipalities in Moxico province and we estimate it may have reached 60,000 listeners. Alberto and Anabela were wonderful representatives of our program. Anabela is one of our nurses/outreach staff and was originally an ambassador (her daughter suffered from obstetric fistula) and Alberto is one of our trauma counsellors and translators.
The work never ends and Votoka never stops! All we can do is continue to Rise Up with Love and Hope!
I'm so impressed with the work your organisation does. It was inspiring to hear about the role of your Ambassadors.