One by One

This weekend my good friend Ellie hosted a fistula "party". A fistula is condition suffered by women who, because of prolonged and difficult births, develop a permanent leak in their bladders. In the Western world, fistula was eradicated in the mid 1800's. It takes a simple operation to repair the condition. However, in developing countries the problem is rampant, due to a combination of poor nutrition, early motherhood, and lack of basic medical services.

In many developing countries, when a woman develops a fistula, she is often completely rejected by her community because of the odour that accompanies her constant leaking. Sadly, the $300 that a repair operation costs is often beyond the woman's means.

A few years ago in the US, a couple of women learned about this tragic situation and decided to take action. They formed a grassroots organization named One by One and began hosting Giving Circles, groups of 10 women who would give $30 each, in order to pay for these fistula surgeries and free their sisters overseas One by One! So far they have been amazingly successful! Women all over Canada and the US have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

At Ellie's place on Saturday, about 15 women attended, and $1280 was raised! That's enough to give four women back their lives! It may be small, but it feels great!!

To find out more, go to http://www.onebyoneproject.net/.