Background Info 2

Two years later (almost exactly one year ago), my friend Leslie Garland invited me to a “giving circle” at her home. It would be an evening dedicated to women and girls in Tanzania who lived with a horrific injury obtained during an obstructed labor.

I couldn’t believe it.

At the party I met Heidi Breeze-Harris, the Executive Director of One By One (fightfistula.org), which funds fistula treatment and prevention in developing countries (primarily Tanzania at this point). If my conscience had not succeeded at getting me up off my laurels, meeting Heidi certainly did.

As I got to know Heidi and learned more about her organization, all that energy and desire that had dissipated after my Ethiopia trip came back. I learned something important about myself (something that now seems so obvious): Passion wasn’t sustainable for me in a vacuum. I had to involve myself with people who shared the same vision that I had if I wanted to keep it alive in me.

That spring and summer I thought up projects that I could potentially run through One By One. Heidi and I talked several times over the summer. Some of my ideas were feasible, others less so. But one thing became clear: Heidi’s own plate was too full to take on anything else. If were going to start something, I would need to do it on my own.

In September, Eden started back at school. I enrolled in a personal development course where participants create and implement projects for the community of their choice. With their – and Heidi’s - guidance, this project has grown into a fundraising and educational project [that still lacks a good name…]

Its goals are to raise $100k for fistula treatment and development, and to take a group of donors to TZ and possibly Kenya next year. The trip will focus on the underlying causes of fistula, as well as prevention and treatment programs. I have three target audiences: 1) Individuals from the medical community, 2) People interested in women’s issues, and 3) Policy makers.
This site visit I’m now making to Tanzania is to help me learn about the state of fistula and maternal health in the country, to help me identify one or more partners, and to help me set and price out an itinerary for next year’s trip. All in two short weeks.

Dr. Laura Hart of Seattle will be traveling with me to assist with the project. I met Laura at a One By One fundraiser. She arrived a few days ago in Dar Es Salaam; She flew in from Mozambique, where she has spent the last 3 weeks doing fistula-repair surgery. I can’t wait to hear about her experiences.