Karens Barefoot Walk

Why I am fundraising

This September I’m completing the Hamlin Barefoot Walk and raising money to help treat a woman suffering from a preventable childbirth injury - obstetric fistula. This injury is virtually unheard of in Australia but very common in Ethiopia because many women live hours away from a medical clinic. AUD$1,500 is the cost of the life-changing fistula repair surgery at one of six Hamlin fistula hospitals in Ethiopia. The 25kms distance is reflective of the average distance many women in rural Ethiopia must journey to receive medical care, often barefoot. Many Ethiopian women live with obstetric fistula for months, years—even decades— before receiving the treatment they desperately need. They are forced to hide away at home, living with both the physical pain and emotional shame of their condition. Imagine if this was your mother, sister, daughter. No woman should have to suffer in silence when a cure is within reach. Please help me do it for her. Thanks so much for your support. Every little bit helps!