Olipa

21 year old Olipa is married and works selling donuts.  She lives in Dowa, Malawi. Olipa dropped out of school due to poor grades.  At 17 she decided to get married and the following year fell pregnant.  It was Olipa’s first pregnancy, she went into labor and was immediately rushed to the hospital.  Sadly, she was in labor for another three days before being attended to.  By the time she was operated on it was already too late to save the baby, the baby had already passed away, and when she woke up the next day she noted she was leaking urine.  The doctors could not help her so she was discharged and sent home.  Olipa has been living with her obstetric fistula for three years.

Two years passed.  Finally, Olipa had hope when a patient ambassador visited her in her home to tell her about the fistula care centre.  Olipa was very excited but unfortunately, had to wait for for an additional year as the centre was closed due to the covid-19 pandemic.

In April 2021 Olipa received a call from the centre inviting her to undergo her fistula operation.  To Olipa this was great news and she was feeling hopeful.  As of 21 April 2021, Olipa has been operated and is recovering.  Once she is healed, she would like to restart her business.  Her dream is to expand her business and add a wide range of foods to sell.  We wish her well with her recovery and the very best of success with her business