Charity of the month: Freedom from Fistula Foundation

Fistula is a condition which affects women suffering from obstructed labour, particularly when emergency care is unavailable. In developed countries with easy access to healthcare, it is repaired straight away. However, an estimated two million women in Africa suffer needlessly from the condition, with devastating effects.

Freedom From Fistula is working to improve training and awareness of the issue, particularly in Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Malawi. It also helps to rehabilitate the women and children affected by providing literacy and numeracy skills, enterprise training, and financial advice as well as handicrafts training. The latter allows patients to stitch together knitted squares to create blankets. Not only does this give them a pastime during their recovery, but also allows them to take home a treasured blanket when they leave the hospital.

You can help provide this vital support by joining the Big Knit Challenge and knitting six or eight-inch squares. You can also knit hats and bootees for the maternity unit, and keep those brand new heads warm!

Send your donations to:
FFFF, Robertson House
1 Whitefriars Crescent
Perth
PH2 0PA

Alternatively, drop them off directly to the charity shop Afri-Can, found at 225 High Street, Perth.

Find out more at www.freedomfromfistula.org.uk or call 01738 633264.