Walk brings healing
November 2, 2010 - Auckland

Glenfield sisters Jo and Katie Perkins have raised more than $24,000 for the treatment of obstetric fistula by walking from Auckland to Cape Reinga.

Though weary and foot-sore by the end of their 16-day 430km trek, the sisters are delighted that their efforts will provide restorative surgery for at least 36 seriously disabled women from some of the poorest regions in Africa.

“In isolated communities where there is no proper obstetric care, women who have prolonged obstructed labour can be left with permanent injuries that cause uncontrollable leaking from the bladder, and sometimes the bowel,” Jo says. “Unless they get surgery to repair the damage they become social outcasts.”

Jo and Katie decided a sponsored walk was a fitting way to support these women, most of whom only get treatment if they make a long, often solitary walk to a fistula hospital.

Visits to schools, churches and community groups, both in Auckland and along the route of the walk, not only provided the girls with sponsors, but also helped raise awareness of this widespread, but little known, health problem.

“There are between one-and-a-half and two million African women with fistula, but a lot of people have never heard of it,” Katie says. “We got a really good response wherever we spoke and, even when we were on the walk, people would ask us what we were up to, then dive into their wallets to donate when we explained.”

A number of motels and campsites along the route also provided the girls with free accommodation.

“So many people gave so much, and our mum, Robyn, did an outstanding job as our support crew,” Katie says. “She was the unsung hero of our walk.”

All sponsorship money is being donated to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.
For more information about Jo and Katie’s walk, or to donate, visit www.sisterswalkforbeautiful.org.nz