Surgical Success Stories - #119 to #122!

Thank you to our donors for sponsoring these surgeries and changing these beautiful women's lives!

This is Azalech Chala who has suffered from 3rd° uterine prolapse for one year. She has delivered eight children and four of them are still alive. She is very grateful for your assistance and for making her feel much better!

Please meet Lantore Langana who underwent prolapse surgery on Friday. She is the mother of four children and has suffered from third-degree prolapse for three years. Lantore is doing very well and is very grateful for your help in restoring her dignity. 

Say hello to Adanech Kampeso who delivered six children, three of whom are alive. She has suffered from pelvic prolapse for two years. She is so happy for your help.

This is Dapase Beyene who has been widowed for 20 years. She has delivered six children and five are still living. She has suffered from pelvic organ prolapse for four years. She is so grateful to be relieved from her lower pelvic pain and discomfort.

Surgical Success Story - #118

Mestawet Medacho underwent surgery earlier this week. She has suffered from 3rd degree prolapse for five years. She is a widow who has delivered five children, two of which are living. Thanks to our donors for helping change her life. Not only did you pay for her surgery but also her transportation to get to the hospital!

Surgical Success Stories - #116 & #117

Say hello to Mezgebu Falta. She is 50 years old and has suffered from 3rd degree prolapse for three years. Her only child died. Thank you so very much for helping this patient.

This is Askale Tema. She is also a widow who has suffered from third degree prolapse for three years. She has been pregnant nine times and has six living children. Both of these patients came to us from Dr. Mary’s clinic in Ajura . Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia also helped pay their transportation to the hospital. Thank you for your support!

Surgical Success Story - #115

This is Galtame Dingato, a 70-year-old woman who has suffered from prolapse for nine years. She has been pregnant 11 times and has delivered 10 children. Thanks to your support, she has been sponsored for her life-changing surgery!

Surgical Success Story - #114

Say hello to Belaynesh Falta, a 40-year-old mother who has two children. She has suffered from prolapse for 10 years and actually had prolapse prior to her last delivery. She underwent surgical correction and is very thankful for your assistance.

Surgical Success Stories - #111, #112, #113

Gomose Goa is a widow who has suffered from 3rd° pelvic prolapse for five years. She has delivered nine children and only three remain alive. She is very poor and underwent surgery to correct her prolapse today. Thank you for making such a great difference in her life.

Please meet Ayane Failitamo, a 45-year-old woman who has been pregnant nine times and delivered eight children, four of whom are living. She has suffered from 3rd° prolapse for six months. She is very grateful to you for helping her with her condition.

This is Adanech Mune who is about 50 years old. She has delivered five children, three of whom are living. She has suffered from 4th° prolapse for three years. She came to us from Dr. Mary's clinic in Ajoura. Thank you for helping to change Adanech's life!

Surgical Success Stories - #110

Say hi to Dalibe Unke! She has 10 living children and has been living with a second degree pelvic prolapse for a year. She is so grateful to MWAHFE for sponsoring her surgery. Thank you for making a difference in her life!

Surgical Success Stories - #103 to #109 (Wow!)

We are so please to introduce you to these women who have had their prolapse uterus surgeries sponsored by you - our generous donors!

Please meet Befene Babulo who has had surgery for uteropelvic prolapse. She is 58 years of age, a widow and has delivered 10 children. Thank you for helping make a great difference in her life.

Deligate Kajala has been pregnant eight times and has three living children. She is a widow from Ajora and has suffered with severe uterine prolapse for a few years. We are so glad to be able to sponsor her life-changing surgery! Deligate is the 104th woman we've sponsored for surgery.

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This is Wogate Abebe, a widow who has been pregnant eight times and has six living children. For the last three years she has been bothered with her prolapse occurring at times and then being reduced. However, she has had severe prolapse for three months and has now been sponsored by MWAHFE for her surgery!

This is Belaynesh Budacho, a 45-year-old married woman who has been pregnant 13 times. She has eight living children and has suffered from third degree prolapse for three years. She underwent surgery August 1st. We're so happy for you, Belaynesh!

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This is Ukume Dargaso, a 60-year-old widow who has suffered from third degree prolapse also for three years. She has five children but has been pregnant nine times - one child died and she had three miscarriages. She also underwent surgery on August 1st.

From Dr. Mark:
We'd like you to meet Ayinate Lota, a widow who has had severe prolapse for seven years. She also has a loiter of her thyroid and her thyroid levels were elevated to where we could not perform her surgery. She was supposed of had surgery on August 1st but due to her high thyroid levels we had to cancel her surgery after spending two days in the hospital. We put her on anti-thyroid medication and will see her again next month. We paid for her transportation to go home and to return. She is 50 years old with nine living children. She stated that her prolapse prevented her from being able to work to help herself financially.

We're hoping that you will be well enough for your surgery very soon, Ayinate!

UPDATE: Ayinate was able to have her surgery in February 2018. We're so happy for you!

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From Dr. Mark: 
Dear all, please meet Biranesh Bugle, a widow who has been pregnant seven times has five children. She has had 4th° pelvic prolapse for three years. She underwent surgery today. Thank you so very very much. God bless you!!

The People Behind the Projects: Mark & Allison Karnes

We had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Mark and Allison Karnes and learn a little more about what inspires them to do this life-changing work in Ethiopia. Dr. Mark is responsible for the prolapsed uterus surgeries, and his wife Allison is the brains behind the WRAPs (washable, reusable, affordable pads) project.

Not everyone has the temperament and motivation to pick up their lives and move to Cameroon.

But Allison and Mark Karnes decided that was the path for them. Oh, and they did it with a baby on the way.

The couple made the trek to central Africa shortly after Dr. Mark graduated, where they operated a primary care clinic.

Life wasn’t always easy – the heat was intense and they dealt with malaria, parasites and all kinds of realities of life that don't exist in the States – but it’s a special part of their history.

Two of the Karnes' children were born in Cameroon, and when they left five years later, a third was on the way. They now have five children, several of whom have lived and worked in various parts of Africa.

A few of the MWAHFE committee members who went to visit with Mark and Allison Karnes in Port Huron. We had a lovely chat at Cracker Barrel! What an honour to find out a little bit more about this inspiring couple.

It would be more than two decades after that journey in Cameroon that the Karnes returned to the continent, spending 25 years in Michigan in between. There, Dr. Mark ran his own gynaecological practice.

“We knew that at some point in time we’d go back in Africa,” he said.

They couldn’t stay away, and they felt called to return. Just over a month after retirement, the Karnes landed in Ethiopia.

“When you visit Africa, it gets in your bloodstream. You get infected with it,” said Mark.

And it would be about more than just serving the people. The Karnes were inspired to share their knowledge and leave a lasting legacy behind.

It was at a medical missions conference that they learned about the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), an organization that seeks to keep African surgeons at home, with hopes of reversing the “brain drain” that often draws the best and brightest physicians to developed countries like the US and Canada.

Knowing they wanted to contribute to that initiative helped narrow down the options for a return to the African continent.

But why Ethiopia?

“They had coffee there. And popcorn,” Dr. Mark said with a chuckle.

Of course the decision was more complicated. The Ethiopian climate attracted the Karnes, and Allison formed a special bond with friends at the Soddo Christian Hospital.

“When you visit Africa, it gets in your bloodstream.”

— Dr. Mark Karnes

It seemed like a good fit.

And PAACS drew them in.

“It's one thing to know how to perform a caesarian, and save the life of mother and baby. But to teach someone how to do that is (about) duplication,” said Mark. And at the Soddo Christian Hospital, that's exactly what he does.

Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia volunteers even had the chance to take a peek at a surgery conducted by Dr. Mark – with help from an training doctor – on a recent trip. Practicing medicine is very different, even at a privately-funded hospital, in Ethiopia. Supplies are not always readily available, and even water isn't a guarantee.

But what struck our volunteers the most was the incredible patience that Dr. Mark showed throughout the course of the operation. Not only was he working to repair a delicate reproductive system, but he was sharing his knowledge with a less experienced surgeon. 

“It's very important, because I'm not always going to be there,” Dr. Mark said.

Dr. Mark chats with Shelley outside the Bucama Health Clinic in rural Ethiopia in February 2017. This facility directs some patients to Soddo Christian Hospital to undergo surgery with Dr. Mark.

While Mark is changing lives in the operating room (learn more about prolapse), Allison is out doing the same in rural schools all over the region with the WRAPS initiative. (Check out our spotlight story on WRAPS here!)

“We talk a lot about menstruation and what it is, and the biology of it,” said Allison. “I talk a lot about being safe, because rape is still a big concern.”

The WRAPS – washable, reusable, affordable pads – have caught the eye of many, including some local and influential leaders who have brought Allison into schools that had never received similar programming.

Allison teaches a workshop on WRAPS at Abba Pascal Girls School, one of the sites for Girls Gotta Run programming.

It’s sweet to listen to Mark and Allison talk about their lives. What’s clear is that the couple has an incredible bond and partnership. They know each other’s passions inside and out, and the pride in their voices is evident when they talk about those projects.

Over their decades in Ethiopia, the Karnes have played witness to so much change – and progress.

“In 2007 there was only one paved road in Soddo,” said Mark. “When we first arrived, all of the taxis were donkeys and mules and horses.”

There wasn't a bajaj in sight.

Just seven years ago, about 94% of women were estimated to be delivering their children at home without medical care. Now that’s dropped to about 50%, Mark said.

Development is constant, and life changes all the time.

“They even, on the weekends at this one hotel, have ice cream,” said Mark with awe.

It’s amazing how much can change with “funds and a little heart,” said Allison.

The Karnes are the perfect example of that. And there’s so much more the couple hopes to accomplish.

“I can’t live long enough to do enough there. I have projects that would keep me busy for another 100 years,” Allison said. “It only takes a little money to change the lives of an entire community.”

Despite the hard work and the long hours, the Karnes said it is an honour and a joy to work, live and serve in Soddo.

 “We are the ones who are blessed,” Mark said.

“We learn so much from the Ethiopian people.”

Surgical Success Stories - #101 and #102

Even as we were celebrating our 100th surgery, Dr. Mark sent us the photos and stories of two more women who had just been sponsored! As great as the milestone was, we're even more excited to be able to continue this life-changing work through Dr. Mark and his team at Soddo Christian Hospital.

Meet Bazite and Akala... more lives changed by your generosity and financial partnership.

This is Bazite Mandabo, a widow from Bucama who has had prolapse for five years. She has been pregnant seven times, has had three miscarriages and has three living children.

This is Akala Awandu, also a widow, who has had fourth degree prolapse for 10 years. She has been pregnant four times and has three living children. She was brought to Soddo Christian Hospital by Dr. Mary Vanderkooi who has a mobile clinic in a very rural area, Adjura, where she takes care of some of the poorest of the poor.