Ethiopiaid Australia

04/06/2026

⚠️ Trigger Warning: This story contains references to child loss and birth trauma.

No matter where we live, most of us share the same hopes when we think about pregnancy and childbirth.

We imagine a safe birth.
A healthy child. A future filled with possibility.
Women like Zinash dreamed of those same things.
Like every expectant mother, she hoped for joy.

For many of us in Australia, those hopes are supported by a healthcare system we can rely on. Hospitals are accessible. Skilled medical care is available. And while childbirth is never without risk, most women can access the support they need when complications arise.

But for thousands of women across Ethiopia, childbirth becomes the beginning of a nightmare.

After two days of obstructed labour, Zinash lost her baby and suffered a devastating childbirth injury known as obstetric fistula. Left leaking urine uncontrollably, she endured months of grief, shame and isolation, unsure if life would ever improve.

For three months, Zinash lived in isolation. She was grieving the loss of her baby while trying to cope with a childbirth injury she didn't understand. Every day brought physical discomfort, emotional pain, and the fear that this condition would define the rest of her life.

Sadly, Zinash's experience is shared by thousands of women across Ethiopia. Following prolonged and obstructed labour, many women not only lose their babies but are left living with obstetric fistula—a preventable and treatable injury that can lead to isolation, stigma and rejection from their families and communities.

But there is hope.

Through our project partner Hope of Light, Zinash received life-changing surgery that repaired her fistula and restored her dignity. After months of grief and isolation, she was finally able to begin looking towards the future again.

Today, thousands of women are still waiting for that same chance.

Your donation today can help provide:
•Life-changing fistula surgery
•Counselling for women who have experienced stillbirth and trauma
•Transport to and from hospital
•Training for healthcare workers
•Outreach programs that connect women to treatment

No woman should lose her baby and then be left to suffer alone.

Donate today >> https://ethiopiaid.org.au/c/gpP

Help more woman like Zinash heal, rebuild, and find hope again.

22/05/2026

Every year on May 23, the world marks the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula. A day to raise awareness of one of the most devastating childbirth injuries affecting women across the world.

In Ethiopia, thousands of women are living with obstetric fistula after prolonged or obstructed labour without access to timely medical care. Many women lose their babies during childbirth and are left leaking urine or faeces uncontrollably, often facing shame, isolation, and rejection from their communities.

But obstetric fistula is treatable.

And healing is possible.

Through the compassionate care of Ethiopiaid’s trusted partners, women can access life-changing surgery, counselling, rehabilitation, and support to rebuild their lives with dignity and hope.

This International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, we stand with women across Ethiopia who are still waiting for care — and with the organisations working tirelessly to ensure no woman suffers in silence.

Together, we can help bring women out of the shadows.

Learn more or donate today >> https://ethiopiaid.org.au/c/gpP

19/05/2026

Thousands of women across Ethiopia are living with obstetric fistula - a devastating childbirth injury that leaves women isolated, ashamed, and suffering in silence.

Women like Tiruye.

After losing her baby during a prolonged labour, Tiruye was left with fistula and forced into isolation because of her condition.

But healing is possible.

Through our partners at Hope of Light, women like Tiruye can access life-changing surgery, counselling, and compassionate care to help them heal and rebuild their lives.

There are still so many women waiting for help.

Donate today and help bring women out of the shadows >> https://ethiopiaid.org.au/c/gpP

20/04/2026

I was doing some filing today (not something I do often enough) when I came across a link to the video of 60 Minutes meeting Valerie Browning in 2009.

Child mortality has certainly improved, but sadly not enough, largely due to access to health care, clean water and food still lacking. And seeing Valerie sharing the camel milk – her favourite – saddened me, milk is now in short supply.

Watching the world being destroyed instead of made better is heartbreaking. Thank you to all of you who do care and are doing what you can to better the lives of others.

You can watch the video here

1.7K likes, 221 comments. "Meet the nomadic tribe regarded as the "greatest survivors" | 60 Minutes Australia"

19/02/2026

In the last 6 months 125 Traditional Birth Attendants have been trained by our partners in Afar, Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA), to understand the harm being done by carrying out Female Ge***al Mutilation on their girls.

Uddo, one of the women trained says her eyes were opened "I learned that what I thought was right was actually hurting women,' she says "Now I only want to help mothers and babies live and be safe."

This is the change we need. This is the impact Ethiopiaid supporters are having.

11/02/2026

Sometimes the need in the world can feel overwhelming. In moments like that, all it takes is a smile like this to remind us that no matter how great the need, we must show up and do what we can.

This little girl was once so severely malnourished that at six years old she was the size of an average three-year-old and unable to walk. She could have died.

Look at her now.

Ethiopiaid supporters — you made this smile possible.

16/01/2026

Did you know that most people in Ethiopia think FGM should stop? And that Ethiopia's progress towards ending FGM has been faster than other high-prevalence countries in Eastern and Southern Africa? Real progress, real evidence that FGM can be stopped.

But still 47% of adolescent girls have been cut. We need to keep speeding up progress, we need to keep working to see an end to this horrific practice.

12/01/2026

Valerie Browning - a truly incredible human that all of us connected to Ethiopiaid are proviledged to work with. Co-founder of Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA), Valerie sent us this message recently:

'While the various Middle East powers jostle with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments and Tigray forces are still encamped in Afar Region the grim reality of anticipated conflict as expressed in mid- November continues throughout the northern Afar society. Armies are still present, market access and feasibility remain pressured, the communities at the mercy of political whim.

Having said all that, APDA with the communities must bolster itself as we enter 2026 with even stronger resolution to respond timely and to determine the means whereby Afar can stand and direct their future. To that end, we all immensely appreciate the amazing partners that stood with our organization through the difficulties of 2025 wishing you all your own resolution to stand firm in a world thwart with contradictions of human justice and willingness to facilitate the passage to development security. Even to know the cost of fuel in a world driven to exploit one from another is dearly affecting those living/ eking out a living in the simplest possible way such as Afar people.

Please accept our sincere thanks. As we sit on one of the world’s ‘hot-spots’, the Horn of Africa bordered by the Red Sea passage from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, we literally treasure your interaction, being alone and being supported is worlds apart.'

31/12/2025

Holiday wishes from Yenege Tesfa! Yenege Tesfa work with single mothers to support their family, helping them grow fruit and vegetables and care for livestock to provide for their family as well as training them in marketing and business so that they can sell produce. They also care for children who have lost both parents, either reuniting them with extended family or supporting them in warm and caring family homes and ensuring they can continue their education. Thank you for standing with them and supporting their work.

11/12/2025

A baby's first cry is a beautiful sound.

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in Afar, Ethiopia, are the key to preventing the deaths of 12,000 mothers that die in childbirth each year.

It costs just $57.75 to train a TBA, giving women and their babies the best chance of survival.

$57.75 for a baby's first cry.

https://ethiopiaid.org.au/content/make-childbirth-safer-in-afar/gl0lso/donate