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FAMILY PLANNING could have saved Brunilde's life:
Her fate became our destiny.
This story begins with one woman and how her death in childbirth led to the birth of our Foundation.
Brunilde died in 1994 from post-partum hemorrhaging after giving birth to her seventh child at the age of 31 in a small mud hut in the remote river valley where we live, two walking hours from the nearest road. She died while being carried down rocky foot trails and across mountain rivers in a blood-drenched hammock, in a desperate attempt to get her to the road and then to the local hospital in time to save her life. Her new-born died shortly thereafter.
At the time, we were already informally assisting our valley neighbors with family planning, and had been trying to get Brunilde a tubal sterilization through our budding connections in the Venezuelan public health system. But she became pregnant again while waiting - literally two years - for the procedure. This undesired pregnancy while waiting (a common event in Venezuela) ended up costing Brunilde her life.
Brunilde's untimely death was the shock that propelled us to formally register the Turimiquire Foundation in 1996 as a 501(c)3 non-profit in the United States. We realized that we needed to seek a wider base of support in order to offer critical family planning services to the marginalized rural poor.
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The response has been wonderful from all of you who support our work - our growing donor base, our local and USA volunteers, government officials, public and private health care providers and suppliers, family planning organizations - thank you all for making this possible! And from all of those who seek our help - we are here for you!
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To date, we have helped more than 32,000 women proactively plan the size of their families. Our reproductive health workshops have reached 47,000 adolescents and students, following up with access to medical attention and contraception when desired. Our programs are 100% demand-driven, and we cannot even begin to keep up!
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Brunilde’s fate reflects the plight of so many women and families in the less developed world. Family planning worldwide would help to prevent the almost 300,000 maternal (not to mention related infant) deaths, plus millions of maternal complications, that happen yearly (UNFPA). There is so much more to be done to extend this essential public health service to the low-income women and children of Venezuela and the rest of the world!
EDUCATION is now saving Brunilde's family.
Our story continues:
Once women and their families gain control of their fertility, they seek the best possible future for their children through education.
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Brunilde's eldest child, Yura (center, crossing the river), was 16 years old at the time of her mother's death. She was obliged to abandon her schooling and dreams in order to go to work and care for her five younger siblings and her traumatized, soon-to-be-incapacitated, father. These children grew up in very hard circumstances.
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Now, in the next generation, Yura’s daughter Nairobis (pink t-shirt, center) is one of the best fourth year students in our high school scholarship program. She and fellow students are carrying a table up to the rural schoolhouse where they study, a two hour hike from the road. Our staff member Marcela (white shirt) accompanies them.
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Nairobis is growing up in this same rural world, but now her mother and other women in her community have access to our birth control and reproductive health services. Nairobis should not have to give up her education as her own mother did. She and her more capable fellow students are college bound with our help! They have far more choices and support than previous generations, when unintended pregnancy and risky childbirth were harsh facts of life. Hers is a brighter future.
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Turimiquire's Recipe for a Thriving Community:
Family Planning + Education are the two pillars
upon which successful community development rests.
We invite you to please support us
in extending these benefits to more and more families.
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