Telephone Ladies: seeing a dream on its way

Before we left UK we were challenged by Mercy Ships to think what more could be done to help rehabilitate our ladies. Several God-chance conversations started the idea of some of the women becoming the village phone operators. This would give them: 1. An income. 2. Status in the village, where before they were ostracised. 3. A means for us to stay in contact with them for medical reasons. 4. A means for them to inform us of other women with fistula in their area.

On enquiry we found that Celtel, the local mobile network provider already has the perfect package set up, tried and tested, which to an average operator in the rural area they found gives £10 profit per month (half a monthly wage). The payphone has a hand-charged battery, and Celtel provides training for the women and technical support that visits remote areas. The cost is £20 per phone, which we can pay for out of your funds, and this is recoverable if the operator makes sufficient profit.

We have the go ahead to start a pilot project in September!