Fistula is often associated with obstructed and prolonged childbirth. A hole or fistula forms between the birth passage and the bladder or rectum. The woman becomes incontinent and may be shunned by her family and community. Fistula is also caused by rape and is often accompanied by other physical and psychological trauma. Sometimes surgery cannot repair the damage.

As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Farrow said she’s very concerned about the children of the DRC.

“Wherever you have vulnerable groups you have recruitment by militia – both boys and girls taken -- girls for sex slaves, boys to be used in combat -- and large numbers of children who had been separated from their parents. I spoke to a little boy in a center for child soldiers that had escaped or been captured. And most of them didn’t want to talk. But one little boy, after a lot of prodding, just burst into tears and said he missed his mom,” she said.

She also visited Bukavu in South Kivu Province, where there are many mines. The area is rich in minerals that people take advantage of everyday.

“They have children down in the mines because they’re just holes. They’re not like mines that have to pass any standard. They just dig holes and put children in the mines. The mines are forever collapsing, and children spend long backbreaking days pulling the stuff out that we all have in our cellphones – coltan, and tin or cassiterite, as well as diamond and gold,” she said.