FALL, 2006
In this issue:
• Letter from Sister Ruth Kennedy, Liaison Officer for the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals
• Hidden Danger: Childbirth and Pregnancy in Developing Countries
• Tesfa Ineste in Washington Prepares for big December fundraiser
• W.H.O. Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede helps launch Manual on Fistula Treatment at Fistula Hospital
• Foundation funds advanced training for Fistula Surgeon
• Bay Area Team raises funds through Photography Show
• Louise Aldrich Ketchum completes life journey
• Artist Robert O. Johnson Donates Original Work
to the Foundation
Click
here to give a young Ethiopian woman her dignity—and get a little of your own
A publication of
The Fistula Foundation
Tel: 408.249.9596
Toll-free: 866.756.3700
Fax: 408 244-7328
info@fistulafoundation.org
Third New Mini-Hospital in Yirgalem Nears Completion
The third of five Mini-Hospitals in the Southern-Ethiopian town of Yirgalem is nearly ready to open and begin serving patients. The Hospital has a 20 bed ward and when it is up and running it expects to treat 350 to 400 patients a year. With this third Hospital, Dr. Hamlin will be over half way toward achieving her dream of dramatically expanding her team's ability to treat women all over Ethiopia.
Once all five of the Mini-Hospitals are up and running, Dr. Hamlin and her team anticipate that they will be able to nearly triple their patient treatment capacity. Dr. Hamlin has championed this dramatic expansion: "We are embarking on the most extensive development program since1974 (the year the original Hospital in Addis opened). We want to be able to cure many more fistula patients and to help prevent this dreadful problem from occurring". None of this would be possible without the help from donors in the U.S., the U.K, and Australia.
New Mini-Hospital in Yirgalem
Ethiopia and location of Yirgalem Hospital from Virgalem
Foundation Earns Better Business Bureau's Seal
The Fistula Foundation is proud to have recently earned the Better Business Bureau's charitable seal for meeting all 20 of the BBB's Standards of Charity Accountability. These standards were developed by the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance to assist donors in making sound giving decisions and to foster public confidence in charitable organizations.
In order to qualify, nonprofit organizations, such as the Fistula Foundation, demonstrate their compliance with the Better Business Bureau's Standards by providing detailed documentation to show proper governance procedures, financial management policies, and truthfulness in fundraising practices.
"As a relatively new organization, the Foundation is very pleased to have met all 20 rigorous standards set forward by the Better Business Bureau", said Foundation Executive Director, Kate Grant, who added "We hope that this seal will provide our donors with increased confidence that their gifts to the Foundation will be used well". You will now see the BBB's seal proudly displayed on the Foundation's website and on printed materials. To learn more, you can visit www.give.org or call our office.
"These are the women most to be pitied in the world. They're alone and forgotten, bearing their injuries in silent shame."
-- Dr. Catherine Hamlin
Letter from Sister Ruth Kennedy
Dear Friends,
One of the most gratifying parts of our work is helping restore women who have more extensive injuries caused by prolonged and obstructed labor. In addition to fistula, some of our patients have nerve damage to their legs and feet, such as "dropped foot". The work to rehabilitate these patients is done in our Physiotherapy Department.
I walked into the Physiotherapy Department this afternoon and saw eight little darling beauties. One on the bike, one sitting in a chair, the others standing and one dear little soul lying on the couch. The music was playing; they each had two boiled potatoes and sat there munching their snack.
I went round and asked them where they came from, one from Sidama, one from Gojjam, one from Gondar, one from Somalie, one from Afar and three from Oromiya. They represent five languages, not dialects but actual languages.
They cannot speak to each other but they talk, they touch, they smile and when doing their morning floor exercises they can all count in Amharic "One, two, three and up to ten" holding their little crippled legs up, or holding their pelvic floor muscles. The look of concentration is a picture of deep stubborn determination, that this is what it takes to get better.
You dear folk in the U.S.A. have sent us so much to help these precious young women and girls: the pads, the scarves, the jewelry, the crosses, the toiletries, the hose and clothes. You have sent banks of money to help us sooth and repair these tragic little bodies and hearts, bodies and minds crushed through no fault of their own.
God bless you all for this!
Ruth
Physiotherapy patients at the Fistula Hospital
Hidden Danger: Childbirth and Pregnancy in Developing Countries
"It should be an international scandal that the number of women dying in pregnancy worldwide has been stuck at over a half-million for a quarter-century."
-- Nicholas Kristof
Most women in the United States and other industrialized nations enter pregnancy with a great sense of anticipation. 
And while first-time mothers here may wonder how motherhood will change their life, very, very few worry that pregnancy and childbirth might end their life. Tragically, the same can not be said for most women in Africa.
Every minute, one woman in the world dies because of pregnancy or childbirth and 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. While the lifetime risk for an American Woman dying due to pregnancy and childbirth is just 1 in 2800, for a woman living in Sub-Saharan Africa, the risk is 1 in 16. Part of the risk to women in Sub-Saharan Africa is because few receive prenatal care. In addition, the majority give birth without the help of any trained attendant, let alone a doctor. Also, on average, a woman in Africa will have at least six pregnancies. All of these factors increase the odds of maternal death dramatically.
LATEST NEWS
Tesfa Ineste in Washington prepares for big December fundraiser
The Washington, DC area Tesfa Ineste Committee is preparing its main fundraising event for the year on December 10th at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Crystal City, Virginia. The event will be chaired by Kassy Kebede, Chairman of the Fistula Foundation Board of Directors, and his wife Liya Kebede, renowned supermodel and the World Health Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. Members of Congress, members of the business community and others with an interest in eradicating fistula will be invited to attend. The Committee will present awards to individuals who have contributed toward the betterment of women's health and particularly obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. The program will feature guest speakers including Washington Times reporter Betsy Pisik and award-winning photographer Mary Calvert. The program will also feature an art show, music and entertainment.
W.H.O. Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede helps Launch New Manual on Fistula Treatment at the Fistula Hospital
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Liya Kebede, helped launch a new manual on Fistula Treatment at the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The launch brought together heads of government and medical experts. It represents a major milestone in the fight against fistula because it is the first manual intended as a practical guide for use by health-care professionals, policy-makers and community leaders. The W.H.O. plans to use the manual in countries around the world to help dramatically reduce the number of women developing fistula.
At the event, Mrs. Kebede gave inspiring remarks to the assembled guests. Obstetric fistula has been relatively neglected despite the devastating impact it has on the lives of girls and women in developing countries... It is my hope that the manual's guiding principles will help women currently affected by fistula in Ethiopia and prevent future incidences from happening in developing countries around the globe by making sure that every woman has access to skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth. Mrs. Kebede is the wife of Fistula Foundation Board Chair Kassy Kebede.
World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede
Volunteers are indispensable
The Fistula Foundation is very fortunate to have several loyal and dedicated volunteers to help out in our office. The most important of those is Jerry Goldstein, who has been working at the Foundation offices at least one day a week for the last three years. Jerry is a retired High School Teacher and College Professor. The staff enjoys his weekly visits, and appreciates his sparkling wit and his hard work and dedication.
(L-R): Terry Rodriguez, Jerry Goldstein, Patricia Lydster, Betsy Lydster, Anne Ferguson help assemble newsletter mailing.
One Woman's Story: Simenye
In her own words...
I came to live with my cousin in Oromia when my parents died a long time ago. I was living with my cousin in a refugee camp when he chose a husband for me. I was married one year ago and I got pregnant right away.
During the labor, my cousin and my husband and some neighbor women were with me. 
I was in labor for four days and on the fourth day, the baby came, but it was dead. When the baby died, my husband left me. I think the baby died because I had a sickness when I was pregnant. I caught this sickness from the wind.
People said that my body was wounded. My cousin heard that there was a place in Addis Ababa that could help me and so he brought me here. I came here on Monday and the people here told me I will be cured.
I haven't had my operation yet. I don't know what I will feel. They say I will have the operation next week and that my operation will be a simple one.
When I am cured, if my cousin will let me, I want to stay here in Addis Ababa and work in someone's house. Otherwise, if I go back home to Oromia to my cousin, I'll go to school.
I'd like to go to school.
Foundation Funds advanced training for Fistula Surgeon Dr. Ambaye Wolde Michael
Dr. Ambaye is one of the most senior and valued members of Dr. Hamlin's team in Ethiopia. Therefore, the Foundation is pleased to fund a year's training for Dr. Ambaye at Leeds University in the United Kingdom to broaden her skills and make her even more valuable to the Hospital and its patients.
Dr. Ambaye Wolde Michael
Bay Area Team raises funds from Photography Show
Like other donors, Madeline McGriff was moved by hearing about the plight of the fistula patients and the work of the Fistula Hospital. Her colleague, Dr. Larry William, a long-time Fistula Foundation Board Member, and a talented amateur photographer, provided her with an inspiration for how she could help raise funds to support the Hospital. Together with her husband Dr. Issac V. Hardy, sisters Lydia McGriff, Una Tutson and Elaine Harrison, nieces Ericka McGriff-Parrish and Shannon McGriff-Smith, Madeline worked with Dr. William and other friends to host a Benefit Art Show. The show was held at the Nexus Gallery in Berkeley, California, featuring Dr. William's photographs. Anna McGehee devoted countless hours to help frame and mat Dr. William's work. (Many Foundation donors have seen some of Dr. William's photographs gracing our website and newsletters.) The Show was a stunning success, raising over $7,000 in one day to help the Hospital and its patients. The Foundation is indebted to Madeline, Larry and their team for all of their tremendous work. Thanks!
Dr. Larry William and Madeline McGriff
Louise Aldrich Ketchum completes life journey
The Foundation was deeply honored by the many tribute gifts made by the generous friends and family members of the late Louise Aldrich Ketchum of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Ketchum passed away in April and asked anyone wishing to make a memorial gifts to do so to the Fistula Foundation, supporting the work of the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. The Foundation is very grateful for this support.
The late Louise Aldrich Ketchum
Artist Robert O. Johnson Donates Original Work to the Foundation
San Jose, California artist Robert O. Johnson is known for his inspired portraits. Hearing about the work of Dr. Hamlin to repair the lives of otherwise forgotten women he volunteered to create an original portrait of Dr. Hamlin. The finished work depicts Dr. Hamlin in the varied facets of her work at the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia - showing her both performing surgery and tending to patients in one of the Hospital's long Florence Nightingale wards. Mr. Johnson's portrait brings to life Dr. Hamlin's dedicated efforts to ease the suffering of her young patients. The Foundation intends to reprint the picture to use as this year's Holiday card to our loyal and supportive donors. Please watch your mail this December for your own copy of this engaging work by Robert Johnson.
Artist, Robert O. Johnson
Our mission:
The Fistula Foundation is dedicated to the treatment and prevention
of obstetric fistula, the most devastating aftermath of obstructed labor,
through support of the programs of the
Board Of Directors
Abaynesh Asrat
Ato Tekalign Gedamu (honorary)
Kate Grant (ex-officio)
Deborah Harris
Kassahun Kebede (Chair)
Cleopatra Kiros
Linda Levee Paul
Allan Rosenfield, MD
Gerald Shefren, MD
Mary Tadesse
Robert Tessler, Esq.
Whitney Tilson
Larry William, MD
Copyright
The Fistula Foundation. All rights reserved.