IN THIS ISSUE New fistula center in Harrar Fistula Hospital turns 30 Mekebe’s story Art for the greater good We’ve Changed Our Name! American Friends Foundation for Childbirth Injuries (AFFCI) is now The Fistula Foundation. Thanks in part to light shed on the fistula issue in the New York Times and on the Oprah Winfrey Show, millions of people worldwide now know about obstetric fistula, the devastating childbirth injury that is affecting more than 100,000 women every year throughout the developing world. The Fistula Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world’s preeminent center for fistula treatment and prevention. We now seek to make obstetric fistula better understood, and to enable Fistula Hospital to continue its work for as long as there is a need. To do this, we have chosen a new name that more clearly articulates who we are and what we do, a name that educates, a name that is easy to remember: The Fistula Foundation. Our New Website We are pleased to announce the NEW Fistula Foundation website! The redesigned site is rich in factual and historical information and regular features that will be updated on a monthly basis. Log on to learn more about obstetric fistula, Fistula Hospital, and the Fistula Foundation. To stay informed, sign up for our newsletter, and invite friends and family to do the same. We’re eager to hear what you think of the new website, so take a look and send us your feedback!		A letter from Dr. Catherine Hamlin September 2004 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia My dear friends around the world, The greatest news from recent months is our expanding work. The work of our hospital in Addis Ababa is expanding with the opening of a new 30-bed ward, now fully occupied, and the completion of one of the mini fistula hospitals (satellite centres) which we are planning to build throughout the countryside (see Foundation to fund new facility, in this issue). This first centre is in the northwest, built on the grounds of the Bahir Dar Hospital, and consisting of a 30-bed ward with operating room, its own kitchen and laundry. The remaining four centres will be complete within the next four years. Each centre will be fully staffed with one or two trained nurses, 10 to 12 nursing aides (former patients) and a gynaecologist who has been trained at our hospital in Addis Ababa to be able to do the more simple fistula repairs, leaving the difficult surgery for our visiting team. We plan to open this first centre in late autumn. Another excitement was our 30th anniversary in May (see Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital turns 30, in this issue). I clearly remember the “ceremony” we had in 1974 when my husband and I cut a ribbon, alone, in our drawing room to declare our hospital open. At that time we could not celebrate publicly because of the difficult and dangerous political situation. We have since then persevered and have helped cure more than 25,000 women in 30 years. The 30th anniversary celebration took place here at our hospital and was a joyous event. Thankfully, many of our trustees and other friends, contributors, and their representatives were here to join us. Our friend Deborah Harris, who was the one who arranged my interview with Oprah Winfrey, flew all the way from Charlotte, NC to be with us for this special celebration. Her group “Women of Vision” have been great supporters of our hospital, so we were very pleased to have Deborah with us. Thank you each and every one of you for your help, for your prayers, and for your heartfelt concern. Most sincerely and gratefully, Catherine Hamlin
The Fistula Foundation to fund new facility in Harrar, Ethiopia While still a teenager, Zeneba Abdulahi Oumer was abducted for marriage—not an uncommon event in rural Ethiopia. At 20, she delivered a stillborn baby after suffering through two days of labor. Zeneba went home from the hospital emotionally and physically exhausted, only to find that she was incontinent. For the next six months, Zeneba stayed in a corner of her mother’s one-room cottage. “My friends don’t visit with me anymore, they stand outside the door and after a few minutes they leave,” she lamented. Architect’s rendering of the Bahir Dar satellite fistula center, the model for four other centers that will be built in Ethiopia over the next five years Zeneba is one of an estimated 9,000 women who develop obstetric fistulas every year in Ethiopia. (The worldwide estimate is 100,000 new cases per year.) During a recent visit to Ethiopia, Ric Haas and his daughter Shaleece, co-founders of the Fistula Foundation, accompanied gynecologist Dr. Ayele Hailu on a visit to Zeneba’s village outside the town of Harrar, 500 miles east of Addis Ababa. They were introduced to the young fistula victim by local health workers who said a girl had been ‘leaking’. Dr. Ayele is the only gynecologist in this part of Ethiopia who is trained in fistula repair surgery. Each year, he performs as many fistula surgeries as the regional hospital can accommodate—only one or two per week. In 2006, Dr. Ayele will become the resident Ob/Gyn at a new satellite center to be built by Fistula Hospital in the town of Harrar. With funding from the Fistula Foundation, the Harrar Hamlin Fistula Center will be built adjacent to Hiwot Fana Hospital. The center will cater to victims of obstetric fistula as well as women in need of emergency obstetric care and those at high risk of obstructed labor. Zeneba Abdulahi in her mother’s house in Maderoo Village, Ethiopia The Harrar Center will be one of five satellite centers opened across Ethiopia in the next few years. The centers will provide the same quality of surgical care, prevention and education as is offered at Fistula Hospital. Because the centers will be regionally based, women will not have to travel as far to get care, which means family members will also be able to visit. At the Harrar Center, Dr. Ayele will perform at least three surgeries per week. He and his staff will be on 24-hour call for emergency obstetric care. A 20-bed ward will accommodate women recovering from fistula repair and cesarean section, as well as women waiting to deliver. When all five centers are fully operational, the hospital’s capacity to treat fistula victims will double. Additionally, an increased number of women will have safe deliveries in hospitals, the first step in avoiding fistulas. In late April, Zeneba made the journey to Hiwot Fana Hospital where Dr. Ayele successfully closed her fistula. Dr. Ayele tells us Zeneba is recovering well and is hoping to remarry in the next year and have a child. Zeneba says her friends come to visit her now, and she tells them what happened to her and how they can avoid it. Soon, they too will be able to deliver babies in a clean, safe hospital, attended by Dr. Ayele. Return to top
Donor Profile is one of the regular features in Fistula Foundation publications. Every month on our website, and in each newsletter, we feature a donor who has found a creative way to help the women of Fistula Hospital make the journey from despair to dignity. eLLE Eales Sterling, NE, USA I first heard about the Fistula Hospital, like many others, while watching the Oprah Show back in January of 2004. Oprah welcomed Dr. Hamlin as a guest and as Dr. Hamlin described on national television the condition of fistula and the stories of these young mothers at the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, my heart began to sink in sorrow. The loss of a child is a tragedy like no other, but also to have to suffer even more from the fistula condition with shame and solitude is far more than any human being should ever have to experience. I was deeply moved to help the hospital. I decided to use my skill as an artist to raise funds for the Fistula Foundation. Once a month, I list one of my sculpture paintings for auction on eBay. The results from my following of art collectors participating in these charity auctions have been very successful. And I have decided to continue my once-a-month charity auctions for the Fistula Foundation for many years to come. I am honored that I can use my art to raise money to give healthy lives back to these beautiful young mothers in Ethiopia. ~eLLE To date, eLLE’s auctions have raised $440.00 for the Fistula Foundation. Visit the eLLE Art Gallery website, or bid in one of eLLE’s charity auctions benefiting the Fistula Foundation. The next auction closes September 26th, 2004! Return to top One Woman’s Story is one of the regular features in Fistula Foundation publications. Every month on our website, and in each newsletter, we feature the story of a woman who has made the journey to Fistula Hospital. This is Mekebe’s story—in her own words. Mekebe Meta, age 18 Gesoba Village, Wolita, Ethiopia I got married three years ago. I got pregnant one year ago. When I was six months pregnant, I left my husband’s house and went to my mother’s house so that I could have my baby at home with my mother. When I started my labor, my mother and my sisters were there with me. I was in labor for three days and it was very difficult. My stomach was hurting me so much. After the third day, my mother took me to Arba Minch Hospital where the doctor took out the dead baby. They took me back to my mother’s house and I was very sick. I didn’t walk for 10 days. Then I started leaking. My husband was not there with me during my sickness so three months after the baby died, I left him. The doctor at Arba Minch gave me a referral paper and told me to go to Addis Ababa because I was leaking. I took a bus all day to come here. I was very sick and so they gave me medicine for three months before I could have my operation. I was scared of the operation at the beginning, but when I knew that there was no pain, it was okay. After the operation, I stayed in bed for a long time to recover. If it is possible, I want to get married again and have a baby. I will go back to my mother’s house and I will work in my village. I look forward to going home and seeing my friends again without this sickness. Return to top Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital celebrates 30 years of healing “These past thirty years have gone so quickly. Today we celebrate with you as we look back at all we have achieved.” On May 1, 2004, Dr. Catherine Hamlin addressed a colorful gathering of more than 300 dignitaries, colleagues, donors and friends who convened on the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital grounds to celebrate three decades of curing poor women with obstetric fistulas. Drs. Catherine and Reginald Hamlin outside the Princess Tshai Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1965 The festivities stood in stark contrast to the day Catherine Hamlin and her husband, Dr. Reginald Hamlin, opened their 40-bed hospital in May 1974. The government of Emperor Haile Selassie was under siege from a military junta. Addis Ababa had become dangerous; foreigners were fleeing the country; and private institutions like hospitals were at risk of being taken over. Afraid to celebrate in public, the Hamlins cut a ribbon inside their mud house. “We drank a glass of local wine between us, and we cut the ribbon and we said, ‘We declare the Fistula Hospital open. God bless it.’ And God has blessed it ever since,” recalled Dr. Hamlin in her book, The Hospital By the River. The 30th anniversary celebration featured recollections by hospital trustees, staff and former patients. Notable among them was Fistula Hospital’s most famous patient, Mamitu Gashe. Now in her early fifties, Mamitu is radiantly beautiful, yet shy. Mamitu said hello to the crowd and then, in a whisper, asked Dr. Hamlin to speak on her behalf. “Mamitu came to us 40 years ago from Wilo Village. She had to climb up a mountain to get to where she could be carried on local stretcher. She came to our hospital a little girl who had been married at sixteen, had a baby at seventeen, and had suffered terrible injuries. And we loved her. My husband and I looked upon her as our daughter. And she’s been through lots of surgeries ... Now she’s part of our staff and she’s very special. She has performed more than 1,000 surgeries on her own and she teaches the medical students ... I can’t operate without her beside me. I can’t praise her enough.” Dr. Catherine Hamlin with midwifery graduates outside the Princess Tshai Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, early 1960s Mamitu’s tale is well known to friends of Fistula Hospital. As the ceremony concluded, Dr. Hamlin recalled the 25,000 other girls and women who have been treated at Fistula Hospital since that first ribbon was cut. “In these last thirty years, much has happened to improve our hospital, making it a place of peace and healing for thousands of young women whose lives have been transformed from hopelessness, suffering and sorrow, to hope and joy again. Made new in this place ... they go home to their villages and start living again as normal citizens of this world.” The hospital staff then sang songs to honor these brave women, including a beautiful Amharic spiritual entitled “God Has Heard the Cry of the Destitute.” For those familiar with the transformations occurring every day at Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, there is little doubt any truer song has been sung. Return to top