September 2005
New York City

Dear Friends,

I'm delighted that the Fistula Hospital is scheduled to once again be featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Friday, September 9.

Oprah chats with recovering patients during her visit to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. (Photo ©2004 Harpo Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photographer: Benny Gool.)

After Dr. Catherine Hamlin’s appearance on the show last year, there was an unprecedented outpouring of support. This enabled the hospital to build a new training and clinical center, which was named the Oprah Winfrey Centre for the Women of Ethiopia in honor of Oprah and her viewers. The upcoming show features Oprah’s visit to Ethiopia last December to dedicate the center.

The airing of the show comes as the hospital begins to position itself for vibrant growth, both in healing more women suffering from obstetric fistula and in prevention efforts via outreach and education programs across Ethiopia. In May, Mr. Mark Bennett joined the hospital as its new CEO, and Mr. Tekalign Gedamu assumed the position of Chairman of the Hamlin Fistula Welfare and Relief Trust. The trust serves as the oversight body for the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, and helps fund it from within Ethiopia. To enhance communications between the hospital and its American supporters, Mr. Gedamu also recently assumed an honorary seat on the Fistula Foundation Board of Directors. We welcome both of these gentlemen to their respective posts, and extend them our sincere wishes for success.

As someone who was born and raised just a short distance from the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, I am passionately committed to its mission and to ensuring its future. In this spirit, I wish to express my deepest appreciation for your generous support.

Sincerely,

Kassy Kebede
President & Board Chairman
The Fistula Foundation

Donor Profile: Sue Hoese

Sue Hoese and fellow "Bead Together" friends Terri Traudt (left) and Karen Farrell (right) celebrate the launch of the Dignity Bracelet at a Circle of Friends fundraising event in Minneapolis.

Like many who saw the January 2004 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show featuring Dr. Catherine Hamlin of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Sue Hoese had never heard of an obstetric fistula. The show opened her eyes and moved her to take action. She founded a group called the “Bead Together Circle of Friends” to make beaded bracelets for patients at the hospital, and to raise awareness of obstetric fistula and raise funds for the Fistula Foundation.

“We wanted to give these women bracelets from women in the United States as a symbol of caring and love,” Sue recalls. By October 2004, she and her friend had made 1,600 bracelets. Sue was invited to join Oprah on her visit to Ethiopia, and presented the bracelets in person to patients at the Fistula Hospital. “It was an incredible, life-changing experience for me. Dr. Hamlin is as loving, kind, genuine and gracious as she appeared to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show. I admire the way she truly lives her faith.”

The patients at the hospital were very thankful and happy to receive the bracelets. “Although I heard many sad and heart-breaking stories, the hospital is not a sad place at all. It is filled with an atmosphere of unconditional love, healing, sisterhood and hope. I saw women arriving whose heads were hung low in shame and fear. It didn’t take more than a couple of hours at the hospital, where they are surrounded by other women and faculty who love them unconditionally, to see a dramatic change in their faces. When the women leave the hospital, they are cured and their heads are held high with dignity. They're given a second chance at having a healthy baby and happy new life. I will never forget their stories, their faces, their strength, and their restored dignity.”

When Sue returned home to Minneapolis, she felt she had to do even more to support this incredible woman and her cause. “My ‘Bead Together’ friends and I wanted to come up with a way to increase awareness of obstetric fistula and raise funds for the Fistula Foundation. We decided a great way would be to design a message bracelet that women around the world could wear to support this cause.”

Sue contacted the Fistula Foundation with her idea for the Dignity Bracelet, and she and her friends have been working with the foundation ever since. “We chose the word 'Dignity' to inscribe on the main bead because of what the hospital does – it restores dignity to women - and we wanted people who wear the bracelet to feel a connection to the women in Ethiopia.” The word ‘Dignity’ appears in English on one side of the center bead and in Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia, on the other. The center bead is surrounded by smaller, diamond-shaped beads bearing the Fistula Foundation logo, which Sue describes as having a “unique, African look.”

“We wanted to give this bracelet to women as a thank you gift so they would have a physical symbol to remember that their donation is making a significant difference in a woman’s life in Ethiopia.” Sue and her friends connected with Jill Johnson, owner of Minneapolis-based Jilco, Inc., who was so moved by the plight of the fistula women that she is manufacturing and distributing the bracelet at her cost. Donors can obtain a bracelet from the Fistula Foundation for a gift of $125 or more.

“I'm so grateful to The Oprah Winfrey Show for shedding light on this problem and for the opportunity I had to visit the Fistula Hospital,” Sue told us. “I will be a life-long advocate for this cause.”

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A night to remember in New York

More than $20,000 were raised for the Tesfa Ineste Campaign when the New York Regional Committee hosted friends and supporters for an evening of dinner and dancing. Entertainment was provided by musician Abay and comedian Meskerem Bekele. A live auction and raffle of Ethiopian arts and crafts completed the evening.

The Tesfa Ineste campaign was launched by Ethiopians living abroad, in conjunction with the Fistula Foundation, to help their sisters back home in Ethiopia by committing to raise $400,000 toward the building and furnishing of the Harrar Satellite Center by 2006. The center is one of five that are under construction or being planned by the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital to reach women in the provinces who require fistula surgery, and to help prevent fistulas by offering education programs and emergency obstetric care.

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New hospital chairman has long record of service in Africa

The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital announced the election of a new Chair for the Board of Trustees in Addis Ababa. He is Ato Tekalign Gedamu, formerly the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Abyssinia, Ethiopia.

Mr. Gedamu was born in Ethiopia and is a recognized expert in development, with outstanding professional experience and academic credentials. Notably, he received a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois, and went on to complete a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University. He had an important career chapter in the United States, where from 1993-1995, he was President of Transnational Development Associates, a private consulting firm.

Mr. Gedamu started his career as an economist with the United Nations in New York and then moved to Addis Ababa, serving on the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa as an Economic Affairs Officer. He has held a variety of high-level posts with the Government of Ethiopia, including Minister of Planning and Development and Minister of Transport and Communications. In addition, he served as the Managing Director of the Development Bank of Ethiopia and the Vice President, Finance and Vice President, Central Operations with the African Development Bank in Cote d’Ivoire. He is currently on the board of the Canadian-based Foundation for International Training and on the board of FAHA, the Foundation Against HIV/AIDS in Africa, based in Maryland.

The Hospital and the Fistula Foundation welcome Mr. Gedamu to his new position.

New Jersey Congressman visits the Addis Ababa Fisutla Hospital

United States Congressman and human-rights activist Christopher Smith of New Jersey visited the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in August, as part of a three-day trip to Ethiopia. The Congressman recently offered an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act to provide funding to help women suffering from obstetric fistula in Africa.

“An estimated two million women globally suffer from fistula, which can be treated with a relatively minor surgical procedure,” Smith explained. He praised the work of the Fistula Hospital and its efforts to improve women’s health in Ethiopia. “This hospital and its satellite centers in Ethiopia are a model that we hope to use in developing other such centers to help women who suffer needlessly from this terrible condition.”

More thanks to our institutional donors

Rochester Medical Corporation, a leading provider of innovative continence care products, has donated a year's supply of their FemSoft inserts to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. FemSoft inserts help control unintentional urine loss, eliminating concerns of wetness and odor. They are used by some fistula patients who continue to have stress urinary incontinence, i.e. minor loss of control from coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting or other physical activities that increase pressure on the bladder.

SRS Medical donated supplies, including their MiniPro paper and single and double catheters, for the hospital's urodynamic system. The system is used to assess the function of patients' bladders and sphincter muscles. Other supplies from the company were purchased by the Fistula Foundation at a 10% discount extended by SRS Medical. The supplies are accompanying an array of other products that were donated by Direct Relief International and shipped to Ethiopia for arrival this month. Direct Relief International is a non-profit, non-political and non-sectarian organization that provides essential material resources to locally run health programs in poor areas around the world, without regard to race, ethnicity, political or religious affiliation, gender or ability to pay.

A hearty "thank you" to Rochester Medical, SRS Medical and DRI for their generous support.

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The Fistula Foundation moves to new facilities

In an effort to improve operational efficiency and maximize your dollars, the Fistula Foundation has combined its New York and California offices into a single office in Santa Clara, California. The office brings all financial and donor relations activities under one roof, while maintaining close ties with corporate and other east-coast donors through the efforts of President and Board Chair Kassy Kebede and other board members based in and around New York City.

The new office is located at 1171 Homestead Road, Suite 265, Santa Clara, CA 95050. Local and toll-free telephone numbers remain the same, (408)249-9596 and (866)756-3700 respectively. A new fax line has been set up at (408)516-9904; all online communications remain the same.

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