WINTER, 2007
In this issue:
• First Mini-hospital in Bahir Dar Hospital is thriving
• Film "A Walk to Beautiful" is finalist for Best Documentary of 2007
• Charity Navigator Evaluation
Click here to give a young Ethiopian woman her dignity—and get a little of your own
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info@fistulafoundation.org
Dr. Hamlin Provides Keynote at Global Conference to Create Awareness of Maternal Mortality
Dr. Hamlin delivered the keynote address on Obstetric Fistula, at a major international Conference - Women Deliver - in London on October 18th. The conference hosted nearly 2000 delegates from more than 100 countries. The landmark global conference was designed to help create the political will to save the lives of women and newborn babies.
Dr. Hamlin's keynote provided a moving and masterful address compelling delegates to improve the lives of mothers in developing nations, such as Ethiopia - work to which Dr. Hamlin and her late husband, Reg, dedicated their lives. Dr. Mulu Muleta, the Medical Director of Hamlin Fistula Hospitals, moderated the panel that followed Dr. Hamlin's address.
The conference also provided an opportunity for Dr. Hamlin and Dr. Mulu to meet with leaders in global fistula treatment from the World Health Organization and from the United Nations. One of their shared goals is to move forward on finalizing a manual to be used globally on the management and treatment of obstetric fistula. Dr. Hamlin's pioneering work in this area is central to this path-breaking manual.
Fistula Foundation Earns Second Consecutive 4 Star Rating from "Watchdog" Group, Charity Navigator
Read the complete congratulatory letter from Charity Navigator.
Letter from Dr. Catherine Hamlin
Dr. Catherine Hamlin
Dear Friends,
It gives me pleasure to be in touch with you again this holiday to tell you of the deep gratitude we feel towards you all, for your loving concern for our patients and your generosity. We thank you so much for this.
When my late husband and I came to Ethiopia in 1959, our initial aim was to train midwives - we trained seven - but then the Ministry of Health closed the School. By then the plight of the fistula patients had broken our hearts, and so became our chief concern. So now in 2007 we again turn to this undertaking of training midwives. More mothers are dying than ever before and complications of childbirth, such as fistulae, are increasing daily, leading to misery for the victims, stillborn babies, abandonment of children, breakdown of families and poor economies for the country.
We need well trained community midwives who care, who want to make a difference and are willing to return to their country areas and help their neighbours, their sisters and their friends to have safe deliveries and live babies. So we are very happy that our plans for the Midwifery College are moving ahead. We believe that this intensive midwifery training will help us prevent this tragic condition of vaginal fistulae.
Our intention is to start in a small way with 10 - 12 students for the first year then gradually increase as we progress. The students are being carefully selected from the high schools in the vicinity of our newly functioning provincial fistula hospitals. In this way the midwives can be supervised by our staff, encouraged and supported and importantly will have a referral centre for the difficult deliveries that need emergency obstetric care. We hope by 2010 to have the first midwives working in rural areas.
The healing work of our hospital continues to expand and the training of post graduate doctors as future gynaecologists is very encouraging. All this gives me enormous joy, due also to the dedicated and great staff who work together to make this hospital a home, a haven and a place where I believe the Spirit of God is at work.
I wish you all joy and peace in the coming year.
Very sincerely and gratefully,
Board of Directors
Abaynesh Asrat |
Linda Levee Samuels |
Latest News
- The Washington DC area Tesfa Ineste Committee is hosting its third annual fundraising event on Sunday December 9th at the Marriott Hotel Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Virginia from 4 to 7pm The event is becoming an annual tradition, attracting hundreds of Ethiopian Americans who have joined in the festivities including, art show, music, speakers and entertainment the event offers. For more information, please contact the Foundation.
- San Jose Mercury News published an editorial by Fistula Foundation Executive Director, Kate Grant, on October 19, 2007. The article titled "Money and political will can save women from dying in childbirth" tried to increase awareness of the troubling fact that every day 1,500 women die due to pregnancy and childbirth - "...the equivalent of the downing of five jumbo-jets filled with pregnant or laboring women, and it is the same every day of every year in recent decades totaling approximately 535,000 deaths a year." To read the whole article, go to the Fistula Foundation website www.fistulafoundation.org
- Santa Clara Weekly published an article on the Foundation's work, by Carolyn Schuk, in its October 10, 2007 edition. The article titled: "Healing Women's Lives" is also available on the Foundation's website.
First Mini-Hospital in Bahir Dar is Thriving
Dr. Andrew Browning talks to "Ahai" before her
surgery. She is a beautiful
7-year-old who was raped by a family
friend on her way to school. The
damage was so severe that
doctors had to repair anal and vaginal fistulas,
fix her bladder
and reconstruct soft tissue in the cervix. Dr. Browning says
the
child will probably not be incontinent, but he cannot promise
her a baby of her own.
(Mary F. Calvert / The Washington Times)
The mini-hospital in the Northwest Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar was the first of the five mini-hospitals to open in spring 2005. The region where the hospital is located is one of the poorest areas in the country and, in a resource constrained environment, it is particularly inspiring that the facility is thriving. Much of this success is due to Dr. Andrew Browning, an Australian surgeon, who is the chief of this facility. Dr. Browning was trained by Dr. Hamlin and her team at the main Hospital. In turn, Dr. Browning is training some out-of-country doctors who've come to appreciate his teaching and surgical skill.
In addition, the team in Bahir Dar are working hard and reaching many in remote areas of Gojjam. Ato Berhanu is identifying patients and has started an awareness campaign. The fine nursing staff is under the direction of Debre Markos and Sister Wud; they maintain high treatment standards to help ensure successful outcomes for patients. The outreach efforts are paying off: in the past twelve months the Bahir Dar facility has treated nearly 1009 women on an out-patient basis and has conducted major surgery on over 600 women.
Return to topOur Mission:
The Fistula Foundation is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula through support of the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals in Ethiopia.
Film "A Walk to Beautiful" is Finalist for Best Documentary of 2007
The masterful feature-length documentary "A Walk to Beautiful" is one of five films nominated by the prestigious International Documentary Association (IDA) for the Distinguished Documentary Award. "A Walk to Beautiful" movingly tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who are treated at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Other films nominated in this category include Michael Moore's film "Sicko", about the U.S. Healthcare industry. In addition, "A Walk to Beautiful" is also a finalist for the IDA's Pare Lorentz Award for Activist Spirit. The award ceremony will be in Los Angeles in December. For more information on those nominations and the International Documentary Association please go to www.documentary.org.
The film premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May where it earned the coveted "Audience Award"; it will air on PBS's show NOVA in March or April of next year. The film screened in the following U.S. cities: Boston, Provincetown, Denver, St. Louis. Additionally it has been shown at festivals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Toronto Canada. It is set to be the opening night selection at the Melbourne Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. We still need funds to pay the full production costs for the film. Anyone interested in contributing can do so at our website www.fistulafoundation.org or can call our office at 408 249-9596 to contribute or get additional information.
Dr. Allan Rosenfield,
Fistula Foundation Board Member and
Dean,
Mailman School of Public Health,
Columbia University.
"Imbalances of power between men and women, deeply entrenched within the social, economic and cultural structures in most societies, lie at the heart of the many threats to women's health and well being."
Return to top"Only 15% of the charities we've rated have received at least two consecutive 4-Star evaluations, indicating that the Fistula Foundation outperforms most charities in America in its efforts to operate in the most fiscally responsible way possible."
Holiday Giving Ideas
This Holiday Season we have a few ideas for those on your gift list. We provide a way for you to show you care both about the recipient and women who need your help in Ethiopia.
You can order any of these gifts online at our website www.fistulafoundation.org, or by calling our office at (408) 249-9596 between 8 am and 5 pm Pacific Time weekdays. If you wish to send the earrings, scarf or bracelet as gifts for the Christmas Holiday, please place your order with us no later than Friday December 14th. Make a personal connection with the Hospital, helping restore health and dignity to patients at Hamlin Fistula Hospitals.
Dignity Earrings
Dignity Earrings make a simple but lovely gift that helps support Hamlin Fistula Hospitals. With any donation of $65 or more you can receive a pair of Dignity Earrings or send a pair to a recipient of your choice. The silver-plated Dignity Earrings were designed to match with the Dignity Bracelet so that they can be worn together or separately. While supplies last.
Dignity Bracelet
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The silver-plated Dignity Bracelet incorporates the Fistula Foundation logo and features the word ³dignity² in English on one side and in Amharic (the most common native language spoken in Ethiopia) on the other side of the central bead. For any donation of $125 or more you can receive a Dignity Bracelet or send one to a recipient of your choice.
Tribute Holiday Card
We invite you to make a gift in support of women seeking treatment at the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals in honor of someone you care about. For your tribute donation of $10 or more we will mail a custom Holiday card to someone special in your life.
"New Flower" Scarf
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Love-a-Sister Tribute Gift
For those wishing to make a gift that will likely never be forgotten, we encourage you to consider providing a gift equivalent to the cost of complete treatment for a woman at the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals. Since the Foundation began this program nearly 2000 women's treatment has been covered by our "Love-a-Sister" supporters. For a gift of $450, the approximate cost to provide complete treatment for one woman, we will send the person who you want to honor an 81/2" x 11" four-color certificate on high quality paper that acknowledges that this life changing gift has been made in their honor.
FLORIDA: REGISTRATION #:Ch17941- A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR THE FISTULA FOUNDATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. VIRGINIA: PLEASE NOTE: A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR THE FISTULA FOUNDATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, BY CALLING: 804-786-1402.