Category Archives: Assignments

Ethiopia: Meet My Bro, Dani

Dani appears from the darkness surrounding the Mimosa Hotel, and my heart takes an extra jump. DANI! I am incredibly happy to see him, this young man who keeps me safe, and more importantly sane, in Addis Ababa.

I am here! He says. Do you think otherwise?

We share the same love for hip hop and rap music, as well as more traditional Ethiopian fare, and when our eyes first meet each time we see each other, we break into shoulder dancing. It is always so great to see him!

He helps me get settled the first day here, and the love I feel for him grows each day I am with this funny and spirited guy. Dani!

Each morning, he comes to pick me up in his van, and helps me navigate language barriers, cultural protocols and equipment issues. Such a creative soul he is. Give him any problem, and he will think of a solution. He only likes spending time with “people of positive” and I watch him as he intently looks at people….he has an uncanny ability to assess situations and make the most of them….or get the hell away.

Do you want to take lunch with me, he asks? YES! I say, and off we go on another happy van ride…..he in modern style, me trying to respect and emulate Ethiopian traditional culture. We make a great pair, and by the end of each day, my cheeks are literally aching from laughing so much. He personifies the Ethiopian wicked sense of humor.

Dani works with me at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital, helping to set up interview equipment for our time with Dr. Hamlin and other work. He also is a compatible travel partner; our time in BahirDar following a midwife by foot into the bush to see her outreach health post was productive…..and wildly fun.

And can he DANCE! The professional dancers can not even keep up with him, whispering in his ear on stage that they are tired and need to rest.

I learn so much from this special soul. We sanction our friendship into “family”. He is now my bro in the most heart bonding sense.

I love you, Dani.

 

Ethiopia: Meet Addiss, A Hamlin Midwife

Her name is Addiss and she is 21 years old.

She lives in a small village, Wotetabay, just outside of BahirDar, Ethiopia and she has dedicated the next six years of her life to helping rural Ethiopian women give birth to healthy babies. A recent graduate of Hamlin College of Midwives, she also knows the signs of fistula and will refer at-risk women to health centers and hospitals where they can receive the care they need to prevent this devastating condition.

She lives alone in a small thatch roof hut, after completing her three years of study at the Hamlin College of Midwives, and her dedication is unlike anything I have ever seen.

She sees patients as they arrive daily, helping them through miscarriages and difficult births and general health care issues.  Five times a month she walks, sometimes for seven hours each day, to outreach health centers where she educates the community on women’s health issues.

My heart reaches for her.

I watch her as she helps a women who has just had a miscarriage. She educates the women about hygiene and proper care, and she tends to the husband, answering each of his questions.

She thinks nothing of my words as I say I honor her and will work hard on her behalf.  This is simply her calling in life: to dedicate her time to the Hamlin philosophy of ensuring maternal health for all Ethiopian women. She looks intently, directly, into my eyes.  She has seen far more than I have.

I follow her to her outpost, walking through corn fields and forests and open fields. She asks for water, and I give her my bottle.  It is the least I can do for this girl, my hero. Confidently and with grace, she proceeds to traverse over harsh landscape, focused on arriving before too much time has passed.

The bush clears, and I see a large group of Ethiopians, celebrating church services. Addiss takes her place in the middle of the village people crowd, and when the priest gives her a signal, she begins speaking, educating those around her about maternal health. Clapping, cheering, declarations of promises break out, and the energy is so fervent, I cry. Look at her!

I hear that the village is building a new church, and I give a donation of 400 birr ($24) and the crowd cheers with heartfelt passion. A $24 donation really goes a long way for this village. They proceed to show me the base infrastructure that is in place, and as much as  would like to stay and look at every element, and I see Addiss in the distance beckoning me to come. She is late now, and I need to move on.

We walk further, in terrain more difficult to navigate. Finally, I see a break in the landscape ahead and there, nestled in a small field, is a cluster of small mud walled structures. The health outpost at last.

Women are lined up, having waited hours for Addiss to arrive. Pregnant women, mothers with babies, older women. They count on Addiss’ dedication to them.

Ethiopia: Fistula At All Ages

Not all fistula patients are teenagers and women.  Some of them are children, such as Aynababa, age four.  Although child marriage is illegal in Ethiopia, many ancient cultural practices support this tradition, which is one situation that can result in fistula due to the young girl’s body not being fully developed to be able to handle childbirth.  Other situations, such as rape, does occur, however it is infrequent due to the gentle nature of most Ethiopians.

Educating the rural community about fistula is vitally important to the Hamlin Fistula Hospital organization. Each midwife is trained to perform education outreach to the most remote areas of Ethiopia.

Although Aynababa suffers from fistula, one can see how the Ethiopian spirit cannot be easily broken. Each person she meets is greeted with an infectious smile and a degree of expressed happiness I rarely see in my own country.

I fall in love with the Ethiopian spirit again and again and again.

Ethiopia: Brave Women

They have been called some of the bravest women in the world.

When a woman suffers obstructed labor in rural Ethiopia, she often has no place to go. She labors for days, and fistula can develop due to excessive and prolonged pressure on internal organs. The Hamlin Fistula Hospital is devoted to the repair of fistula and the psychological healing of women who suffer this devastating condition. They also are dedicated to helping to prevent fistula from occurring at all.

In November 2010, Dr. Hamlin’s dream came true when the first Hamlin midwife graduates started working in the field, offering prenatal care and a referral service to pregnant women in the countryside. The midwives work alongside the Ethiopian government to help reduce instances of fistula by providing much needed care to these women who live so isolated from health centers.

Each Hamlin health outpost has an ambulance to assist with referrals to regional hospitals where C-sections can be performed in emergency situations. The midwives, all coming from various villages around Ethiopia, are selected via a rigorous interviewing and testing process. Once they complete three years of training at the Hamlin College of Midwives, they return to their villages to work for six years. During this time, they are also educating villagers on maternal healthcare initiatives as well as building trust with the village as a whole. Their days consist of prenatal care, assisting with difficult births, education, and referrals of extreme cases.

It is not an easy job, living so far away from their colleagues and a team of ready support and modern equipment. But they are well equipped for support when they need it. This does not mean that they do not face extremely difficult situations alone. Rural women still prefer to give birth at home, and often go to receive help after it is much too late.

The Hamlin midwife becomes a wise health official rapidly.

Ethiopia: Magic Village

My friend and driver, Danny, invites me to join him on a visit to his home village and I jump at the chance to go.  On Sunday, he arrives clad in bermuda shorts, t-shirt and his shades and off we go, driving through possibly the most beautiful landscape on Earth. Rolling hills give way to massive cliffs and rocky pointed mountain tops with wind blown trees dotting the fields like staccatos in a pulsating Led Zeppelin song. Yes, Led Zeppelin. Deep. Dark. Mysterious. Commanding.

We arrive in his village, Gulett, a few hours away, and my mind is so far elsewhere. How can I leave this enchanting land? Maybe I should strop right now and turn back. What if at some point I won’t be able to?

We enter his compound and are greeted by his 87 year old “Mama”, his great grandmother, followed by “Imiyea”, his grandmother who raised him after his mother died when he was ten years old. It is love at first sight. Words are not needed to hold someone’s face, look deeply into their eyes, your own eyes filled to the brim with tears, and communicate feelings of joy for this chance meeting.

We visit for awhile, eat some gonfo, they teach me how to catch a goat, and I try to say something each time Mama tells me to “just say something”.  I wish I knew more Amharic, but she settles for the few words I know. We decide to take a walk before dinner and Danny leads the way over unpaved roads filled with large rocks, gently watching my stance so he can quickly right my fall should that begin to occur.

We come to an area that looks like paradise decided to drop some magic. I find out that Danny’s friends decided to pool their resources about three years ago, taking a stretch of incredibly unattractive land and making it into a lovely garden with pathways lined with beautiful plants and flowers. Small tables are set up so people can enjoy coffee (best I have had in Ethiopia so far!) and conversation.

They show me one structure that is not yet complete and tell me they are building a “Couple’s House”.  Apparently, if two people spend time together and after much dialog decide to culminate their relationship, they can enter the Couple House. If they do enter this house, marriage plans will follow.

As I sit there marveling at the storybook feel to the day so far, a small boy around the age of seven comes up to our table and begins to dance the moon walk and many other dance moves that Michael Jackson so flawlessly perfected.  I clap my hands, excitement building as his moves get more complicated. Dear Mother Sky…am I in heaven?

One of Danny’s friends starts to move his hands wildly in front of Fetena’s face and I realize this little boy is deaf. How can he feel the rhythm to be able to dance like this? I ask where the men learned sign language and my question is met with a shy smile. It is “just natural sign language”, they relay to me. And they go on to talk with Fetena about trips to Addis, how his mother might feel, what they need him to do, how they feel.  I try to catch a glimpse of a gesture I can understand and it is impossible. I fall in love with both of them. Like real love, the kind that makes you feel a bit twisted inside, and safe, like there is no end of it in sight. Ever.

I capture Fetena’s dance on video, and he commands the camera with intensity. My heart stretches to the moon, and I look up to see everyone watching my joy. I cry. I cry for Danny’s life without a mother.  I cry for this little boy who has not let his deafness keep him from feeling and expressing rhythm. I cry because this marvelous little boy is very poor and has to beg others for food. I cry for anyone who has never felt love like this. I cry because I feel so deeply.

Danny tells me it is time to walk a bit more, and a short way down the road I see a woman looking out of her window, head perched comfortably as though she spends much time watching the activities surrounding her house on a daily basis. Danny relays to me that indeed she is there all day, and she is blind.  Yet she looks like she is watching every move passing by.

I call this village “Magic Village” and I truly feel like I have dropped into my childhood’s most desirable dream village. And oh how I love it. When Mama says she will adopt me into her family, I feel a sense of peace rush over me, knowing I will never leave this village.

 

Ethiopia: Humor!

Spend time with an Ethiopian for very long, and you will soon see that they have a wicked sense of humor. Biting, playful and sarcastic, they take complete control of your sense of self through humor. I often wonder how they can possibly know me that well in such a short period of time.

This week, I have laughed so often in such a short period of time like no other time in my life.  Even with language barriers, they know how to tease a spirit in the most delightful way.

Ethiopia: Educating Countryside Women

Women in the rural countryside of Ethiopia are smart, resourceful and highly creative, yet they rarely get a chance to be educated. Their days are spent fetching water, gathering firewood and tending to the home fires while the men work in the fields. Simply getting food on the table for the family requires incredible stamina and devotion to keeping family nurturing as first priority.

When a woman comes to the Hamlin Fistula Hospital and as her body is healing, she has the opportunity to learn many things: the visual alphabet, reading and writing, simple arithmetic and even nursing procedures. Some women are even hired as nurse aids after completing their education. What better person is there to care for a new patient than a former patient?

Educating a woman from the rural areas builds confidence psychologically for her eventual return to her village. The last time she was there, she was weak and lacked any kind of function whatsoever. She also most likely was ostracized and shunned.

Can you imagine how it must feel when she arrives home months later as not only a physically healed woman, but she can also read and write and alert other women to the signs and devastating effects of obstructed labor?

She may never completely eliminate the stigma of once having fistula, but she is well prepared to deal with this adversity with much more confidence. She also has become a crucial resource in educating other village women when they must seek outside care, rather than remaining at home during difficult labor.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Ethiopia: Strong Bodies, Strong Spirits

When Asnaku arrived at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital, she was extremely weak. Women who suffer from fistula cease eating and drinking, so that their body does not produce waste, thus contaminating their villages. The shame they feel is enormous, and they try to minimize the effects they have on their surroundings and loved ones.

Often, they arrive emaciated and dehydrated. Before they can have surgery, their body must be strengthened by nutrition and physical therapy. Each day, they are required to eat one egg and one piece of bread, and drink plenty of water. Nurses aides, former patients themselves, help them perform exercises so their muscles begin to strengthen.

Foot massages are given daily to increase circulation. This is a most intimate time, when a nurse aid gives a patient her massage, looking deeply into her eyes and ensuring that the patient feels loved and supported.

Asnaku also continues with her exercises after surgery until she is strong enough to return to her village. From the very beginning when Dr. Hamlin developed the program for the hospital, she and her husband Reg knew that whole body wellness was of vital importance.

As Asnaku becomes stronger, she also becomes part of the support circle for newly arriving patients, helping them to become stronger physically and spiritually.

 

Ethiopia: Asnaku Finds A Community

One vital function of the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals is to provide a sense of community for the women who have suffered the socially ostracizing condition of fistula. In the home village, a woman with fistula is shunned and left to live out her days in a nest-like shelter, often fending off hyenas which are attracted by her scent.

It is not hard to imagine how devastating this condition can be for a woman who only wants to raise a family.

When Asnaku was brought to the Hamlin Hospital by her brother, she was scared and ashamed of her body. When she walked into the compound, she instantly was embraced by many others who share her condition. She found not only acceptance, but also a sense of supportive community, even humor. Once again, her mind is freed and she feels hope that she can once again join her village as a healthy and confident woman. Her shame abates.

Her days are filled with new friendships and gestures of love. The women brush each other’s hair, eat together and attend group classes.

While Asnaku’s body heals, so does her spirit.

Ethiopia: Meet Asnaku! An Empowered Woman

It is an honor to introduce Asnaku, who comes from the Merabita kebele (village) in Ethiopia. Ask her how old she is, and she will say she does not know. I wish we all could have such a peaceful mindset.

Asnaku is a lovely woman, graceful and poised, and is an exceptional handcraft artist. She spends a great part of her day selecting colors and embroidering beautiful patterns onto fine cloth table runners that are sold at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital. One hundred percent of the proceeds of these sales return back to her. I talked with her instructor and she enthusiastically relays that Asnaku’s handiwork is some of the best she has ever seen.

When women find their way to the Hamlin Fistula Hospital, they are in for a great surprise. Not only will they be tenderly cared for from a physical standpoint, they will also find a community that rallies around who they inherently are. No longer are they labeled as “woman with fistula”; they become artist, educated woman, and caregivers themselves. Some of the patients even secure work at the hospital as all nurses aides are former patients who have learned much about healthcare during their stay.

Asnaku has developed many leadership capabilities in addition to her stunning artistic skills. Her quiet and confident demeanor have enabled her to make many friends here. She is a strong and assured woman. I could see her as a shop owner, a doctor, a CEO.

Today, she focuses on making the best stitches as she can: even, precise, and secured so they will not unravel with use. As she moves through physical therapy sessions and meals and classroom work, she is never without her stitchery.

Focused, steady and kind, she is the bastion of an empowered woman.

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