Tag Archives: Hamlin Fistula Hospital

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.

Ethiopia: Grace + Empowerment

We have all suffered to varying degrees. A lost relationship, death of a loved one, a missed chance. This summer has been especially difficult for several of my friends and also within our family due to various losses, to the point where I adopted a much practiced mantra: our happiness is in direct relation to how well we can grieve.

Grief comes in many forms, and I marvel at how often we try to push it aside and “get over it”, whatever the loss is. Lately, there has been so much of it in my life, I decided to try a different twist and embrace it. Learn from it. And I found that I am not very good at keeping that philosophy front and center.

I arrived at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital yesterday and within seconds was surrounded by women who suffer perhaps the most heinous condition a human being can endure. Fistula is not only physically debilitating, the effects are psychologically and socially devastating as well. And even if a woman finds her way to this miraculous hospital by the river, she still faces her return to her village where she often finds additional difficulties, and even a recurrence of fistula if she does not follow what she has learned while being cared for.

Yet all I see here on these grounds are beautiful women, with easy smiles, loving temperaments and deeply moving eye contact. They have felt the depths of pain that is unfathomable, only to reflect outward a generosity of spirit that is rarely encountered. It is as if their ability to suffer silently has instilled within them an ethereal aptitude to connect to humanity, instantly, at our most vulnerable level.

I am honored to be in their presence.

And as each women engages with profoundly perceptive eyes, I feel like a child, inexperienced, fumbling, uninitiated. They seem to know this, accepting this ferenji who lives such an easy life, and they take me into their graces with a tender hand, as if they know how easily I can break. These women are strong beyond imagination.

The Hamlin Fistula Hospital’s focus is not only to repair fistula, but they have built a comprehensive program that helps these women become empowered through prevention education and outreach, psychological counseling and community building. I spent the day with the patients, and followed one young woman as she showed me her daily activities.  I will share Asnaku’s experiences in the upcoming blog posts.

For now, here are some of the women who helped me deepen my understanding of grace.

Ethiopia: Hamlin College of Midwives

Join me as I travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet some of the world’s bravest women as they support each other by reducing infant and maternal mortality and the occurrence of the physically and emotionally devastating condition of fistula.

It is a great honor to be asked to visit the Hamlin College of Midwives to capture the essence of their 2011 graduation ceremony. On October 15, 2011, the Hamlin Fistula College of Midwives will graduate a second class of trained midwives. After the ceremony, these newly trained women will return to their rural villages to care for new mothers and assist extremely difficult deliveries.

Every day, 1,000 women and 8,000 babies die due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth. And for each maternal death, at least 20 additional women suffer devastating injuries related to their simple desire to produce a family to help work the fields to sustain their food source.  These World Health Organization statistics are sobering, especially when contrasted with the kind of care that is received elsewhere in the world.

The Hamlin College of Midwives is responding to this crisis by training local rural women much needed midwifery skills and supporting them as they set up services in their rural home villages.

Come along as we celebrate these midwives and the mothers of Ethiopia!  I will be documenting this momentous occasion, as well as other aspects of the beautiful and innovative Ethiopian culture. I will also be writing guest blog entries on Phil Borges’ Stirring the Fire website.

We are hoping that a collective cheer from around the world will be heard as these Ethiopian women extend one of the most loving gestures to one another: helping a mother deliver the life that grew inside of her.

Each midwife has been able to be trained without having to pay fees, which they could never afford. Your help is critical in making this possible. Donations for the midwife college are being accepted now at the Hamlin Fistula USA website.

For Dr. Catherine Hamlin’s story, read about her book here.

ASMP Best Of 2011

My work documenting emergency obstetrics in rural Ethiopia was chosen to be in the American Society of Media Photographers “Best of 2011” project list.  I am hoping that this will bring about increased understanding of the difficulties surrounding maternal health that are present in rural settings.  The Ethiopian government is actively developing solutions to address these problems as quickly as they can, with minimal resources.

Here is an interview that details this project and others that I am working on, plus some of my philosophies and business practices.

Ethiopia: Dr. Catherine Hamlin

Holy cow! An interview with Dr. Hamlin!

We thought we would be lucky just to be able to meet her and shake her hand. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be granted an interview and the ability to photograph and film her. We make our way back to the hotel to pick up the equipment and Jay and I cannot help but express our giddiness…and concerns. We had not had time to test out all of the equipment and work flow, thinking that our first interview would not occur until days later. Some of the equipment was purchased hours before we got on the plane, so one can only imagine how we felt going into this interview.

Sound levels ok? Camera functioning? Will everything talk to each other?

We then turn to preparing some questions for her. She is 87 years old and still performs surgery. She came to Ethiopia in the 70’s, thinking she and her husband would stay here for only a few years. The fistula patients made a great impression on their hearts, enough so that they decided to dedicate their lives to this work. A very interesting subject indeed!

On the bumpy taxi drive back, Jay is still testing sound levels to make sure the H4N works properly. I am lost in my head, thinking about how to set up the camera with the least amount of fuss and intrusion.

Dr. Hamlin enters the room, her tall and graceful stature filling the space. Her kind eyes fix on us, and we are instantly at ease. The door opens again, and in walks Mamitu, the famous illiterate surgeon who was once a poor fistula patient and learned how to repair fistulas by working alongside surgeons rather than complete formal training.

My eyes fill with tears as I look at these two women who have had such a profound effect on fistula patients’ lives. It is such an honor to be in their presence.

Jay and I quickly set up the equipment, and we get started on the interview. Our questions were not really a necessity, as Dr. Hamlin has many things to say to us from her own agenda and determination.

Ethiopia: The Hamlin Fistula Hospital

During this past year, I have kept in contact with the communications director of the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals. I promised to bring her several bags of KEEN shoes that were graciously donated so that patients could walk home more comfortably, even though the weight of these shoes would add a bit of complexity to our travel. Getting the shoes through customs can be difficult, which often means having to be held back for questioning.

Sure enough, we were stopped by the customs officer, with his incredulous question: “These shoes! Are they all yours?” (Really now, do Americans give the impression they would travel with 40 pairs of shoes?) I put on my most confident stance, and picked up the heavy bags, explained that they were donations, and turning on my heel to take off, did not give him time to ask me anything else.

We arrived at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital the next morning, and were instantly astonished at the site of this hospital. Lush gardens were the dominant feature, overshadowing the buildings. It felt as though we were in a fairy tale. We talked with Feven about many things, but one topic was of utmost importance: which direction we should take with our documentation and film.

Feven explained that young girls are often married off young to avoid abduction and rape. When the girl becomes pregnant at an early age, her pelvis is too small to give birth to her baby and she labors for many days and sometimes weeks. The constant pressure of the baby creates many problems.

When the young girl who lives in the rural countryside realizes that her baby is not able to be delivered, she usually has little choice but to wait for the baby to die in her womb. Even after the dead baby shrinks and is able to be delivered or extracted by a family member, she is often left with a fistula condition, where a hole is formed between the bladder and/or rectum and the vagina, and waste continuously flows, resulting in ostracizing from her village and abandonment by her husband.

A girl with a fistula usually will live on the outskirts of the village, afraid to walk for fear of contaminating her surroundings. She sits in a makeshift nest, and waits out her days, sometimes having to fight off hyenas due to her constant smell.

Sadly, this can all be prevented if there was better access to health care in the rural countryside. The Ethiopian government is building hospitals and clinics all over the country to address this. However, most of the clinics stand idle, in desperate need of doctors.

Our time here will be spent in a tiny hospital, which has no running water, in Mota. Dr. Philippa Ribbink will be training Ethiopian Health Officers how to perform emergency obstetrics. We know that this work will have a profound impact on all of us, but sitting here and listening to Feven, we are energized to do this work.

Feven asks us to focus on the inaccessibility that a young pregnant girl faces. Sometimes this means lack of access to hospitals, sometimes it means that while a hospital may exist, no doctors are present. Often it means that the young girl cannot get to the hospital. Foot bridges are washed away, the terrain is too rugged to walk during the 4th or 5th day of laboring, or family men cannot leave their farming work to be able to carry her on a makeshift stretcher. We also hear that more donkey carts are desperately needed to help facilitate her ability to get to a hospital during prolonged labor.

A few weeks earlier, I had made a request to meet Dr. Hamlin. Nothing was promised, as many people ask to meet her and her time is extremely limited. I watch as Feven picks up the phone and dials a number. It is a apparent that she has called Dr. Hamlin, and she asks if she has time to meet us. After a bit of dialoging, we make a plan to come back at 3pm, with our cameras. We have been granted an interview and approval to film her.


A young patient sits on the grounds of the Hamlin Fistula Hospital, in Addis Ababa.


Dr. Hamlin and Feven Haddis are delighted by by the donation of KEEN shoes

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