Repair Fistula, restore dignity: the watchword of the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. For over 20 years Cannock Soroptimists have supported this endeavour and recently they invited Jean Hadley, a trustee of the charity Hamlin Fistula UK, to talk to them and bring them up to date with the work.
Jean, who actively promotes the work of the hospital and the charity and who visits Ethiopia at least once every year, began by outlining the beginnings: Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin went to Ethiopia in 1959 in answer to an advert for gynaecologists to work there. Whilst there they discovered that so many young girls were suffering from Fistula [a childbirth injury], the majority of them were shunned and made to live alone because of the offensive condition.
The girls had been married whilst still in puberty, were pregnant very soon and their young, malnourished bodies were unable to cope with giving birth. Labour lasted for days, causing a tear, a hole, in the bladder – a Fistula. They would give birth to a stillborn child and from then on would leak urine – this left them degraded and, to a large extent, outcast from their homes and villages.
Reg and Catherine Hamlin decided they had to do something to help, fund raising began and the first hospital was opened in 1975. With skilled surgery, many girls can be treated successfully and they go on to lead happy lives, no longer suffering humiliation. Sometimes the injuries are too severe to be repaired. For them, Desta Mender was built, a village next to the hospital where the women can live and where they are taught skills which enable them to contribute to their society and also make a living for themselves thus ensuring they have dignity restored.
The Hamlin organisation has continued to go from strength to strength, supported by people from many parts of the world, including Soroptimists worldwide. Now there is a maternity unit, ensuring women and girls have skilled help at hand when they are ready to give birth. There is also The Hamlin College of Midwives providing four years of training to enable those who cannot easily reach a health facility to have access in their own villages to medical help during and after their pregnancy.
Also, five outreach centres have been built around Ethiopia, meaning that many more girls can access Fistula treatment – most live at least two days walk from any reasonable road so any journey is arduous.
Members watched an extremely emotional film showing some of the girls as they arrived at the hospital in very distressing conditions – and then showed them after treatment and surgery, looking healthy and smiling. Many of the girls and women go on to work as aides at the hospital, they are able to give positive encouragement to new arrivals. Some of these women show a real aptitude for the work and go on to receive further training in fistula surgery and care or midwifery.
This is a project which firmly upholds all of the Soroptimist beliefs of educating, empowering and enabling women. President Carole and club members were delighted to give Jean a donation to help with the work of Hamlin Fistula UK. More information can be found on their website: www.hamlinfistulauk.org or on Cannock SI’s website: www.sigbi.org/cannock-and-district or on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SICannock
Photo attached: l to r: Carole Holdcroft, President SI Cannock & District with Jean Hadley, trustee, Hamlin Fistula UK