About 2 years ago I watched a show on Oprah about Dr. Hamlin and her fistula clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa. It was a  moving show and after seeing this episode I really wanted to get in action and help those young girls worldwide suffering from fistula, but unfortunately I couldn't at that moment. The only power I had was to talk about it and make people aware of this immense problem.

This summer my husband met a very friendly lady from Ireland who was talking about her plans to build a fistula clinic in Niger, Africa. My husband told her that I was also very interested in helping girls and women suffering from fistula, so he put us both in contact. During our meeting we found out that she, Siobhan, had also seen the show about Dr. Hamlin and that she also wanted to do something.

Last year Siobhan had a few health problems and she went to NY for treatment. In NY she met an Irish doctor who was flying to Niger to operate on girls suffering from fistula. The doctor explained how the operations were done under the most terrible circumstances.

To Siobhan this was her sign to act. She started an organization called "Operation New Life"  www.operationnewlife.net and in November 2006 Siobhan traveled with 7 doctors to Niger who spent 2 weeks operating on a voluntary basis. In addition to the medical staff, 2 architects accompanied Siobhan on a voluntary basis to draw up plans for a new clinic. Siobhan returned to Africa in February with boxes of medical supplies and other much needed items such as medical instruments. She has even met the wife of the President and the Prime Minister of Niger, who are now also supporting her project!

Meeting Siobhan was very exciting, because to me that was MY sign to start acting. I am now helping her getting her message across and I'm helping her with the fund raising to build the clinic, which will be attached to The National Hospital of Niamey in Niger. For me this is just the beginning, I would love to go to Niger myself and hopefully duplicate the success to other countries .


What is fistula?

Fistula is a medical condition, caused by prolonged obstructed labour where there is no medical assistance, where young girls bodies are not mature enough to deliver vaginally. Fistulas are holes that develop in the tissue that separates the vagina from the bladder and/or rectum.
They can occur in expectant mothers who have difficulty during labor due to small pelvises, or a poorly positioned fetus. In the western countries, obstructive childbirth is often treated by a caesarian section. But in many developing countries, poverty prevents women from getting proper treatment.

200,000 women are affected by vaginal fistula - Because of their condition these women are known as "lepers of the desert"



For these young women life is filled with humiliation, discomfort and shame due to their inability to control their urine and faeces. They are no longer wanted, they are ostracized by their husbands, generally by their families also and even their villages. Many are homeless and forced to live a life of isolation and extreme poverty. They are society’s outcasts, living in shame.

Dr. Hamlin explains: "Imagine a little girl...one of the unfortunate five percent of all the women in the world that get into obstructive labor…She doesn't know when she starts her labor, nor do the village women know... They encourage her (to push) day after day after day. After five days she delivers a stillborn baby. The only reason she can deliver is because the baby inside the mother gets smaller when it's dead, and she can push out a dead baby.

But she wakes up to a worse horror: Finding her bed soaked in urine and sometimes bowel content as well. All of that pushing has created that hole…so everything is coming out, without any control. The odor of the nearly constant drip of urine and waste remains."

Why? 

- Combination of social, cultural, tribal and religious factors
- Early marriage as a means of escape from poverty                    
- 50% of all women in Niger give birth while still in their teens
- Some as young as 10 years of age





Niger Health Statistics

Maternal Health Basic and Inadequate

    * Only 16% of all births attended by skilled medical personnel
    * Only 1% of all births by Caesarian Section
    * One of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world
    * Average fertility rate: 7.37 children born per woman (2007 est.)
    * Lifetime risk of maternal death: 1 in 7
    * 6.8 million women in Niger with only 10 medical centres that can perform caesarian
    * 50% of all women in Niger give birth while still in their teens some as young as 10 years of age
    * Contraceptive prevalence = 14%, 1997-2005
    * 800,000 Orphans, Children (0-17 years) due to all causes, 2005, estimate.
    * Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2004): 4.2
    * Gross national income per capita (PPP international $): 800

- Figures for 2005 unless indicated: World Health Statistics 2007 and UNICEF


For more information about Fistula or if you wish to make a donation to help build the clinic in Niger, please go to Siobhan's website www.operationnewlife.net If you have any other questions do not hesitate to contact Siobhan or myself.

sandra AT gorpproductions DOT com        siobhan AT operationnewlife COM net

Take care,

Sandra Wijnveldt