By Jennifer Lane
The orphanage nannies called his name, and my new little friend jumped up and down in my arms. This little guy was one highlight of my day and an occupant of the second room of the tour of a very large orphanage that we took this afternoon.
We spent time with the babies, special needs children, temporary care children, toddlers, and 5 to 7 year olds.
The toddlers were especially glad to have new playmates to engage with. They seemed to be very fascinated with my husband's watch. Anything can become a toy when resources are short.
As we were leaving, I was thrilled to see that the older kids had made a craft with volunteers from a local church. Local volunteers is a big key to providing enhanced care to such a large amount of young children. The group had made watches out of toilet paper rolls and construction paper. It's likely they have had their watch inspected by a curious playmate too.
Our team was glad to have spent the afternoon showing love and care for the children. I pray that we were salt to everyone we encountered from the newborn babies to the orphanage director.
The much appreciated supplies we were able to donate included cloth diapers, disposable diapers, formula, vitamins, a few toys, disposable gloves, and some yoga balls to use with the special needs children.
That morning our team had toured a very different facility.
The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital performs surgeries and treats women who have damaged bladders and other internal organs during obstructed childbirth.
When an obstructed fistula happens to a birthing women in the rural areas of Ethiopia, the child can remain stuck in the birth canal for up to 8 days. 99% of the babies become stillborn when this occurs.
Our team toured the beautiful grounds of the hospital. The hospital performs several types of surgeries on the thousands of women who are treated free of charge each year. The grounds included rehabilitation and physical therapy rooms, education space, midwife training classrooms, and facilities to provide c-sections to women who had recovered from fistulas surgeries.
The philosophy of the hospital was to provide a wholistic approach in their patient care. They educated the women patients on medical and educational basics. They also taught how to make hand made items to the recovering women and provided a shop to sell their handiworks to visitors. This opportunity to earn a little money does wonders to boost the self esteem of the recovering women.
Our team eagerly spent our funds of personal Birr in the small shop.
As we finished up our tour, we were surprised to hear that Dr. Catherine Hamlin, who founded the hospital in 1975, was 91 and still living on the hospital grounds. Ethiopia had awarded her an honorary citizenship.
It isn't any wonder why she fell in love with is beautiful, warm, and generous country. It is a blessing God has allowed her to significantly alter millions of women's lives over the last 4 decades.
The hospital operates completely on donations. If you would like to donate or learn more about the Addis Ababa Hospital, visit their website at http://hamlinfistula.org.
I had read about obstructed fistula in the book Half the Sky. Even now as I read this post, tears fall from my eyes as I think of women, just like myself, who have access to no medical care at the time of childbirth. Thank you for calling us to action to make a difference in the lives of our sisters who may be half way around the world, but are our sisters none the less.
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