Hamlin Fistula Hospital - Restoring Dignity To Women In Ethopia

Imagine at three years old learning to carry loads of water on your head. Each year you grow stronger and the load grows heavier. Imagine only having enough food to survive and even though it's nutritious food it's not enough to make up for the hard work your body is doing. There is no energy left over to help your body grow. Imagine that your growth is stunted because of these conditions.

Now, imagine that you live in a village where young girls are married off between the ages of eight and eleven and that by the time you are thirteen you are pregnant. Your little body is not prepared for the process of birth. Imagine that you labor for days with no medical help. Luckily your baby survives but you are left with an obstetric fistula - a hole between your birth canal and other internal organs that resulted from the prolonged obstructed labor.

The hole causes you to leak urine or feces. Imagine that you are shunned by your husband and everyone you know because of your inability to work and the foul odor you can't control. Imagine you are left to live in an isolated hut all alone or worse thrown out of your village for good. This is the life of over 100,000 young women in Ethiopia. The rate has historically grown by another 9,000 new cases each year. Without surgery there is no cure or hope for a better life.

This is where the Hamlin Fistula Hospital steps into the picture. If a woman can get to the hospital, a doctor and staff will treat and care for her for free. They will surgically repair the damage to her body, help her heal physically and mentally, and when she is ready give her help to return to her home village.

Since 1959 Dr. Catherine Hamlin has been a pioneer in the treatment of obstetric fistula. She and her husband Dr. Reginald Hamlin opened a hospital in Addis Ababa in 1974, the first of it's kind in the world dedicated to helping the thousands of victims who'd suffered in silence for so many years. Catherine Hamlin, now 84 years old, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and the list of her humanitarian awards is impressive. She continues to oversee the work of the hospital and can frequently be found in the operating room performing the delicate fistula repair surgery she pioneered more than 40 years ago.

A film has been made that follows the journeys of five women as they travel to the hospital for help. A Walk To Beautiful was named Best Feature Length Documentary of 2007 by the International Documentary Association. I was lucky enough to catch the broadcast premier on NOVA and was deeply touched.

The hospital operates solely on donations and grants. If you'd like to help you can become part of the Love-a-Sister program, the donation is $37.50 a month and the yearly total of $450.00 pays the entire cost for one woman's surgery. You will have the satisfaction of knowing you have truly changed a life in a significant way.

Greg Gadson - Living the Journey Right Now

Greg Gadson is a Lt. Colonel in the United States Army's Warrior Transition Brigade. He loves football, actually he excelled at football in high school and was a starting linebacker for West Point Military Academy from 1986-1989. He is a natural born leader, the kind of guy you'd be looking for on the battlefield or the football field.
Gadson suffered serious injury in Iraq which required the amputation of both legs from the knees down. While recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Gadson received a visit from an old college friend, Mike Sullivan, now the wide receivers coach for the New York Giants.

Sullivan recalled, "This man had suffered so much yet he was so happy to see me." The coach brought his friend a signed Giants Jersey, number 98, the same number Gadson wore in college at West Point. Little did he know then that Gadson would give back to the Giants something much more valuable than a team jersey.

The Giants team was floundering. Three months after the visit, Sullivan sent an invitation to Gadson, asking if he would come talk to the team before their game against the Washington Redskins. Having lost the first two games of the season, the team had already given up and seemed to be playing without a heart. Sullivan believed that Greg might be just the inspiration they needed.

The night before the Redskin's game, Gadson spoke candidly to the team. "You have an obligation not only to your employer but to each other to do your best, he told the Giants. You're playing for each other. When you find a way to do things greater than you thought you could, something you couldn't do as an individual, a bond is formed that will last forever." After a few moments of silence the room erupted into applause.

Gadson was at many of the games during the Giant's Superbowl winning season. Several times when a touchdown was made, the team member gave the ball to him. He sat on the sidelines in freezing temperatures during the Superbowl to show his support. The Giants give him credit as the motivator for their turn around.

Physically, Gadson is making progress. He spends hours each day in rehab. He uses a wheelchair or two canes to walk on special artificial legs that utilize BlueTooth technology for smooth movement. He is looking forward to a time when he will be back on active duty with the Unit he loves so much.

Greg Gadson is an American hero. With Memorial Day fast approaching, please remember the men and women serving our country, especially the ones who have sacrificed so much.

Journalism Is A Deadly Job - Bloggers Unite For Human Rights

"When journalists are deliberately shot, blown up, taken hostage, or imprisoned for simply doing their jobs, that's a crime. When these violations against journalists are committed in an armed conflict, they constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions – they are war crimes," says Amnesty International.

In February 2002 journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan and murdered for no other reason than his job. 2006 was a year in which killings of reporters and media staff reached historic levels with at least 155 murders, assassinations and unexplained deaths, according to the International Federation of Journalists.

On 23 December, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution in which it condemned intentional attacks against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel in situations of armed conflict and called upon all parties to put an end to such practices.However, around the world, whether in war or in peace, too few states take their obligations seriously. In situations of open conflict, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than offering protection from the serious dangers journalists face, the authorities restrict their ability to report freely.

Journalists are often seen as an irritation – they publish stories that embarrass governments, they give coverage to the opposition and to campaigners, they expose human rights violations and other abuses of power. While individual journalists themselves might not be dissidents, the fact that they write about dissent and the issues that cause strife makes them targets of governments who want to suppress that same dissent.

As a writer, a lover of information, and a believer in human rights, I worry about the safety of
the men and women who risk their lives every day to tell us the truth about what is happening in the world. Governments have their own agendas. People who seek power will manipulate the local media but a freelance photo journalist or a war correspondent can break through the propaganda to show us reality.

Their dedication is fierce. Take for example, John D. McHugh, a British photojournalist who returned to Afghanistan six weeks after being shot in an ambush.

"I was hooked on the story in Afghanistan. Not the danger or adrenaline, as many suppose, but the story itself. I could see that the reality on the ground was very different to the story being told back in the west," says McHugh. "My photographs weren't getting published much, and the agency I worked for was not interested in sending me back there, but I had no stomach now for day-to-day press work in London. I wanted to be back in Afghanistan, reporting what I believed - and still believe - to be a hugely important story. "

We must demand that journalists are protected as civilians and afforded all their rights under the Universal Declaration for Human Rights. We should defend their right to report freely around the world without restriction or limited access. We should cry out collectively when one of these brave souls is taken hostage by a militant group and murdered on video, as was Daniel Pearl.

It is in the interest of truth and justice that we do so. Please look for other Bloggers Unite for Human Rights stories that will be posted all over the web today. As bloggers, we are using our collective voices to speak for those who cannot.