Photos of the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia

Description of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital from Whitney Tilson's 4/17/01 Motley Fool column, A Little Perspective:

"Life in Ethiopia is very hard for most everyone, but it’s especially hard on the women. Like women in most of the developing world, they tend to do the most difficult, dirty work, yet generally do not have access to the few opportunities that exist for an education and a good job. Many are married off at a young age -- sometimes as young as 10 -- and often start bearing children by their early teens. Childbirth rarely occurs with a qualified attendant, much less at a hospital. If there’s a problem during delivery, common given the lack of prenatal care, the babies often die and the mothers can suffer injuries.

"A common injury is called an obstetrical fistula, which occurs when the baby tears a hole into the bladder and/or rectum, causing the mother to become permanently incontinent and constantly smelly. When this happens, the husband almost always abandons his wife, who returns to her family, often to be rejected again. These women have lives of unspeakable misery. One didn’t leave her bed, much less her family’s hut, for nine years before making her way to the Fistula Hospital.

"The hospital specializes in the relatively simple surgical procedure that repairs the fistulas, allowing the patients to return to normal life and even bear children again. It heals more than 1,000 women annually, at a total cost of a mere $400,000 -- a pittance by Western standards, but a fortune in Ethiopia."

To learn more about the hospital and/or make a donation, please go to: www.fistulafoundation.org.

Click here to see pictures of the Cheshire Home.

From left to right: two patients, Dr. Catherine Hamlin (the founder of the Fistula Hospital), Susan Tilson and a nurse.

Whitney Tilson and his daughters with patients awaiting surgery

Patients recovering from surgery