About the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital

First some background on what this condition is, and why this hospital is so important.

Simply put, a fistula is a hole that develops during obstructed childbirth, occurring between a woman’s birth passage and one or more of her internal organs. During an obstructed labor, the pressure of the baby’s head against the mother’s pelvis cuts off blood supply to the tissue in that area. The dead tissue then falls away and the woman is left with a hole between her vagina and her bladder, and sometimes between her vagina and her rectum. The result is permanent incontinence, and thus, a terrible accompanying smell.

Women who develop this condition during childbirth are usually banished from their villages to live and die alone in a hut, both because of the smell, and because they can no longer bear children.

In developed countries such as ours, obstructed labor is quickly identified and treated, and thus, women here do not suffer from fistulas. In under-developed countries, however, where medical care is often non-existent, and women are often undervalued, fistula is a widespread problem. It is estimated that there are currently 2 million women suffering from fistulas in third world countries.

In 1974 a caring doctor named Catherine Hamlin opened the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, after realizing what a widespread problem fistulas had become. Since opening, the hospital has treated 25,000 women. It provides pre-surgery hospitalization, surgery to correct the fistula, post-op care, as well as a new dress and bus fare home. I find the last two services to be especially heartwarming, as so much of what is associated with this condition is a lack of dignity. The hospital literally gives the women back their dignity. In 1999 a rural village was constructed near the hospital so that women who cannot be cured are able to live out their lives with dignity. These women make fabric and silk, as well as farm the land for produce used to cook meals at the hospital. All because one woman cared enough to make it happen.

I am only recently able to explain this to people without crying. It reinforced for me the idea that we are SO LUCKY to have been born women in this country and not Ethiopia (or Afghanistan, or Iraq, or any other country where women are only slightly more valuable than livestock).

What a wonderful luxury it is for us to be so concerned with our hair – I doubt the women living and dying alone in those huts have given any thought to what kind of hair day they are having. While I love the business I have created, and LOVE what Jessicurl products do for my hair, I was struck at how much of what I do is about vanity. When I compare that to the life these women have been forced to lead, I get knots in my stomach.

As a result, Jessicurl created the Women Around The World program, building into our shopping cart an opportunity for customers to donate to our featured charity (updated every month or two) in exchange for Jessicurl discounts. This will bring some balance to the focus on vanity, as well as raise awareness that we ARE so lucky to have been born in the free world. I’m reminded here of one of my favorite Spearhead lyrics: “No life worth more than any other, no sister worth less than any brother.” I feel this statement is SO true, that it is for this reason we created the Women Around The World program.

It costs just $450 American dollars for the Fistula Hospital to cure one woman, including the new dress and bus fare home. For the month of May 2004, 5% of all Jessicurl sales were donated to the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. Combined with the generous donations of our customers, Jessicurl was able to contribute $900 and save the lives of two women.

For more information on what you can do to help, click HERE.