One of New Zealand’s major donors to Hamlin Fistula New Zealand has just returned from Ethiopia where she saw the dire situation for herself.

Noeline Campbell, a retiree and avid Hamlin Fistula New Zealand supporter, was recently invited to join the charity’s 13-day Supporters Tour in Southern Ethiopia.

There, Campbell joined the small group tour that offered an immersive experience of the life-changing work of the Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.

The Tauranga resident has been making donations to Hamlin Fistula NZ since 2021, after reading about a charity for obstetric fistula sufferers when living in Kazakhstan.

“It described what fistula was and it was just so horrible. I couldn’t imagine the tragedy of being a young woman who suddenly her life is turned upside down because she’s had a fistula.”

Obstetric fistula happens during childbirth when the baby becomes stuck inside the mother’s body with no midwife or doctor available to assist her.

This results in a life-changing injury – a hole forms between the birth canal and bladder and/or rectum, resulting in uncontrollable leaking of urine and faeces. Some women also suffer from paralysis caused by nerve damage.

“Tragically, over 90 per cent of women who suffer an obstetric fistula will give birth to a stillborn baby, often after an agonising obstructed labour that has lasted several days,” said Hamlin Fistula New Zealand’s fundraising manager, Jayne Rattray.

“Fistula deeply affects a woman’s life; it causes horrific, life-altering damage to the woman’s body, and brings with it severe social stigma due to their smell, rejection and deepening poverty.”

Campbell said a lot of women don’t even want to stand up, their husbands reject them, and many sufferers commit suicide.

Survivors often live hidden away for years, sometimes decades, not realising they can be helped.

“I gave birth once, forceps-assisted. I have three sisters, two of them needed caesareans, one needed two caesareans.

“Out of Mum’s four daughters, three of us might have had fistulas. I couldn’t walk past that.”

She returned to New Zealand from Kazakhstan in 2014 and found out about Hamlin Fistula, New Zealand.

The charitable organisation was founded by New Zealand and Australian obstetrician-gynaecologists Dr Reg and Catherine Hamlin in the 1960s and is committed to treating and preventing childbirth injuries, restoring health and transforming lives.

The pillars of care available to all Hamlin Fistula patients, according to need. Photo / supplied

After years of donating to the organisation, Campbell was invited to join the supporters’ tour to Ethiopia.

Campbell saw the work that the charity’s founders, Dr Reg and Catherine Hamlin, had set up in Ethiopia and the impact of the organisation’s hospitals and midwifery clinics.

“Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia provides the gold standard of fistula care worldwide,” said Campbell.

When the tour group arrived in Ethiopia, they began by visiting Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa.

The root cause of fistula is a lack of access to quality maternal care; this makes it more common in underdeveloped countries, particularly in rural communities.

“In rural Ethiopia, 50 per cent of women give birth without a midwife or doctor present,” said Rattray.

“One of the highlights at the hospital was meeting Mamitu [Gashe], an early fistula patient of Hamlin’s.

One of Noeline Campbell's highlights at the hospital was meeting Mamitu Gashe, an early fistula patient of Hamlin's.

“She was an illiterate village girl, yet, under their care and tutelage, she became one of the world’s premier fistula surgeons.

“Now around 86 years old, she works daily at the hospital wherever she sees a need, though no longer as a surgeon.”

Rattray said an estimated 31,000 women still suffer from untreated birth injuries, with around 1000 new cases each year.

“Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia’s six hospitals performed a record-breaking 4,272 surgeries in 2024,” they said.

Desta Mender (Village of Joy), the peaceful, restorative rehabilitation village for former patients of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia who need ongoing care after their operations.

While on the tour, Campbell also visited Hamlin’s rehabilitation centre, Desta Mender – or Village of Joy – for former patients who need ongoing care after their operations.

“Not only does Desta Mender provide a home, but also a range of skills, from which the women choose to learn two, to become self-supporting.” These skills include pottery, embroidery and sewing.

“When they are able to return to their villages, they are given seed money to turn their skill into a business.

“Some women, rejected by their families and with nowhere to go, stay at Desta Mender for the rest of their lives, working at the village, possibly in the kitchen or the laundry. Ex-patients may also work at the hospital as nurse aids. Others may be found work in Addis Ababa.

“No one will move on from Hamlin care with no means of support.”

Since coming back from Ethiopia, Campbell continues to support the charity, donating to the Master of Midwifery programme held by Hamlin College of Midwives.

“We visited Hamlin College of Midwives, which opened in 2007, for Bachelor of Nursing (Midwifery) degrees and more recently for Master of Nursing (Midwifery) degrees.

“In a country radically short of doctors, a Master of Nursing can take the place of a doctor, delivering babies by caesarean section or with forceps.”

Campbell has also been organising to speak at local service clubs and spread awareness about the cause.

To donate to Hamlin Fistula NZ, visit https://hamlinfistula.org.nz/donate/

Hamlin Fistula NZ offers two Ethiopian tours per year in March and November.

More details, including dates, costs, and itinerary, can be found here: https://hamlinfistula.org.nz/adventure