Dear Friend,
Our ability to expand fistula care to more women in more countries is directly related to our ability to reach more donors like you. Once people learn about the needless suffering that afflicts so many women with fistula across Africa and Asia, they are highly inclined to do something about it. But reaching them is a constant struggle, and a core part of our mission. It’s a busy world in which people lead busy lives, and—let’s face it—fistula isn’t an easy subject to talk about. So we depend on a wide range of “ambassadors” who, largely out of their own sense of commitment, step up and spread the word.
Few people have served more effectively in that ambassadorial role than Nick Kristof, the renowned reporter and columnist for The New York Times. Last week, the Times announced that Nick will be leaving the paper so that he can engage in other pursuits. All signs point to a run to become the next governor of Oregon, his native state. If he succeeds in that effort, it will be Oregon’s gain. But the cause of global women’s health will lose—if only temporarily—a trusted and powerful voice.
I wish the very best for Nick in his next endeavor, and I want to honor the legacy that he has created for all of us who care about fistula awareness and fistula treatment.
But Nick, a two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient (once for reporting and once for commentary), has long used his platform to focus attention on fistula.
Back in 2003, Nick extolled the work of Dr. Catherine Hamlin, the legendary surgeon who spent decades treating women at the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In vivid, searing language, Nick evoked the heartbreak of the condition that Dr. Hamlin devoted her life to treating:
