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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people have helped and inspired us to take up fistula surgery, most of all the staff of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. We would like to dedicate this publication to Dr Catherine Hamlin and her late husband Reg Hamlin, and also to Mamitu Gashe, the patient turned surgeon. Mamitu’s skill is legendary, and she assisted and taught us at many of our early repairs, as she has done for so many surgeons who come to learn at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. We would also like to acknowledge the teaching and example of Dr Kees Waaldijk in Northern Nigeria, who has done so much to train fistula surgeons, contribute to the literature and demonstrate how fistula surgery can be performed with the bare minimum of facilities. We are extremely grateful for all the stimulating discussions and advice that we have had from so many fistula surgeons. In particular, we acknowledge help from John Kelly, a veteran fistula surgeon who has worked in more African countries than anyone else; from Tom Raassen, the fistula surgeon to the Flying Doctor Service (AMREF), who has dedicated his skill to training so many national surgeons in East

Catherine and Reginald Hamlin in the 1980s.

Catherine Hamlin with Mamitu Gashe in 2004. 160 01-text-POFS-cpp:master 29/1/09 06:46 Page 161

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Africa; from Steven Arrowsmith, VVF coordinator for Mercy Ships; from Judith Goh, a regular contributor to the literature and visiting surgeon to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and Mercy Ships; from Michael Breen from Monze Hospital, Zambia, a great teacher; from Jerry Putman, who got the Aberdeen Fistula Centre in Sierra Leone off to a good start; and from Dr Maura Lynch, who founded the first training centre at Kitovu Hospital, . We wish to thank Professor Gordon Williams, Dr Cathrine Reimers, Mike Bishop, Jerry Putman and Harriet Pitt for their valuable comments on the draft manuscript.

Kees Waaldijk in Katsina, Northern Nigeria.

Surgeons at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, August 2008 (left to right: Dr Andrew Browning, Dr Habtemariam, Dr Einar Lande, Dr Hailemariam and Prof Gordon Williams).

Sister Maura Lynch, seen here with Catherine Hamlin. 161 01-text-POFS-cpp:master 29/1/09 06:46 Page 162

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The late Dr William Obote, Senior Lecturer in Surgery, Mulago Hospital and Makerere University, , Uganda.

We wish to remember our good friend the late Dr William Obote, who took us to Lira Hospital to start fistula surgery in virgin territory and became our mentor in all things Ugandan. We are most grateful to the following hospitals that have so willingly allowed us to operate and take photographs for use in this book: • Uganda: Kamuli Mission Hospital, Busoga, Eastern Uganda; Kitovu Mission Hospital, District; Nsambya Mission Hospital, Kampala; Lira Government Hospital, Northern Uganda; Kagando Mission Hospital, Kasese, Western Uganda; Kalongo Mission Hospital, Northern Uganda • Nigeria: Katsina Hospital • Ethiopia: the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital; the Bahr Dar Fistula Centre • Sierra Leone: Kambia District Government Hospital; Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, Freetown; the Aberdeen Clinic and Fistula Centre • Liberia: Ganta Methodist Hospital, Nimba District • Mercy Ships: in Gambia, Sierra Leone, Benin, Ghana and Liberia (www.mercyships.org).

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