“I try to give women in my community an opportunity. They are my army, my soldiers.”

The Skirball is host to an exhibit Women Hold Up Half the Sky based on the book, Half the Sky, now extended through May 20, 2012.

A portion of the article appears below. Please click through to the complete article.

When Edna Adan Ismail, founder of the pioneering Edna Adan University Hospital in Somaliland, walked into Women Hold Up Half the Sky a few weeks ago, she exclaimed to the crowd of visitors who had gathered to see her, “I am very emotional by the way, so if I get emotional, bear with me.” She walked through the gallery, half a world away from her home in Hargeisa, and took in the stories and images of her life on display. Edna did get emotional. And impassioned. And I did, too.

As I learned in chapter seven of Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, one woman dies from childbirth every minute somewhere in the world. The personal narratives they share in the book put a face to that statistic, making every heartbreaking word worth the read.

In a country like Somaliland, Kristof and WuDunn write that there are four main factors that account for such grim maternal mortality: biology, lack of schooling, lack of rural health systems, and disregard for women. This only makes it that much more impressive that against all odds Edna learned to read and write even when there were no schools for girls; was the first Somali girl to earn a scholarship to study abroad in Britain; trained to become the first qualified nurse-midwife; served as First Lady of Somalia while her husband served as Prime Minister; had a career at the World Health Organization; held the position of Foreign Minister of Somaliland; and finally reached her lifelong goal of founding and administering a hospital. Being in her presence is inspiring, and I feel proud to know that she is out there fighting for every woman’s right to good health care and education.

[continued...]

A link sent by my son – I have no idea how he came across the Edna hospital website – prompted me to apply as a volunteer for the month of October 2011, an experience I do not regret. This was an opportunity to discover Somaliland, its people, its history and its plight as it strives to obtain recognition from the international community. But most of all it was a chance to witness what determination and dedication can achieve in a difficult context, where constraints opposed by poverty, tradition and religion all converge to make provision of medical care a seemingly insurmountable challenge. That challenge has been taken up by Edna Adan Ismail who has dedicated her life to improving the condition of her countrywomen. And judging by the steady flow of deliveries in her maternity hospital, she has certainly filled a void and brought comfort and security to many who would otherwise have had their babies in far more hazardous settings.

Doctor Said with Brigitte

But there is still a lot to overcome as women are deprived of what any Westerner would consider as basic rights, are subjected to intentional burns, are required to undergo genital mutilation, to have at least 10 children to please their spouse who has the right to oppose a life-saving C-section, or any surgical procedure. Some endure the distress of watching their child develop horrific hydrocephalus for lack of a neurosurgeon, or die from a snakebite for lack of an antidote – there is none in the country, and they probably couldn’t afford it anyway, were it available; and yet many men waste their meager income chewing khat. Edna is trying to promote “child spacing,” apparently a more acceptable term than family planning; it is however forbidden to sell condoms in Somaliland.

Then there is the lack of specialized staff: visiting surgeons repair cleft lips, broken limbs, retracted burn scars, but there is no pathologist to read a biopsy specimen. The range of medications is limited.

Yet in spite of it all, there is hope. I believe the young women of Somaliland are the ones who will make their country a better place, indeed I met several who were driven by that ambition, and Edna is certainly an inspiration for them. Our role as volunteers is also to encourage and support this drive, and help them demonstrate their ability to play a responsible and independent role in their society.

I was told I was the first French doctor to volunteer at Edna hospital. I do hope others will come after me – I should mention in passing that Edna’s French is flawless. My activities included attending the prenatal clinic or the maternity ward, assisting in C-sections, doing the ward rounds, seeing outpatients, and teaching nursing students. Even if one cannot speak Somali, there is always someone willing to translate, and also much comfort to be conveyed by a smile or a reassuring hand. And the people are kind and friendly, the staff welcoming, the atmosphere around Edna’s table homely, and the turnover of international volunteers stimulating. A month was definitely too short!

Brigitte Herant Dunais, MD
Speracedes, France

She described how important is the training of midwives to the goal of reducing high rates of maternal and infant mortality.

If Edna, beginning at the age of 60, in a war-ravaged and unrecognized country can accomplish her goal to build a hospital and use it to train midwives then anybody with determination can do the same elsewhere.

Edna’s goal is to train 1000 midwives and return them to their communities. Watch the video below:

And, you can read this news article from Geneva: Edna in Geneva.

We all remember when in 2000, the hospital was still under construction and just a shell with no roof, no doors and no windows. That is when the Friends of the Edna Adan hospital was established as a USA Registered Charity which has been supporting us ever since.

It was also the Friends of the Edna Adan Hospital who sent us the first of several shipments of supplies which have sustained us and helped us to achieve whatever we have done ever since.

With our most since appreciation for all the generosity and support we have received from you during the the past 12 years.

~ Edna Adan Ismail

The story is told in greater detail in Nicholas Kristof’s book, Half The Sky. You can click the button below to jump directly to the part of the story where some American women and some immigrants from Somaliland get together to form a new charity with the express purpose of helping Edna to complete the construction of her hospital.

As our friends know, Edna started out as a Maternity hospital but in 2011 we’ve seen many new services and procedures that have changed the lives of people in Somaliland. Here are some of the examples of the 514 operations performed since January, 2011:

• 185 Caesarian Sections
• Repair of 86 Cleft lips and palates
• Repair of 54 Obstetrical fistula and perineal tears
• Insertion of Shunts for 25 children with Hydrochephalus
• Repair of 5 Myelomeningocele/Spina Bifida and three Hemangioma
• Release of 89 contractures resulting from burns and other injuries
• Performed 10 Hernia repairs
• Performed 9 Thyroidectomy
• Three Cholecystectomy
• Five Hydrocele
• Four Hypospedia
• Two Colonostomy
• Two Appendectomy
• Two Mamectomy
• Below-knee Amputation
• Removal of Brachial cyst, Mandibular tumour, Nephrectomy, Spleenectomy
• Numerous other General surgery

As announced earlier, our old theatre was no longer adequate for all the surgical operations that were needed. We therefore put together as much funds as we could, and with additional support from the Fistula Foundation, Direct Relief and the Friends of the Edna Adan Hospital, the long-awaited theatres were built and opened on the 6th of January 2011.

The opening ceremony was officiated by the First Lady of Somaliland, the Minister of Health, other government Ministers and many dignitaries attended the ceremony.

General repair and Construction of New Buildings.

With support from France, we have carried out general repair and painting of the hospital, completed the construction of three more rooms for patients, six new patient toilets, and six more rooms with en-suite toilets for our guests, staff and volunteers.

So far this year, while the above was going on, have also carried out the following:

• Delivered 1147 babies
• Admitted and cared for over 4000 patients in general wards
• Treated 15,000 outpatients

Guests, Visiting Dignitaries and Volunteers

Between January and November 2011, we delivered 1127 women and, sadly, have lost 6 of them. (Mortality Rate = 383/100,000)

French, American, German teachers

The visit of New York Times Columnist/Author Nicholas Kristof and film star Diane Lane in May to film for their portion of the 6-hour PBS documentary version of the book Half the Sky will remain a very memorable one.

We have also had volunteers from the UK, USA, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, China, Somaliland, Somalia, Norway, Finland and India who each gave weeks out of their lives to help the people of Somaliland.

The “Water Well”

With support from France, we carried out three Geological surveys before we found water, and started drilling the new well; installed the casings, pumps and pipes, constructed the water tower and built the shed to house the new generator.

Finally, on the 16th of November 2011 was the day we had our first water from the well! This has now ended our years-long reliance on water being purchased and trucked in.

Travels abroad

During the past year, I have also travelled a lot and have visited the following countries and undertaken the following missions:

• World Health Organization (WHO)  Temporary Advisor during the WHO General Assembly in Geneva in May where I was required to make several presentations on MDG4/5 goals concerning Maternal and Child Mortality.
• WHO Temporary Advisor in July, again for WHO in Geneva on Maternal Mortality
• Durban, South Africa attended the triennial International Congress of Midwives where I made a presentation during the Plenary Session
• In September 2011, was invited by the UN Secretary General to attend and be part of a Panel in New York to address the Millennium Development Goals and maternal mortality.
• On 17 November, I was invited by Amnesty International to be part of a Panel to discuss Human Rights and women’s health
• On November 27th, was invited by TEDxCRC2 to make a presentation in Geneva on maternal mortality and how the Edna Adan Hospital is addressing this major problem through the emergency preparedness we have in place and the training of midwives.
• Also visited the Skirball Exhibition in Los Angeles where exhibits from the stories contained in Nicholas Kristof’s book “Half the Sky” which has a chapter on the Edna Adan Hospital were shown.
• During the year, we have been presenting to whoever would listen, our ambition to train 1000 Community Midwives for Somaliland and how the 162 who we have trained so far have helped in a very practical and cost effective-way to dramatically reduce to one quarter the national mortality rate of the women who were referred to our hospital. We are confident that if these women had come to us sooner than the majority of them did, we could have prevented the death of a much larger number of them.

Addressing TEDx conference, Geneva, 2011

Meeting Members of Parliament in London

Collaboration with International Organizations:

We have continued our collaboration with International Planned Parenthood Federation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Save the Children Fund, United Nations Fund For Population Activities, World Health Organization, UNICEF, Tropical Health and Education Trust, Women and Health International (WAHA) and ISUOG who has donated two Ultrasound machines and carried out a training for fifteen of our doctors and midwives.

Doctors from WAHA, Kijabe Hospital, Vanderbilt University, AMREF and others have come to operate on our patients.

With much appreciation.

National Responsibilities

To make my life busier, the President of Somaliland appointed a Commission for Higher Education for our country and has added me to this Commission.

Students who have Graduated from our Hospital during 2011

Parents, Friends, Teachers at Graduation

• 42 Community Midwives
• 33 Post-Basic Midwives
• 103 Pharmacists
• 60 Laboratory Technicians
• Our very-0wn two female medical doctors have also graduated!

Students Currently in Training

• For the first time in Somaliland, we are training 26 Midwives who are studying for the Bachelor of Science Degree in Midwifery
• 68 Student nurses
• 34 Lab Technicians
• 80 Pharmacists

Plans and Needs:

• We need to make more extensions to the hospital.
• The cost of electricity is increasing all the time. For this reason, and also to be kinder to the environment, we are looking for Solar Power to light the hospital. We would be happy to install Solar Panels for all to see that our hospital is going as ‘green’ as we can in order to encourage others to also follow suit.


Dr. Dirk Grotuesmann with premature infant, "Tiger"

• We need a new ambulance: our eleven-year old ambulance donated to us by UNHCR is dying on us. A second-hand one we received four years ago is too low and cannot negotiate well the rough terrain of Somaliland.
• Expand our training Department to include the Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing.
• Continue the Bachelor of Science Degree for Midwives.
• Continue and expand the Community Midwife Training and assist other training Schools in Somaliland to start the training of Community Midwives in their District as the best way to reduce the high Maternal Mortality rate of our people.
• If we can find the right Tutors, we plan to start new training programs for the Bachelor of Science Degrees in Public Heal, Nutrition, Microbiology, Hysto-pathology and other courses.
• If we can find the necessary expertise, start a Dental Clinic as part of our hospital as this service is very much needed by our people.
• We are looking for a hospital Matron or Ward Manager.
• Finally, we are desperately looking for an Obstetrician/Gynecologist to replace our great Obstetrician who will be moving on and leaving us in February 2012.

Appreciation and Thanks

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Direct Relief, Fistula Foundation and IMEC who donated supplies to us.

Everybody at the Hospital, including our newest set of twins, thanks you for your support.

We also wish to thank the individual benefactors who made donations to our hospital on Mothers’ Day following the New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof who appealed for us. Your generous donations have helped us perform the largest number of surgical operations ever performed in our hospital in any one year as well as help us expand our training programs.

On behalf of the women we assist, the babies we deliver, the patients we treat, the students we train, and the community we serve, Thank You.

Blessings, Edna Adan Ismail
December, 2011, Hargeisa, Somaliland

Everybody knows that Edna feels passionately about midwifery, FGM, and education. The former foreign minister of Somaliland is equally passionate about the need for other countries to recognize her nation. As the former colonial power, Somalilanders are counting on the support for their cause from the UK most of all.

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) Jeremy Carver was among those who met with Edna. In the video below, following a longish silence at the beginning, Carver makes an eloquent statement in support of the cause of Somaliland.

Somaliland deserves recognition…. For two long decades, Somaliland has met the criteria – all the criteria – that international law requires for independence and recognition as a member of the community of nations… recognition of a state of affairs which is an actual fact. It is not something for which you as a nation have to plead.

~ (CBE) Jeremy Carver

Here are some photos from Edna’s meetings. Included in the photos are CBE Jeremy Carver, MP Alun Michael, Len Tiahlo Ahmed.

Edna shares her humanitarian vision with TED


If an elderly woman can build a hospital, everyone has the potential to move humanitarian mountains if they put their mind to it, says Edna Adan Ismail.
“We’ll be ten years old in March and it’s given life to an entire country. Every midwife in Somaliland has had to do a refresher course with us. We’ve developed a nursing training curriculum which is used nationally and a midwife training programme which has been replicated and used in neighbouring Somalia. It’s become a curiosity; people want to come and see what an old woman has done.”

Edna Adan at TEDx Geneva / photo by Marko Kokic, ICRC

Edna Adan plans to visit the Women Hold Up Half The Sky exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 19, beginning at noon. If you can be in the vicinity, then you are invited to join her as she views the exhibit for the first time.

Edna’s work in Somaliland is featured prominently in this exhibit (as in the book). The full dates are October 27, 2011 – March 11, 2012, and we encourage you to visit the exhibit at some point. But, how much better if you can visit it with one of the women whose work is being spotlighted?

Experience a groundbreaking new exhibition inspired by the critically acclaimed book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

Featuring documentary photographs, visual art, innovative sound installations, and interactive opportunities for visitors to get involved, Women Hold Up Half the Sky addresses gender equality as the human rights cause of our time. Confronting the malign persistence of sex trafficking, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality, the exhibition tells stories of women from around the globe who have changed their lives through education, economics, and self-determination. Among them is Saima Muhammad, who lived in fear of her abusive husband and whose community ignored her suffering until she received a $65 microloan and built an embroidery business that now supports thirty families in her Pakistani village. The exhibition also spotlights visionaries like Edna Adan Ismail, the former first lady of Somalia, who used her life savings to build a maternity hospital in war-torn Somaliland, prompting donations and support from all over the world.

Experience these tales of perseverance, courage, and hope – and celebrate how individuals can be part of workable solutions.

Tiger was given little chance of survival.

And yet, one day after another, he did manage to survive.

In that first message, Edna shared photos along with this message, “We call him him ‘Tiger’ because he was born prematurely nine days ago and he made it so far. He is our current ‘Star’ and loved by all. Each morning for the past week, he is our most important news at breakfast, Tiger made it through the night.”

Now, in a follow-up message, Edna has shared the welcome news that Tiger has been released from the hospital to be at home with his family.

“This was our very small premature baby (Tiger) who made it and went home yesterday. Our Doctor Dirk Grotuesmann delivered him by C. section because the mother had eclampsia and would have lost him. He is sucking, kicking, crying and doing all that is expected of his 1.5 Kilos.”

That is just 3.3 pounds. In the first two photos, below, Tiger was still in danger. The third photo shows him with his family as they prepare to leave the hospital, together. Doctor Dirk Grotuesmann is shown holding Tiger.

A writer! You know what that means?

It means there’s now a perceptive and beautifully-written journal entry which can help you better to understand the life of the Hospital and the culture of Somaliland.

She is not real happy about the treatment of women in Somaliland….

I am beginning to see the dark side of this country and culture, where voiceless, disempowered women must have their husbands’ permission to have a C-section or an induction for medical reasons. (If they need a hysterectomy their father must agree – her body belongs to him.) I watch as husbands come to sign (or not), ignoring their laboring wives who walk the halls. Imperious and authoritarian, they swagger in and out self-importantly. The doctor says he has seen them deny their wife her life, even when she is crying to be rescued.

On the other hand…

The longer I’m here the more I like the Somali women I meet; they have a good sense of humor, are generally warm and appear to welcome our help. At lunch we are joined by an American missionary surgeon and his wife; the doctor can hardly control himself as he whispers to me, “Can you imagine going to Wyoming and telling people to change their ways?”

Another excerpt, describing her experience teaching a class of first-year nursing students…

They seem rapt when I am speaking, mesmerized perhaps by this elderly white lady who talks of strange things, but when I ask them questions or want to know what their questions or thoughts are, they are silent. I say, “Allah gave you a voice! Women’s voices are beautiful! You must not be afraid to use your voice!” but this falls on deaf ears – they have been long socialized into silence.

Please follow this link, and read the full journal entry:
Into Africa: A Somaliland Experience