2018 visit

I was in Ethiopia from 1 to 10 June. The country was calm, after an extended period of crisis resulting from ethnic conflict, which made travelling around the countryside nearly impossible during the past year. In August five more ‘Adopt a Midwife’ students graduated. They are all doing well. This brings the total number of […]

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Day 1: Dakuna Health Centre

Visit to Dakuna Health Centre near Endebir, which is run by Franciscan Sisters. Sister Wengelawit has been in charge of the Health Centre for two years. She’s an extraordinary woman; the centre is clean, well-maintained and organised. Three midwives currently work in this Centre. Amongst them is Sr. Kebebush, who graduated in 2014 in Wolliso […]

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Day 2: Jilela Health Centre

Jilela Health Centre is located 9 km off the paved road between Addis and Wolliso. It took us 2,5 hours to travel this 9 km stretch, even with our four-wheel-drive car! Perhaps it’s faster to walk but it was raining, and we were carrying supplies. In the pictures, you see Sufe, who graduated in 2016. […]

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Day 3: Amaya Health Centre

The biggest surprise was waiting for me in Amaya Health Centre. Last year I visited Mergitu, who also graduated in 2016. She works in Amaya Health Centre together with another midwife, and the Centre is already quite well organised. Last year I entered her office as she was examining a pregnant woman. The woman thought […]

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Day 4: Dalidakt Health Centre

Last year I also visited Samuel and to be honest, I have been quite worried about him this past year. He was not doing very well last year, and he had some difficulties finding his place in a team where most people had already been working together for a long time. His work conditions were […]

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Melaku

Melaku is another of the ‘Adopt a Midwife’ graduates, he graduated in 2014. During his studies, I immediately saw that he has exceptional talents: he is intelligent, polite, friendly, a good colleague, and curious. During his studies, it became evident that he is also very capable of transferring both theoretical and practical knowledge to others, […]

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Fistula Hospital

Visit to the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Desta Mender (Village of Joy), and the Hamlin College of Midwifery. In the capital, we visited Fistula Hospital, also known as ‘the hospital by the river’. I was lucky to briefly speak to doctor Catherine Hamlin, whom I have known for 25 years. I gave her some […]

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Our collaboration with the Bilma Foundation

In August and December 2017, the first four students graduated in the south of Ethiopia. Armie Ayika, who graduated in Arba Minch is now working in South Omo. Netsanet Abebe, Jemilla Seid and Elshaday Anteneh, who graduated in Mizan Aman are shown here in the photo together with Lode van Reedt of the Bilma Foundation, […]

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“100 Days of Poetry”

This book was published in December 2017: “100 Dagen Dichten” (100 Days of Poetry). In the book, I share my memories of my life and work in Ethiopia. The money raised by the sale of this book is for ‘Adopt a Midwife. You can order the book via info@adopteereenvroedvrouw.org. The book costs €15 plus €4 […]

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Visit to Wolisso, May 2017

I have not been able to visit the project for a long time because of the state of emergency declared by the government in Ethiopia last year. In addition, communication via email was not always possible. For these reasons, during my most recent visit I was very pleased to see several positive developments. I will […]

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