Edna Adan receives French Legion of Honor

On April 17, Edna Adan was presented the French Legion of Honor by the French Ambassador. This is France’s highest honor – grade de chevalier dans l’ordre de la Légion d’honneur. The decision to honor Edna with this title was made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in this letter.

As noted by the Ambassador in his speech conferring this honor, Edna might have chosen to receive the medal in Paris under a golden roof but, instead, chose to receive it here at the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital:

Edna, you were awarded the Legion of Honor because of your outstanding example as a human person. I cannot say more than these two words: a Human Person with all the dignity attached to this quality. The French Republic at the top has recognized in you a person who has promoted the Human values for which the French Republic stands in the world. That is the true meaning of your recognition. Many times we are not living up to our expectations as defender of human rights but we recognize this as our duty, our special mission in the world, in international politics and everyday life. We recognize when somebody in the world raises these expectations. We recognized you.

…Everybody should be made conscious that this other end of the world, best known as the land of chaos, we call it with you: Land of Hope.

The occasion was combined with the graduation ceremony for a class of 26 newly-trained Laboratory Technicians. Of these, 19 were boys and 6 were girls. In the final examination, the top three graduating students were all girls! Given the diminished status of women in Somaliland culture, this is considered to be excellent good news!

Edna Adan speaks accepting Legion of Honor

The French ambassador went on to say:

“We want to recognize future Ednas, maybe in the assembly today. I address the young nurses and laboratory technicians or pharmacists in training here: Are you ready to follow the path opened by Mama Edna Adan Ismael?

“Are you ready to become the new Ednas?

“It’s your turn now for the sake of yourself, your own dignity, the health of your sisters and daughters, we want you to give birth to healthy children who will be the strength of Somaliland tomorrow, mothers and babies defending peace and prosperity in this region the Horn of Africa.”

We have a new page in the main web site dedicated to this occasion. You can read the speeches by both the Ambassador and by Edna Adan:

Read More > Edna Adan Awarded French Nicolas Sarkozy

Letters of Congratulation include this one from Tropical Health and Education Trust, which partners with the hospital on training activities. It was such a proud occasion for Somaliland that the national television station will present a one-hour program about it tomorrow night.

Hillary Clinton with Edna Adan in NYC

The Daily Beast has kindly provided Edna with a photo of herself with Hillary Clinton. Edna missed getting a photo of the encounter, herself, but happily somebody else did. The two go way back.

I had a longish chat about FGM [Female Genital Mutilation] with Hilary Clinton and reminded her of our first meeting in Beijing in 1995 during the Women’s Conference there when I was the first person on that occasion to raise the question of FGM.

Edna Adan with Graduating Nurses

“The biggest gift I want to leave behind is not a building, but the skills I leave with the women. I want to train 1,000 midwives.”

Her progress so far is astounding. Since the hospital opened, they have delivered more than 9,500 women and lost only 39. “That’s 39 too many,” she laments, nonetheless delighted that they have reduced the maternal mortality rate by one-fourth. In 1988, the last time a study was done, there were 160 deaths per 10,000 births in Somaliland, making it the third worst in the world. “Women are dying of complications nobody is picking up,” she explains. “Because nobody is there to support them, care for them, or deliver them. They are getting infected, torn apart. No woman should die of childbirth, because modern obstetrics has ways to save them.” The challenge: “ignorance, poverty, and harmful traditions.”

Those are also the culprits in her other lifelong cause: ending the practice now called Female Genital Mutilation. When she started speaking out–to the embarrassment of her husband-it was simply Female Circumcision. “No one would talk about it then. I was the first Somali woman to pick up a microphone.” And despite all the publicity in recent years she says, “We have not cracked the surface of it. I am giving out a document at the conference showing a new survey of 4.000 women. Of them, 97 percent, shamefully, had been cut. After 34 years of campaigning. We’re nowhere near winning that battle.”

But Edna Adan Ismail takes comfort that now, “we have the whole world talking about it, it’s out of the closet.”

Read the Full Article

Edna Adan is among the participants who will participate in a panel discussion on Saturday at 4:50pm EST titled “Toppling Traditions.”

You can watch the conference live at The Daily Beast web site:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/womenintheworldlivevideo

Here is a video from Liya Kebede: Why Are So Many Mothers Dying?

Supermodel Liya Kebede tells Plum TV about her quest to end the easily preventable deaths of mothers around the world. Plus, Read Kebede’s article on her journey to philanthropy.

Watch for further updates this weekend. Remember, Edna Adan is among the participants.

The following is from Tina Brown, editor of The Daily Beast.

Now, I’m thrilled to announce The Daily Beast will be producing a compelling live event that focuses in depth on powerful human stories about women. We will showcase leaders on the frontlines working on innovative solutions to challenges ranging from sex slavery to girls’ education in the developing world to women caught in the violence of war zones.

Our first annual Women in the World summit will take place at The Hudson Theatre at Millennium Broadway in New York City March 12-14. The gathering will include women pioneers in government, media, social activism, business, and the arts. It’s shaping up to be an incredibly exciting three days of provocative political discussion, dramatic presentations, and fiery debate, featuring such terrific participants as Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan; former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright; Thomas L. Friedman; Katie Couric; Meryl Streep; Prajwala founder and anti-trafficking activist Sunitha KrishNan; Chouchou Namegabe, the Congolese anti-rape activist and journalist; Kakenya Ntaiya, the founder of girls’ schools in Kenya; Afghan women’s activist Suraya Pakzad; Barbara Walters; Christiane Amanpour; French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde; former British first lady and human-rights lawyer Cherie Blair; Ann Livermore, HP’s executive vice president of enterprise business; former foreign affairs minister of Somaliland and maternal and child health activist Edna Adan Ismail; Ching Eikenberry, wife of the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan; U.S. Ambassador for Counter-Trafficking Luis CdeBaca; Pamela Darwin, vice president of geoscience for ExxonMobil; U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer; Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security adviser to President George W. Bush; Zambian economist and aid expert Dambisa Moyo; Kathy Bushkin Calvin, CEO of the U.N. Foundation; the Acumen Fund’s Jacqueline Novogratz; Women for Women International founder Zainab Salbi; Tostan founder Molly Melching; Daily Beast Pakistan correspondent Fatima Bhutto; Sallie Krawcheck, Bank of America’s president of global wealth and investment management; Dina Habib Powell, Goldman Sachs’ director of global corporate engagement; philanthropist Jill Iscol; and many, many more.

Edna with 2010 nursing school graduates

At first we had planned to hold the ceremony in the open but were pushed indoors by the rains.

The graduation ceremony of the 34 girls and 11 boys was honored by the presence of the Somaliland Minister of Health; the Governor of Hargeisa – whose daughter was also graduating; the Deans of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science of Hargeisa University; the Vice-President of Hargeisa University; Members of Parliament; and the family and friends of our graduates.

We have added a new gallery of photos of this event to the Gallery section of our web site: Edna Hospital 2010 Graduation Ceremony

An estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subject to this harmful and dangerous practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. The practice persists because it is sustained by social perceptions, including that girls and their families will face shame, social exclusion and diminished marriage prospects if they forego cutting. These perceptions can, and must, change.

FGM/C poses immediate and long-term consequences for the health of women and girls, and violates their human rights. More Information

You can watch a video at YouTube where Edna Adan discusses FGM with Voice of America.

Here is the original article by Saeed Mohamed

Dr. Edna Adan spoke at the university’s graduation ceremonies on International Human Rights Day and to celebrate law students from 20 countries who had just completed a Master of Laws (LLM) in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa.

Mr. Martin Nsibirwa, University of Pretoria’s LLM Programme Manager, introduced Edna Adan to the audience saying, “Edna Adan Maternity Hospital is the best hospital in Africa.”

The theme of Dr. Edna’s keynote address was “Promoting Human Rights in Somaliland and Africa in general.”

Edna Adan receives the Chancellor's Medal at the University of Pretoria

The recognition that Centre for Human right at the University of Pretoria is bestowing upon me belongs to all who speak out for the voiceless and will hopefully encourage those who are concerned about human rights but who keep silent out of fear of repercussions. Perhaps we should learn from the tortoise whose motto is ‘You cannot make progress unless you stick your neck out but with due caution.’

Today, with profound humility, and knowing full well that there are many who are far more deserving than I am, I accept this award on behalf of those individuals and groups both in Somaliland and elsewhere who have taken great personal risk to ensure that others may live in peace and dignity. This includes the quarter million war genocide victims in Somaliland who gave their lives to fight oppression during our civil war from 1982 to 1991. I wish to reconise them as the martyrs who praved the way for the peace, freedom and stability that we (Somalilanders) enjoy today.

Dr. Edna further emphasized in her moving speech about the importance of empowering women both in Somaliland and Africa in general.

I accept this award on behalf of the women of Somaliland and Africa who have the highest maternal mortality rate in the world and who die because they are poor. Our women die because they lack care from well trained health care providers in health facilities that are properly equipped. Our women also die because the lack the education that would have raised their status and given them access to skills and employment” Dr. Edna attaches her caring emotions; she further highlights that women die because of female genital cutting.

I know there is no magic wand that can resolve all our problems but I am confident that if we join hands and concentrate on just one effort which is that of training more midwives in our community, we will prevent the death of many women and children. I therefore appeal for support in this major undertaking which my hospital (Edna Adan Maternity Hospital, Hargeisa Somaliland) is pioneering in Somaliland and where such training is in progress right now.

The University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights, which was awarded the 2006 UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education, presents the one-year full-time LLM in partnership with eight other universities in Africa representing all the sub-regions. The students were drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including the civil service, the judiciary, academia, and some recent graduates.

Since its inception in 2000, 291 students from 35 African countries including Somaliland, have graduated from the programme, and gone back to their respective countries to hold various positions in government, academia, and the NGO sector.

Both of these images can be seen larger, just click them. Many more photos can be seen in the Edna Hospital Gallery.