Feb. 16, 1999

Hais, Yemen ... [ANN] At the request of the American Embassy, American Ambassador Barbara Bodine and several accompanying high American officials from Sana’a and Cairo on December 2, 1998, visited ADRA’s Child Survival XI Program in Hais, Yemen, and coincidentally the opening of the new ADRA midwifery school serving the cities of Hais, Khokha and Jebel Ras. Interest by the United States Embassy in both projects was sparked by ADRA’s request to extend its four-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored child survival program in Hais that will be completed in September 1999.

Impressed by her visit, Ambassador Bodine committed the U.S. to continue their support of the child survival project into the next millennium and thanked Edwin Dysinger, ADRA project director, and his team for ADRA’s accomplishments thus far in aiding this under-served area of the country. Toni Christiansen-Wagner, USAID/Yemen mission director and legal advisor, who also attended the events, added that, “ADRA is the only agency willing to work in such difficult situations and to do such a great job.” Wagner is familiar with ADRA’s work from her previous assignments in the Caribbean and Central America, especially Nicaragua.

The timing of the ambassador’s visit coincided with the opening of the new ADRA midwifery school with its first 23 students. Many Yemeni dignitaries joined the event from Sana’a and other neighboring and participating districts to take part in the speeches and music. The ceremony also included the graduation of seven health supervisors.

The need for such a facility is very evident, reports P. William Dysinger, M.D., serving as volunteer country director for one year. The three districts in which ADRA is working in the Hodeidah Governorate have a widely-scattered rural population of approximately 103,000. In this area there are only two doctors and one trained midwife. The maternal mortality rate is 1,400 per 100,000 live births, and the under five mortality rate is 110 per 1,000 live births. ADRA’s baseline survey of the project area also found that less than five percent of women can read and write.

Ambassador Bodine has a particular interest in women’s programs, and expressed a desire to see some women’s groups in action. Arrangements were made for the ambassador and her group to visit with women in the Khoka District where ADRA is operating a women’s literacy/micro-enterprise development program.

The women’s literacy/micro-enterprise development program has exceeded expectations, and in the third quarter of this year has almost doubled its size from 26 to 47 groups. Ambassador Bodine was most interested in observing these previously illiterate women read simple words and to see the evident pride in their accomplishment. She was also pleased to learn that approximately half of the group had voted for the first time this year since they could now read. In the entire project area nearly 1,400 poor women received health education and literacy training. Approximately 730 of them received micro-credit to help them engage in such businesses as animal rearing, buying and selling clothes, sewing, simple agriculture activities, etc. Regina Sulla from Uganda, is director for the ADRA women’s programs.

ADRA’s other projects in this same area include village pharmacy/cost sharing, and vitamin A projects, all integral parts of an overall primary health care plan. ADRA’s strength in Yemen is its commitment to pioneer community based health development, continually working to increase the capacity of community members to help administer their health services. In three years, ADRA has achieved a significant reputation for innovative programming and has received favorable reviews by evaluation teams. According to Sharon Beatty, an independent consultant living in Yemen, “ADRA offers the best model for sustainability” that she has seen in Yemen. [Beth Schaefer]

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