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Natalie Imbruglia's Aug. 2005 visit to Nigeria as Spokesperson for the Campaign to End Fistula was the subject of a four-page feature article in Australian Women's Weekly. You can read the article here.
Natalie Returns to Nigeria
As a Spokesperson for the Campaign to End Fistula, Natalie Imbruglia — singer/actress and face of L’Oreal — is helping to raise awareness and funds for the little-known childbearing condition.
Natalie spent 18 months searching for a charity to support. She heard about fistula while speaking to Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group. In January 2005, Imbruglia visited fistula hospitals in Ethiopia and Nigeria with representatives from UNFPA and Virgin Unite, a charitable organization supporting the Campaign. Deeply moved, she felt compelled to act.
"For some people, fistula is a difficult issue to talk about. But that discomfort pales in comparison to what women living with fistula face every day," Imbruglia explains. "I don't want to be part of the silence. I want to do everything I can to make a difference in these women's lives."
Imbruglia returned to Nigeria in August 2005 to meet with patients, surgeons, government officials and religious leaders — this time, accompanied by a group of journalists, photographers and filmmakers from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. The goal, says Imbruglia, was to absorb as much as she could from those closest to the issue so that she could be a better advocate back home.
