Dr Daniel Etya'ale

In late April 2002, Dr Daniel Etya'alé (WHO) traveled to the Northern Territory with Gabi Hollows and Olga Havnen to review the effectiveness of the Indigenous Health Program that is being developed in conjunction with the Jawoyn Community - and to help launch the Women's Centre at Barunga. His letter to The Fred Hollows Foundation in Australia's Chief Executive Mike Lynskey and General Manager, Chip Morgan is reproduced here.

Dear Mike and Chip,

This is my first day back to the office, after nearly 1.5 weeks in the Northern Territory. Hopefully, before not too long, I shall be sending you a detailed report of my visit, observation, comments and maybe suggestions. For now I just wanted to express to you both my deep gratitude, for having made it possible for me to have a look at a unique aspect of The Foundation's work among the poorest of the poor within Australia.

In nearly 20 years of work among underserved and poor communities, I have rarely been moved by a visit as I was during this visit. In retrospect, I must admit that I was not fully prepared for what was awaiting me, despite the very good background information provided me by Olga Havnen (Manager, Indigenous Health Program) long before my arrival to Australia.

What I saw was communities in many respects quite similar to the impoverished ones that I am so used to in rural Africa, but at the same time, so different and so unique from all that I have seen so far: communities so despondent, so passive, so sad; communities whose members seem to have lost even the most basic of dreams, the dream of a tomorrow, a tomorrow that can be different and even better. In short, communities that are fighting for their very survival. It was both frightening and often disconcerting.

But what I also saw, was probably the boldest and most original project that I have seen for a very long time, a very humane and culturally sensitive attempt to respond to a complex challenge, not by providing ready made answers/solutions but by going the difficult path of empowering communities themselves and helping them regain a sense of self worth and become, through small steps, masters of their own destiny. I saw it already taking shape in Manyallulak and in Beswick, where the women are already playing such a pivotal role and coming alive. It is still only the early days, but it is already so good to see.

I believe the greatest strength of this Foundation project is the recognition that the plight of the Aboriginal people is multidimensional, in that various factors feed into each other, and therefore, the best response is one that should be multidimensional as well, with priority to be given not just to the end results (alcoholism, obesity, diabetes, renal failure, homicide, smoking, substance abuse, etc.) but to the root causes, which very much evolve around poor/inadequate education and literacy among both children and adults, unpreparedness to modern living and very limited prospects for a life worth living or fighting for, etc. Given the wealth of experience that Olga and her team have among themselves, the respect and credibility they seem to enjoy among both the communities and the Northern Territory government officials, I can see The Foundation playing a unique role in the entire region: that of a pioneer (in doing things quite differently but most appropriately); that of a catalyst, as well as a leader and coordinator of what is likely going to be a network of like minded agencies and philanthropies, some of which are already there, but still working in isolation. In my report, I shall be saying a bit more on this.

You must have understood by now that I have been both shaken (to the core) by what I saw, but also very impressed by what The Foundation is doing. Even though the impact of this project is not as easily measurable as cataract operations, I can assure you that what you are doing among the Aborigine in the Northern Territory is simply groundbreaking, and of very high calibre.

My sense is that it could well turn out to be one of the ways to the future, regarding how to address complex, multifactorial development issues such as the existential crisis facing the Aborigines today. It should therefore be followed closely and documented properly. For me personally, it has provided me with new challenges and broadened my understanding of development from the poor's perspective.

Very best regards,

Daniel Etya'alé, MD
Vision 2020 Coordinator for Africa
Programme for the Prevention of Blindness and Deafness
World Health Organization (WHO)
Geneva, Switzerland