Natalie appeared on Channel 9 News in a short story about her working with Kailis jewellery and Oasis’s Streetmedia program that will continue to provide young people with a positive outlet for self-expression and an opportunity to rebuild their confidence and self esteem through drama, dance, jewellery making, African drumming workshops and so much more.
Watch this PBS produced video, featuring Natalie Imbruglia and Monique Colman, which focuses on the important role of celebrities in raising awareness for social causes. The video was made for the September 13th 7 Billion event: Unleashing the Power of Women and Girls that took place in Washington D.C. The program premiered on PBS on Dec 2, 2011.
Singer Natalie Imbruglia looked beautiful at the 5th Annual Rock the Kasbah Gala, held at Boulevard 3 in Hollywood, CA, on November 16th. The Australian cutie wore a Maria Lucia Hohan “Holly” Dress in Sweet Peach Silk Mousseline ($752) and a ring from Brumani.
The star studded Rock the Kasbah Gala is put on by Sir Richard Branson and proceeds from the ticket benefit Virgin Unite and The Eve Branson Foundation, both which foster entrepreneurial opportunities.
Natalie got to get on stage and perform with Mary J. Blige! Here’s Natalie’s tweet about the event:
“Just heading home from Rock The Kasbar!! Richard B pushed me and my friend @tiffanypersons on stage with Mary J.. Die!!! I loved it. Xx”
Natalie Imbruglia interviews Ash, Katie, Tash, Telysha, Lily and Tyrone from Oasis Youth Support Network about their stories of homelessness.
‘Tis the season for giving and here at Oasis we’re thrilled to announce that this year Natalie Imbruglia and Kailis jewellery have teamed up to give our young people an incredibly special gift.
Available nationally from 1st November 2011, the Natalie Imbruglia for Kailis jewellery collection is doubling the joy of giving this Christmas by donating a minimum of $30 from the sale of each exquisite piece to Oasis.
Proudly co-designed by Natalie Imbruglia and Kailis Design Director Simon Henderson, the capsule collection of three silver pieces – necklace, bracelet and ring – features lustrous Keshi pearls set in sterling silver with Kailis’ signature black diamond.
“The Natalie Imbruglia for Kailis collection is not simply about buying a piece of jewellery but contributing to someone’s life journey,” Sonia MacKay-Coghill, Kailis General Manager says. “In choosing a piece to wear or give, you are directly helping disadvantaged young people and introducing some joy into their world this Christmas.”
Oasis is incredibly grateful to have been named as the beneficiary of this beautiful collaboration and will be allocating all funds raised directly to the support of the Streetmedia program.
A vital training and development program, Streetmedia provides young people with a positive outlet for self-expression and an opportunity to understand and make sense of their story, through a variety of creative mediums.
“Through this fantastic partnership with Natalie and Kailis, we are absolutely thrilled to be able to provide more opportunities for our young people to develop their creativity and confidence through drama, dance, jewellery making, African drumming workshops and so much more,” says Major Robbin Moulds, Director of the Oasis Youth Support Network.
Through the allocation of these funds to the Streetmedia program, Oasis will hope to support more young people as they work through their past to achieve their full potential.
In addition to the pearls, each piece also includes a shamrock – the traditional four-leaf clover symbol of luck and hope. And the necklace design bears Natalie Imbruglia’s personal mantra of “Breathe, Live, Love.”
Through the Streetmedia training program, Oasis plans to bring Natalie’s mantra to life, providing a safe and nurturing space for young people to find their unique voice, inspiration and self-belief.
And if all that news isn’t exciting enough, we have one more pearler for you – Natalie Imbruglia for Kailis is the most affordable collection from Kailis yet!
So this Christmas experience the joy of helping someone else – by literally giving a gift that keeps on giving.
To view or purchase the Natalie Imbruglia for Kailis collection click HERE
Natalie Imbruglia has been a long-standing ambassador for Virgin Unite and with much interest and passion, continues to lend her support to the issue of youth homelessness in Australia.
Source: Oasis Youth Support Network
Natalie with 32-year-old Zainab, who shared her hopes for a new life after living with fistula for 16 years. Picture: Campaign to End Fistula
This month, the seven billionth human being will be born. It may be a baby boy or a baby girl, it will probably be born in the developing world, and chances are good that this baby’s mother will suffer complications or even a severe birth injury like obstetric fistula. Up to 45,000 women do, every day.
Fistula is a devastating injury that develops during prolonged, obstructive labour in women who have no access to immediate medical assistance. Adolescent girls are particularly susceptible because their pelvises are not fully developed. The baby then gets stuck, and in most cases, dies. If the mother survives, she is severely injured and likely to be crippled and incontinent for life. In most societies, these women are doomed to become a burden on their families and live a desperate and shame-filled life.
Talking with Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) at a UN event in Washington in September 2011. Picture: Etienne Franca/Campaign to End Fistula
I am passionate about dealing with fistula for two simple reasons: first, it destroys the lives of countless mothers; and second, it can be addressed with simple care. As a Virgin Unite Ambassador, I have had the honour of visiting fistula hospitals in Africa to meet women who have reclaimed their lives after successful operations. My visits have been both shattering and inspiring.
In Ethiopia I met a very shy 17-year-old girl named Tegest. She was in labour for five full days before her baby died. She suffered the loss of her child and developed a fistula. Her husband left her, saying he could not stand the smell of her urine and faeces. Tegest was fortunate enough to have a successful fistula surgery and, although she never reunited with her husband, she was able to rejoin her community.
In Kenya I met Sarah Omega Kidangasi, a fistula survivor and maternal health advocate. Thanks in large part to Virgin Unite and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) helping me raise awareness, Sarah was able to bring her personal story and powerful message to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations in Geneva in 2009. Governments around the world had to pay attention to Sarah and to maternal health that day, driving action to treat injuries like fistula.
Natalie with fistula patients outside Babbar Ruga Hospital, Nigeria. Picture: Campaign to End Fistula
During my time as a Virgin Unite Ambassador, I have met many women like these – young and old – whose bodies have been torn apart by difficult pregnancies. I have heard of births on mud floors with no skilled assistance, of labours lasting days, and of health systems completely unprepared to care for women, before, during and after pregnancy and labour.
Until recently, like most of you, I didn’t even know about fistula. Richard Branson brought it to my attention in 2005. I then travelled to Ethiopia and saw what one fellow Aussie, Dr Catherine Hamlin, did when she founded The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital with her late husband, Dr Reg Hamlin. The hospital is dedicated to the treatment and care of women suffering with obstetric fistula. They do operations and rehabilitation, and nurture the dignity and emotions of the women they treat. The hospital celebrates recoveries with singing and dancing and a beautiful dress for the patient to wear home, her dignity restored.
Fistula can be prevented by delaying the age of a girl’s first pregnancy and with basic maternal health care, including family planning and skilled care at birth. And the condition can be treated with a simple surgical repair that costs just $300. But most women suffering with fistula have no idea that treatment is available and would likely find it unaffordable. As our seven billionth fellow citizen comes into this world, I hope we will all think about that baby and stand together to care for its mother and mothers everywhere.
The aid agencies in the UK, the United States, Australia and elsewhere have programmes to address family planning and maternal health in poor countries, and that funding must be protected, even as donors contend with economic troubles. Individual donations can help, too. Treating a woman with fistula gives back a life, gives back a mother, a wife, a daughter and a productive member of society. Life with fistula is not much of a life at all. We can make a difference.
Source: Natalie Imbruglia (Guest Blogger on Development of International Development Bloggers)
Imbruglia is the most high-profile star committed to stamping out the ailment. (AFP/File, Michael Mathes)
WASHINGTON: Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia doesn’t mean to leave you with the wrong impression.
She loves making music and has returned to acting, but the “Torn” singer with millions of record sales under her belt has a more rewarding mission these days: helping women recover from a haunting affliction that is all but eradicated in the West, yet affects millions across Africa and Asia.
“I’m very passionate about it,” Imbruglia told AFP about her role as spokeswoman for the UN Campaign to End Fistula, a childbearing injury that often results in the loss of the baby and leaves women shunned.
“I intend to continue my creative endeavours. I’m songwriting at the moment, in Los Angeles, and working on some other projects,” she said. “But most importantly, we’re planning a trip to Africa” and possibly India and elsewhere.
Obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal which develops during a prolonged and obstructed labor. It results in chronic incontinence, and the foul smell of leaking urine and feces often drives away husbands and shatters women’s lives.
“It was like dying everyday,” Sarah Omega, who was raped at 19 and then suffered with fistula for nine years, told a United Nations economic council meeting in 2009 that Imbruglia also addressed.
While it is largely preventable and easily treated, up to 100,000 new cases develop annually, the UN estimates. Some say the number is far higher.
Treatment costs about US$300, but many poor women can’t afford the operation. Others are never told treatment is available for fistula.
Imbruglia is the most high-profile star committed to stamping out the ailment.
“It just jumped out to me as a woman, and the fact that they didn’t seem to have anybody speaking for them,” Imbruglia said in Washington, where she attended a UN Population Fund forum.
The quiet crisis caught her eye back in 2005, when friend Richard Branson, the British business tycoon who heads Virgin Group, urged Imbruglia to harness her fame into activism.
Speakers at a United Nations Population Fund seminar discuss the need for gender equality (AFP/File, Michael Mathes)
She had been basking in superstardom after her 1997 debut album “Left of the Middle” was a global smash. The stunning star also became one of the faces for for cosmetics giant L’Oreal, and her image was plastered across gossip magazines.
She would soon put a hold on the glamour, becoming an ambassador with the Virgin Unite humanitarian campaign and heading to Africa.
“The kind of things that you see there, it becomes personal,” she said.
She visited villages and hospitals in Ethiopia, broke bread with religious leaders in Nigeria, and met countless women suffering from fistula’s indignity.
At the Washington forum, a young African woman named Helena, her smile as wide as the stage, approached Imbruglia and told her of how she reclaimed her own life once she had the operation to repair her fistula.
The singer lit up, and they hugged at length.
“You’re doing a good job,” the woman whispered. “So good.”
Celebrity activists are a dime a dozen, and large-scale issues such as poverty reduction and environmental protection bring out the big guns like U2 frontman Bono.
But few have braved such personally unpleasant issues as the secretion of human waste, troubles with reproduction and the specter of rape, “all things that people are conditioned to turn away from,” said Heidi Breeze-Harris, founder of non-governmental group One By One, which works to end fistula.
But Imbruglia has not shied away, leading UN Population Fund chief Babatunde Osotimehin to hail her “extraordinary work to fight this terrible childbirth condition.”
“Her travels across the globe and her efforts to raise money to support fistula rehabilitation centers and training for community educators are essential in bringing help and needed health care to women and girls,” he told AFP.
The taboo on speaking about the condition in Africa has begun to lift too, said Imbruglia, particularly among the very people whose involvement is crucial in improving women’s health in small, poor communities: men.
“Nurses in the hospital told me, ‘You have to speak to the emirs, it’s not just about the government. If you don’t have their ear and if they’re not on side, the women won’t listen, the men won’t listen,’” she recalled of one of her trips to Africa.
“So of course we set up the meeting with the emir of Katsina (in Nigeria), and he was incredibly supportive.”
Imbruglia, who starred on Australian soap opera “Neighbours” as a teenager, reprised her acting career in 2003 with a role in spy spoof “Johnny English.”
In 2009, she starred in “Closed for Winter,” and last year was a judge on Australia’s “X Factor” reality show.
But asked if she gets the same satisfaction from singing and acting as she does helping women, her big eyes quickly grew moist.
“No,” she admitted. “It doesn’t come anywhere near.”
Source: AFP
On Sept. 13, 2011, hundreds gathered to contemplate the approaching population milestone of 7 billion people and what it may mean for women’s rights. Here, the panelists from the day’s event reflect on the many challenges we see, but also the opportunities for growth and reasons to hope.
Sep
13
2011
Category : causes
Natalie Imbruglia is in Washington DC in support of the Fight to end Fistula Campaign. She will be speaking tommorow at 4pm EST. The speech can be watched here.
Pictured are Natalie Imbruglia with Ronan Farrow(Hillary Clinton’s Special Adviser for Global Youth Issues) and Monique Coleman(UN Youth Champion.)
More information on the event and the cause can be found here.
Source: Natalie Imbruglia Twitter
The beautiful and compassionate Natalie Imbruglia recently visited WSPA’s rabies vaccination project site in Bali.
“On a recent trip to Bali I was thrilled to meet Brown, a gorgeous puppy and one of thousands of dogs that WSPA has helped save from inhumane culling. WSPA’s work in Bali shows that humane mass vaccinations are the best way to eradicate rabies, protect dogs and save human lives. As a WSPA ambassador, I’m proud to know that this project offers hope for the hundreds of thousands of dogs facing cruelty like this around the world,” said Natalie.
Read more about the successful dog vaccination program in Bali here.
Source: WSPA USA Facebook
