For Immediate Release: March 14, 2005

Cristin Gadue, Amy Lynn Niebling, and Carmen Urdaneta remembered at tribute service today

Families, friends, and colleagues honor women who dedicated their lives to public service

Cambridge, MA, 03/14/05 - Families, friends, and colleagues paid tribute to Cristin Gadue, Amy Lynn Niebling, and Carmen Urdaneta at a remembrance and tribute service today for the three women who died in a plane crash in Afghanistan on February 3. The women were staff members of Management Sciences for Health (MSH), based in Cambridge, MA. The service was held at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel.

Cristin, Amy, and Carmen were working in Afghanistan to communicate the challenges and achievements of the REACH Program (Rural Expansion of Afghanistan’s Community-based Healthcare). MSH began working in Afghanistan in 1972 and, since 2003, has been helping to improve access to basic health services through the REACH program funded by USAID, the US Agency for International Development.

“Too many of us rush through life self-absorbed, with barely a smile. Cristi, Amy, and Carmen each left a trail of joy and energy wherever they lived and worked,” said Jonathan Quick, MD, MPH, president and CEO of MSH. “In a world increasingly filled with division among people, these three young women treated each individual with respect and understanding. They each knew why they got out of bed in the morning, and each night they could look in the mirror and say to themselves, ‘I did something today to make the world a better place.’ They were on their way to becoming the next generation of leaders in their areas of work. Now, their legacy will inspire another generation.”

Today’s tribute service was one of many that have been held in the last month to remember the lives of these three remarkable women, who died working to improve health care access in Afghanistan. Services have been held in their home towns in Kansas, Nebraska, and Vermont as well as by colleagues and friends in Afghanistan, South Africa, Nicaragua and Cambridge.

“I am proud that Cristi was associated with MSH, their international aid work, and the friendship and camaraderie she had with Amy and Carmen,” said Mike Gadue, Cristi Gadue’s father. “These fine young women are representatives of America’s best and brightest; they worked in the lion’s den to advance the cause of improved health care for women and children, and did so with a smile and respect for the host nation they served.”

Memorial fund established
MSH has established a memorial fund to honor Cristi, Amy, and Carmen to carry forward their work. Contributions to the Gadue-Niebling-Urdaneta Fund may be sent to MSH, 784 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139 or online at www.msh.org.

Below are biographies of the three women:

Cristin Gadue

Cristi Gadue, 26, joined MSH in 2000, directly out of college. Her ability to quickly grasp the issues underlying MSH’s work and her capacity for getting things done led to her rapid advancement to greater responsibility. Within two years she was managing proposals, maintaining a focus on both technical and administrative levels. In 2003, Cristi was selected to receive the prestigious Paul Alexander Fellowship, which she elected to use in Afghanistan, working on the REACH Program to rebuild access to basic health services in underserved areas. She made a great contribution in a short time and was asked to join the REACH team as Reporting and Communications Officer—the main point of contact with USAID and other organizations. In this role, she gathered information from her Afghan and expatriate colleagues and shaped it for use by those agencies and donors concerned with Afghan health. She had recently taken on another major task—monitoring the budget for this complex development program. Cristi accepted this challenge with the high spirits and resourcefulness that typified her work and her life.

Amy Niebling

Amy Niebling, 29, began working in MSH’s Communications Office in 2004. Having recently completed her dual master’s degree in international and intercultural communications, she wanted to apply the experience gained through student placements, internships, AmeriCorps service, and media and marketing positions. At MSH, she brought energy and enthusiasm to the public health concerns underlying MSH’s work. She understood the need to make MSH’s message visible to a larger audience and had a flair for creating new approaches conveying these messages. Amy dug into her assignments with zest and was a vocal and productive member of a team. Soon she was promoted to a higher position, and in January of this year, she accepted her first MSH overseas assignment: to see, learn, and contribute to the REACH Program in Afghanistan. The striking photographs she sent home—especially of Afghan children—are a lasting testimony to her exceptional talent and her rare ability to connect with everyone she met.

Carmen Urdaneta

When Carmen Urdaneta, 32, joined MSH as an Information Officer in 1999, she was fluent in three languages, had a graduate degree in international health, and presented a portfolio of writings and photographs from work in Latin America and the United States. At MSH, she was initially responsible for communicating the challenges and achievements of two large, multicountry projects. In this role, she shaped what could have been dry reports into persuasive accounts. Carmen brought her unique skills to MSH projects in several countries, most notably when she was lead writer, editor, and photographer for MSH’s EQUITY Project in South Africa. With unflinching commitment to social action, she breathed life into communications about MSH’s international health work. She told the stories of ordinary people—young people living with AIDS, small struggling health organizations, community leaders committed to improving the health of their neighbors. Her trip to Afghanistan was to help REACH develop a communications plan, bringing alive the drama, challenge, and inspiration that Carmen found there.