Catherine hamlin women she has helped
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Catherine Hamlin at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital surrounded by some of the patients she devoted her life to. As she did so, a bullet came in through the roof and hit a cushion where she had been sitting. With the hospital functioning flawlessly, she could have retired at 69, having already made a huge difference to thousands of women.
Many people would have returned to Australia, but Catherine stayed.
“God was with me in difficult times,” smiles Catherine.
When Dr. Reg Hamlin passed away in 1993, Catherine faced a hard decision. No one would have thought less of her for leaving Ethiopia. In 1960, during a coup attempt by the head of the imperial bodyguards, Catherine was in the labor ward delivering a baby, when she heard gunfire.
She and Reg had set up the hospital, made future plans, and faced countless obstacles together. Thanks to their compassionate and adventurous spirit, what was supposed to be a three-year work assignment has turned into a life-long mission.
“I believe God guided Reg and me to Ethiopia. Catherine Hamlin doing daily rounds at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hopsital.
As news of a cure spread, many more women came seeking treatment.
On top of the mammoth challenges the Hamlins were dealing with, living in Ethiopia at the time could be quite dangerous, too. My feeling for them, my compassion for them, is unending.”
“My dream is to eradicate obstetric fistula. I just love these women.
In addition to that first one, five regional hospitals have since been established for fistula surgery.
Originally from Australia, Hamlin and her late husband Reginald Hamlin moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1959. “To see a girl from abject poverty and sadness and sorrow suddenly become a new person, that’s the joy that fistula surgeons get when they cure them. Catherine Hamlin has dedicated her life to fighting the stigma and suffering that Ethiopian women with obstetric fistula have to face.
She held their hands during check-ups, she soothed the nervous ones before surgeries and cheered up those not yet cured with the quiet, calm demeanor that she is known and loved for. At 96, she has helped more than 60,000 patients get treatment and opened specialized fistula hospitals all over the country, providing unparalleled care and giving hope for a new life to those who were traditionally shunned by their own communities.
Born in a big family in Sydney, Australia, in 1924, Catherine Hamlin attended college in her hometown and graduated from The University of Sydney School of Medicine in 1946.
Some walked for days to reach Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia; others borrowed money or begged to raise the bus fare, praying they will be allowed to board despite their smell. We were searching for more fulfilling work in a developing country and we answered an advertisement in The Lancet medical journal for gynecologists needed in Addis Ababa. This is my home and these people are my family,” says Catherine in her autobiography “The Hospital by the River,” first published in 2001.
Surrounded and comforted by her Ethiopian family and friends, she carried on, as new patients from all over the country continued to arrive at the hospitals.