By Katrina RoeWednesday 2 Mar 2011Hope MorningsSocial JusticeReading Time: 1 minute
The story of Doctors Catherine and Reg Hamlin has been documented in the book Hospital By the River. It tells of their work with Ethiopian women at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.
For those unfamiliar with the term, fistula is a condition that can affect women after they’ve experienced a traumatic birth, usually when the baby is stillborn. It leaves women leaking urine and sometimes faeces and causes them to become social outcasts, rejected by their husband (and sometimes their family as well) and unable to participate in day to day village life. Reg and Catherine Hamlin’s dedicated work repairing obstetric fistulas has given thousands of Ehtiopian women a chance to experience a normal life again.
This weekend, a new documentary screening on SBS tells the ongoing story of the maternal health work that continues in Ethiopia today, with Dr Catherine Hamlin still very much involved.
Annette Bennett is from the Hamlin College of Midwives and she features heavily in the documentary called Lighting a Candle, A midwife for Every Mother.
Listen Now – Annette Bennett speaking to Hope 103.2 from Ethiopia
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