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New Students Realising Catherine’s Dream

The 2019/20 academic year at the Hamlin College of Midwives has begun, with the College welcoming returning students and a new batch of 24 first-year students eager to begin their Bachelor of Science (Midwifery). Opened by Dr Catherine Hamlin in 2007, the Hamlin College of Midwives is the realisation of a long-held dream of Catherine and her late husband, Dr Reg Hamlin. The College provides full scholarships to all of its students and focuses on quality teaching, compassionate care and practical training.

New horizons

At the end of September the Hamlin College of Midwives welcomed the new first-year cohort, consisting of 24 high-achieving students hailing from four different regions of Ethiopia. Among this year’s first-year students are two girls from the Gambela region of Ethiopia; these girls are the first ever students at the College from Gambela. The College continues to provide unparalleled opportunities to students from rural Ethiopia. In their first week at the College, the first-year cohort received a first-hand introduction to Hamlin’s work as they visited Hamlin facilities and were introduced to the three pillars of Dr Catherine Hamlin and her team’s work: treatment, rehabilitation and prevention.

Hana, aged 18, is one of the new students from the Gambela region. She is very proud to represent Gambela: “I am very happy to be the first to join Hamlin from my region.” For Hana, beginning her four-year midwifery degree is the realisation of a life-long dream. “I decided to join the Hamlin College of Midwives because studying health has been a dream of mine for a long time. When I learned about Hamlin’s amazing work and saw the breathtaking grounds of the College, I became more passionate to study midwifery and contribute to Hamlin’s cause,” says Hana.

Hana joins all 90 students at the College who have fully commenced their classes for the 2019/20 academic year.

A college to prevent fistula

Catherine posits that the key to eradicating obstetric fistula is in training best-practice midwives. She believes that if every pregnant woman has access to a midwife then the likelihood of an obstetric fistula is reduced to almost zero. Hamlin’s prevention program trains and deploys midwives of exceptional quality, who become leaders in their industry. By deploying them at rural Hamlin-supported Midwifery Clinics, Hamlin Midwives help solve the great need for quality maternal healthcare for rural women. In the past year alone, Hamlin Midwives delivered 30,004 babies!

After four years of intensive training at the College, including practical learning steeped in the Hamlin Model of Care, Hana and her classmates will be deployed back to their regions and work in Hamlin-supported Midwifery Clinics near their hometowns. Since its inception, the Hamlin College of Midwives has produce 170 graduates who are highly respected in their field.

You can help realise Catherine’s dream of a midwife for every woman by contributing to our Christmas Appeal today. Your gift of $200 can help recruit a student from a remote area – like Hana – to study at the Hamlin College of Midwives.

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