A Christmas thank you from our Board of Directors We would like to take this opportunity to thank each one of you for all the support that you have provided to the women of Ethiopia during 2018. Throughout the year we have continued to work hard to realise Dr Catherine Hamlin’s dream for every Ethiopian […]...
In the 2018 financial year, we came several steps closer to achieving Dr Catherine Hamlin’s dream – and yours – of a fistula-free Ethiopia. Here’s a quick rundown of achievements in Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia’s three program areas: Treatment, Prevention and Rehabilitation, plus what we need to do next. These remarkable results were made possible by […]...
Walk in her shoes Imagine you are a twenty-five year old woman living in a small rural town in Oromia, eastern Ethiopia. Here, the land is characterised by rugged mountain ranges and plunging gorges, hampering access to essential healthcare services. As an expecting mother, you would have difficulty finding help from medical professionals. Five per […]...
The UN’s sustainable development goals provide a vision for a better future for all. Here’s how our work fits in. Imagine you’re a young woman who’s gone through days of labour, delivered a stillborn child, then found you’re leaking urine or faeces uncontrollably through a hole in your vagina. Every obstetric fistula is a personal […]...
A dark time Yeshi was just a teenager when she suffered a severe obstetric fistula, due to an obstructed labour 20 years ago. The experience was so traumatic, she does not talk about it. What we do know is that her bladder was destroyed and the nerves in her legs damaged, leaving her with difficulty […]...
A horrific – preventable – childbirth injury During High Tea for Hamlin season, we are always blown away by the support we receive from community groups who host events to raise funds and awareness for the work of Dr Catherine Hamlin and her team. The Rotary Club of Claremont in Tasmania held a High Tea […]...
The long labour has severely damaged Tekiya, she suffered a double obstetric fistula and her legs were swollen which made her unable to walk....
One of the pioneers of the global safe motherhood campaign, Dr Barbara Kwast, has been visiting Dr Catherine Hamlin to congratulate her and the staff of the Hamlin College of Midwives on the 10 year Jubilee of her midwifery college in Addis Ababa. “It’s astonishing that Catherine has been here for nearly 60 years now, […]...
Sister Wude started her nursing career 27 years ago, driven by a passion to care for the women and children in her community. Wude completed her studies in Cuba, before working in a government hospital in her hometown of Bahir Dar, in the north of Ethiopia. “I studied nursing to realise my life dream of […]...
“Our purpose was united, we all wanted to support the wonderful work of Catherine Hamlin. Each day of our trip was even more amazing than the last.” – Caroline So why did I choose to travel to Ethiopia? Saying ‘yes’ is something that I have been trying out lately and it has certainly changed my […]...
Tblets, 22, from Tigray in Ethiopia’s far north, is in her fourth and final year of training at the Hamlin College of Midwives. When she graduates, she will return to a remote area of the region, to work as a midwife, as a way of preventing fistula and other childbirth injuries. “I wanted […]...
A life-time of caring I was privileged to spend time with Dr Catherine Hamlin in Ethiopia recently as she was nearing her 94th birthday. Catherine first came to Ethiopia almost 60 years ago. She still remembers the warnings from the other medical staff that: “the fistula patients will break your heart”. That was at the […]...
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