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By Kwamboka Oyaro
When the Hamlins left Australia to set up a midwifery school for nurses at the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa in 1959, they had no idea that treating fistula patients was going to be the major part of their posting.
They did surgeries to repair fistulas and their work reached Emperor Haile Selassie, who visited the hospital (named after his last daughter Tsehai) in the early 1960s, according to Dr Catherine Hamlin’s autobiography The Hospital by the River. Concerned with what he saw, the emperor asked Reg, “Why do my women get fistulas?”
“It’s not your women, Your Majesty, it is your country, because you haven’t got enough roads and hospitals for these women to get help when they need it,” Reg said.
My Beloved People
The Emperor responded: “I’m so glad it’s not my women. I thank you from my heart for your generous services to my beloved people.” Over the years, many leaders, including celebrities, have expressed the same views about the Hamlins and their work — and gone ahead to assist the hospital to the benefit of many women. Some of the more prominent ones include Princess Beatrice and showbiz queen Oprah Winfrey. When US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Ethiopia recently, she was scheduled to visit the hospital.
Oprah once interviewed Catherine in her show and wrote her a cheque to build a research centre. Later, she travelled to the hospital to open the Oprah Winfrey Centre for Women of Ethiopia, within the hospital.
Years later, fistula treatment is still sought by hundreds of women as Ethiopia is mountainous and health facilities are yet to reach every crook and serve women ravaged by poverty.
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