A Hospital by the River

After my post a while back on social justice issues, I have been thinking and praying about what it is that our family can focus on. At the same time as I was having these thoughts, a friend lent me the book "Catherine's Gift". "Catherine" is Dr Catherine Hamlin who, along with her husband, founded the Obstetric Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

For more info on this subject, I suggest you watch this trailer of a movie called "Walk to Beautiful".

http://www.engelentertainment.com/walktobeautiful/trailer.html

Catherine Hamlin is in her 80's now and is still operating - a force to be reckoned with by all accounts. Her husband, Reg died in 1993 but Catherine carries on. They started treating women in Ethiopia almost 50 years ago and in that time have restored more than 32,000 women from wretched despair to joyous new life.

This hospital places value on womanhood and endeavours to restore them in every way possible, giving them dignity and a new hope. I cannot begin to describe how deeply this cause touches me. Particularly, as I am a woman who has benefited from the best that western medicine has to offer in bringing six babies into the world, complication free. I am humbled and grateful beyond words.

To whit, I have contacted their foundation and will be holding a fund-raising event where I will screen this movie sometime in the next few months. I've also asked if there are other ways people can donate other than money i.e. any items of clothing etc that these women could use to help start them in their new life. When you read the book or watch the trailer, you'll understand that every item of clothing they previously owned has had to be discarded. I'm a bit nervous about venturing down this path, but I'm more afraid of sitting on the sidelines doing nothing.

Here are the books: