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The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope Paperback – April 15, 2005

by Catherine Hamlin (Author), John Little (Contributor)

75 customer reviews

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When gynecologists Catherine and Reg Hamlin left their home in Australia for Ethiopia, they never dreamed that they would establish what has been heralded as one of the most incredible medical programs in the modern world. But more than forty years later, the couple has operated on more than 20,000 women, most of whom suffer from obstetric fistula, a debilitating childbirth injury. In this awe-inspiring book, Dr. Catherine Hamlin recalls her life and career in Ethiopia. Her unyielding courage and solid faith will astound Christians worldwide as she talks about the people she has grown to love and the hospital that so many Ethiopian women have come to depend on. She truly is the Mother Teresa of our age.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rich in detail, full of jarring contrasts [wealth and poverty for example], and profoundly inspiring, this is missionary memoir at its best. Be warned: You'll be moved to open your heart and your wallet." (Cindy Crosby Christianity Today 2005-05-01)

"Fascinating memoirs of Dr. Hamlin and her late husband, Dr. Reg Hamlin, who have been saving women's lives in Ethiopia since 1959. Though some medical descriptions are not for the faint at heart, extraordinary stories of the once hopeless ""fistula pilgrims"" are inspiration for other Christian doctors called to far corners of the world." (Tamara Rice Outreach Magazine 2005-06-01)

"Almost four decades after her work began, it's understandable why Hamlin has been called 'The new Mother Teresa for our age' by the New York Times, and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. This fascinating account of Dr. Hamlin's work will break your heart -- and offer hope that even the worst circumstance can be changed if we care enough to help. Keep the Kleenex handy." (Cindy Crosby Faithful Reader 2005-05-01)

"Rich in detail, full of jarring contrasts (wealth and poverty, for example), and profoundly inspiring, this is missionary memoir at its best. Be warned: You'll be moved to open your heart and your wallet." (Cindy Crosby Christianity Today 2006-10-31)

About the Author

As well as being made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Dr. Hamlin received the ANZAC Peace Prize, and the coveted Gold Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Monarch Books (April 15, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0825460719
ISBN-13: 978-0825460715
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 75 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1620 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Medical
- #4487 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Religious
- #148650 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

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Judy W.

Compassion Personified

April 24, 2015

Verified Purchase

This true story of Reg and Catherine Hamlin's medical missionary work in Ethiopia is a God Story. Why else would two people dedicate their lives to inventing surgeries that could give the lives back to young women who were left with no control over urine or bowels, having been left that way due to long, unassisted labor that resulted in death of the babies? Husbands would abandon them as the odor surrounding these women was unbearable. Sometimes even families would abandon them. The two doctors raised the money to build the hospital, they trained the caregivers and surgeons who would help them, and surgeons who would go to other countries where such fistulas are common. Thousands of young women have their lives back because of the compassion and persistent work of the Hamlins.

One person found this helpful2 people found this helpful

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c langridge

A Story of Love and Hope

September 1, 2015

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...and this is the third, after the book "Catherine's Gift" and the documentary "A Walk to Beautiful." These three offerings, two books and a dvd, tell a story of suffering, courage, desperate hopelessness, and the tiny, brilliant light shining in the ocean of darkness which is "The Hospital by the River." Almost every single patient who can get here, no matter how they manage to come (many walk for weeks or even months), from anywhere, is able to get the help she needs to be well and whole. The problem - endemic, tragic, easily preventable, largely unaddressed - is female gynocological fistula. This is the story of the first hospital dedicated to helping these women, the two doctors whose extraordinary compassion and determination brought it into being, and the unforgettable girls and women who have been given back their lives.

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You are blessed with overwhelming riches. (me, too. Really)

May 30, 2008

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It is said that in some parts of the world the foulest curse that can be uttered is "May you be born again as a woman!" and after reading this story, I now understand why. We in the developed world have no idea what it would be like to be an Ethiopian Woman: betrothed as a toddler, married at nine (the groom promises not to have sex with his bride until she is "old enough." - ha, ha.), pregnant at twelve and left for four or five days, utterly alone, to try and give birth unaided. As in the developed world, many babies are not in a position to be born easily, but unlike here, there is no sterile hospital and a doctor ready to perform a C-section. A girl has no option but to push and push and push until she gives birth to her baby (who has been dead for days by this time) or until she dies.

Death would be the kinder route, once you learn about the mission of the Doctors Reg and Catherine Hamlin. As the poor undeveloped, undernourished girl pushes for days, the corpse of her child causes horrific injuries to the woman's body. She is left leaking urine and often, feces, with no control over her body whatsoever. In a land where water is scarce for drinking and nonexistent for bathing, and where a man wouldn't dream of trying to buy some rags for his wife to keep clean, life becomes a torment that a woman prays would end every day. She is no longer allowed indoors or near other people. Her husband, who has to have at least one son to secure his own future, abandons her and finds another child-bride. Her mother (if she hasn't died in childbirth herself) will probably allow her to return to her home village, but she will be banished to a ragged lean-to that she builds herself with castoffs. Speaking of castoffs, that is all she will be allowed to eat and wear. So she lies completely still, because of an old wives tale (even though there are few old wives) saying that a girl who lies still enough will eventually heal. She may lie this way for twenty years or more, and healing never comes.

If a miracle happens, she hears about the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa. Her injuries, which we now now are called Fistulas, will be healed and she will be able to return to her people and her village, ready to begin life again. The Doctors Hamlin, devout, old-world Christians, dedicated their lives to these poor, forgotten souls. Once Fistulas were as common in Europe, Australia and the US as they are in Africa today, but minimum marriage ages and proper care during childbirth have so solved this problem that the Hamlins had to develop methods of surgery to cure this condition. In the past sixty or so years, they operated upon and cured at least twenty thousand women, all while the world passed them by.

Dr Catherine Hamlin describes a childhood in an Australia that is long gone, and a life that is as full of hardships as any western doctor has ever lived, but she speaks of her life with joy and a devotion to G-d and the women that have no voice, even in their own homes. Dr. Hamlin, devoted and saintly as she sometimes is, can drive you (me) batty with her old-fashioned ways. She and her husband had a motto: these women want what every woman wants -- a live baby in her arms. They were horrified by the 'free love' of the 1960's, and spoke with great reverence for the last Emperor of Ethiopia, before he was overthrown.

I loved the book, and was moved to tears at the plight of these poor young women. I admired the dedication of the Hamlins, especially during their early years in Ethiopia, operating in the corner of another hospital, with thousands of injured young women coming to them, and their attempts to create a hospital of their own. I admired them even more during the years of war and revolution in Ethiopia, while they tried to get supplies and continue their work while under constant threat of death.

If you want to be touched and discover once again how lucky you are (and if you can read this, you are darned lucky, I guarantee it), then this book will make you feel gratitude and compassion for your fellow human beings, no matter where they live. If you think that this is just some sob story, then read the book anyway -- you need to have your soul touched, and I guarantee that this is the book to do it.

10 people found this helpful11 people found this helpful

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Amazing

June 17, 2005

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This book tells a remarkable story. It is the autobiography of Dr. Catherine Hamlin and the work she and her husband have done to establish a hospital treating obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. What an amazing story. I had never heard of obstetric fistula till a few days ago. I did not know that so many young women (girls, really) in some parts of the world have child birth complications that cause holes in the vagina through which feces and urine leak constantly, leading to the women becoming abandoned pariahs. And the repair surgery costs only about $300 -- but this was essentially unavailable until the Hamlins came to Ethiopia in 1960. What wonderful work they have done, along with their wonderful, competent Ethiopian staff and colleagues. In addition to that basic theme, Hamlin tells an engrossing story about the overthrow of the emperor, the years of communist regime (many of her friends were murdered), and then the current improved situation. What a story! This book about her faith and her work is well worth reading. I hope many, many people enjoy this book and are inspired to donate to this hospital.

22 people found this helpful23 people found this helpful

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Brenton Morley

I don't usually like doctor books

March 15, 2017

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This is an inspiring but heart-breaking story, well-written, of the hospital in Ethiopia built by two courageous Australian Christian doctors.
I don't usually like doctor books, but this one is much more than that, and I have been truly enthralled with it. How blessed we are, to live in a country based on Chrisian principles. What a contrast with the place where this hospital was needed and was given.

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Meredith M. Chase

Wonderful story of courage and devotion to the most unfortunate of women

November 19, 2013

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A must read for those who want to know more about the more remote places in Africa and those brave souls who have given their lives to make this world a better place. Drs. Hamlin left their homes in the U.K. to live and work in Ethiopia. During their early years in service as missionary doctors they devised and perfected a simple surgical procedure that would transform the lives of thousands of women in that country, India and other countries in the world where child marriages result in childbirth at a very young age causing devastating effects. Now a standard medical procedure throughout the world, Dr. Hamlin is still teaching other doctors so they can help these most unfortunate of women.

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The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope Paperback – April 15, 2005

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