"A Walk to Beautiful"

I have come across this documentary several times and finally took the time to watch it last night after I found it is available to watch for free at

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beautiful/program.html

It is called "A Walk to Beautiful" and is a documentary about Ethiopian women who have suffered from a medical condition called obstetric fistula. This condition results from childbirth complications where labor is obstructed and can last from several days up to 10 days. The baby is usually stillborn and the woman is left with incontinence of bowel, bladder, or both. This not only is physically uncomfortable, but it also causes the women to become social outcasts. It is truly heartbreaking to see the stories of women whose husbands have left them and whose own mothers will not allow them back into their homes. Obstetric fistula affects an estimated 100,000 women in Ethiopia alone. General hospitals often turn these patients away as they often do not have the means to pay and their conditions are bypassed so that the limited care available can be given to more severely ill cases. Drs. Catherine and Reginald Hamlin founded the hospital in the 1970's and though her husband passed away in the 1990's, Catherine continues to serve patients faithfully at the fistula hospital. In an interview, Dr. Hamlin explains why fistulas are so common in Ethiopia particularly:
"I think it's because Ethiopia is a huge country—as big as France, Spain, and Portugal together—and it's poor so it's not roaded. There are not enough roads to contact women who live in remote villages, and there are escarpments and mountains that women can't traverse. It's a tourist's paradise, but for the woman in obstructed labor it's a terrible situation. Women can't get help quickly. We also haven't got enough hospitals, doctors, or nurses to overcome this problem.There are 145 obstetricians and gynecologists for the whole of Ethiopia. For [a country of] 77 million people, that's just a pathetic figure—145 for the whole country. And most of these are in Addis Ababa, which is absolutely disastrous for the country women. They have nobody. Most of our patients are from the countryside, of course."

I love this story especially because Dr. Hamlin is a follower of Christ and her medical work is done joyfully as a labor of love for the women of Ethiopia. I pray that the Lord will bless her work of compassion and touch these women in the way of not only salvation of their physical bodies, but also of their souls.