Unsung Kiwi Hero

Reg Hamlin, a New Zealander with an outstanding record of service, is almost unknown in his homeland.  The reasons are that he devoted 34 years of his life to ground-breaking surgery in a third-world country - Ethiopia - and that he never sought publicity for himself.  He was honoured by the Haile Selassie, the last Emperor of Ethiopia, and by the British Government.  His story deserves to be better known in New Zealand.

His great grandparents, James and Elizabeth Hamlin, arrived in New Zealand as Anglican missionaries in 1826.  James was present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi; he persuaded some Maori chiefs to sign, as he was fluent in the language and trusted by Maori.

Reg and Catherine in the early years at the hospital
Reg was born in Napier but at 13 won a scholarship to study at Cathedral Grammar School in Christchurch.  He had a fine voice and sang in the Cathedral Choir.  He trained first as a teacher, then as a doctor, working as a house surgeon at Christchurch Hospital before joining the navy and serving as surgeon-lieutenant on HMNZS Gambia.

After the war ended in 1945, Reg took a post in obstetrics and gynaecology at Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Sydney.  Catherine (Nicholson) was at high school during the years Reg was involved in the war.  In due course she qualified in medicine and met Reg when she was employed at Crown Street.

In 1959, some years after their marriage, they went to Ethiopia to establish a midwifery school in the General Hospital in Addis Ababa.  The school was set up successfully and the first intake of midwifery students graduated.  Unfortunately, the Ethiopian Government decided not to continue to train specialist midwives on the grounds that the use of ordinary nurses would be more cost-effective.

However, they had been confronted by the dreadful plight of women with fistulas.  In response, they set about learning how to perform the delicate surgery, and, in a relatively short time, they perfected the technique, achieving a very high success rate.  As news of their work spread, more and more patients arrived, putting pressure on the limited facilities of a general hospital.

Reg Hamlin standing in front of hospital under construction

In 1968, while they were visiting New Zealand, CORSO, the principal New Zealand aid agency at the time, offered them ten thousand pounds towards a new purpose-built hospital, which, after formidable difficulties – including a revolution – was finally opened in 1975. In this way, Reg’s vision, “to light a candle for Africa,” was fulfilled.

The hospital went from strength to strength, with increasing numbers of patients being operated on and the development of techniques to achieve a high rate of success even with those women with severe complications.  The hospital in Addis Ababa became a centre of excellence for fistula surgery; surgeons from other countries came to learn the techniques that would enable them to relieve the plight of women in their own countries.

 

When Reg died in 1993, Catherine vowed to continue the work.  Facilities at the hospital have been extended and upgraded, regional fistula hospitals have been established, a rehabilitation village has been built for the small minority of women for whom no cure is possible, and training of village midwives – Catherine’s ultimate dream – has begun in earnest.

Catherine has been indefatigable in visiting Britain, Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.  Her purpose has been to encourage contributions for the short and for the long term.  In this way, the work of the Hamlins can go on until the fistula problem is eradicated in Ethiopia and elsewhere.