She might have traced the sweetness of her child,
Raised him up,
Felt the weight of his infancy comply to her breast,
But the thorns of Africa drive deep:
In the groaning travail of birth she was cruelled,
In the joy of yielding to life she was abandoned
And curled in an atrophy of shame,
Was soured,
Became untouchable.
A poem for Catherine Hamlin
Catherine Hamlin, an Australian Doctor, established a hospital in Ethiopia in 1974 with her late husband to treat women who had been damaged by the complications of childbirth. Because of their wretched injuries these women were commonly cut- off from their families and communities, often permanently.So far the hospital has successfully performed fistula repair surgery on more than 34,000 women.