Lighting a Candle: A Midwife for Every Mother

(E) Ronin Films DVD

This DVD is about Dr Catherine Hamlin’s work at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospitalwhich she founded with her late husband Dr Reg Hamlin OBE. Dr Catherine Hamlin, who is now in her late 80s, is still following her vision to make sure every Ethiopian mother has a safe delivery and a live baby.

The DVD looks at her work and the work of her staff, which includes a surgeon who was a former fistula patient. It also includes information about the Hamlin College of Midwives, which was set up to train young midwives so that they can go back to their communities to ensure the safe delivery of babies and the care of the mothers.

TheAddis AbabaFistulaHospitalis professionally run but by no means conventional. Medical staff and patients kiss each other most enthusiastically, there is dancing in the hospital aisles and patients who cannot be cured completely are retrained, some even become nurses’ aides at the hospital.

The DVD is classification exempt because it is for educational use, but Ronin Films recommend parental guidance. You can’t really cover topics like obstetric fistula, which is a condition caused by obstructed, unassisted labour which results in a stillborn baby and an incontinent mother, without showing some confronting situations.

Lighting a Candle is an inspiring story of what can be achieved when people have love and vision.

Katy Gerner