Healing Lives

Book excerpt: 'A story of friendship like no other... breathtaking in its tenderness and inspiration.' The Hon. Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO Two incredible women, an unlikely friendship, and a united mission to save the lives of some of the world's poorest and most desperate women. Healing Lives reveals the untold tale of Mamitu Gashe, Dr Catherine Hamlin's protégée, and the inspiring almost 60-year friendship between the two women. In 1962, three years after Drs Catherine and Reg Hamlin arrived in Ethiopia, an illiterate peasant girl sought their aid. Mamitu Gashe was close to death and horrifically injured during childbirth after an arranged marriage - at the age of just fourteen to a man she'd never met - in a remote mountain village. The Hamlins' Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital saved her and, in return, Mamitu dedicated her life to Catherine's mission. Under the iconic doctor's guidance, Mamitu went from mopping floors and comforting her fellow patients, to becoming one of the most acclaimed fistula surgeons in the world, despite never having had a day's schooling. This is the moving story of the friendship that saved the lives of over 60,000 of the poorest women on earth. SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2021