After four years of dedication and study, attendance at hundreds of births and training from expert tutors, 25 newly qualified Midwives graduated from the Hamlin College of Midwives with a BSc in Midwifery on 14 July.
This new cohort of highly skilled young Midwives will make a huge contribution to Ethiopia’s maternal health service and over the coming months will be deployed to Government Health Centers across Ethiopia.
“Saving a mother’s life is not just saving one individual it is rather helping the continuity of a family, community and a generation. You are lucky in constructing a generation because you are midwives, a profession decisive in the nation’s maternal healthcare service. Wish you a successful professional career.”
Dr Mengistu, Hamlin Ethiopia Board Member, congratulates the graduates of 2019
Alongside the graduates, Hamlin academic staff, families, the College community, higher officials and diplomats were in attendance at the graduation ceremony to celebrate their achievement.
This year’s highest scoring graduate was Hosaena Worku (pictured below). Hosaena is from a small rural community in the Amhara region of Ethiopia and her lifelong dream has been to be a health professional. Excited about returning home to start work Hosaena told us she feels confident and ready to start providing quality services for mothers in her community, and to raise awareness of services to the many women living in the most remote rural areas who may not be currently accessing health care. She told us;
‘’Such life-changing work pioneered by Emaye (Dr. Catherine Hamlin) will always be the pushing factor behind the commitment I will exert to prevent fistula and any other birth injuries.’’
Since 2007 the Hamlin College of Midwives has seen 170 highly skilled midwives graduate and be deployed to 66 Government Health centres. Hamlin Midwives are playing a vital role in improving maternal healthcare service in rural Ethiopia, and their work would not be possible without the support of generous donors. Hosaena shared a special message for all Hamlin Fistula UK donors:
‘’I thank you all Hamlin supporters…your generosity is making a difference here in Ethiopia through producing highly skilled midwives like myself committed to serve rural women who don’t have access for professional assistance. I would say keep up supporting Hamlin so that it could reach to many more rural mothers. I promise to realize your objective of preventing obstetric fistula through providing quality maternal healthcare service to rural mothers’’.
