Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia surgeon Mamitu Gashe specialises in repairing the most complex obstetric fistula. She decided to become a fistula surgeon after she almost died in childbirth at the age of 16. At the time she was a child bride who couldn’t read or write – but after treating her, Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin saw something in her, training her to become a world-renowned surgeon.

Mamitu recently told her inspiring story to the BBC World Service, available online here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csyhhp(0:00 – 13:47 mins)

Listen to Mamitu share her touching personal story from being a fistula patient herself when she endured so much pain, her journey to becoming one of the world’s top fistula surgeons, and how so many of the other specialists she works with at Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia were once patients themselves.

’‘We know exactly what they are going through, we’ve been through that pain and it gives them [patients] a tremendous sense of ease when we tell them we were once just like them…’’ Mamitu Gashe, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia Surgeon.