Catherine Hamlin was a great family friend, her work with fistula surgery was well known worldwide. As a family friend she was steadfast and gave advice and constructive criticism in equal measure. Her home in Addis Ababa was latterly in the fistula hospital garden. She loved her garden and would come out to Mulu to choose plants for it. She helped deliver a lot of my family’s children and I can remember her saying “come on Philippa, your not trying hard enough”
She also went down the Muger valley 2000 ft below the plateau where Mulu farm was situated. Her house was on the edge of an escarpment above a quarry. Once when blasting was going off in the quarry, a huge rock came hurtling through the air and landed on the roof of her house and broke through the roof and landed on her bed.
She was famous for her afternoon tea parties and I still make the Anzac biscuits she gave me the recipe for. She and her husband Reg are a well matched pair, both totally committed to their work. Catherine would come up with some exciting idea and reg would say “I think not, dear” and that would be the end of her slightly outrageous idea.
Reg is buried in the war grave cemetery in Addis Ababa. My sons Piers remembers Reg’s funeral, when Mamiti, one of the staff at the hospital leapt into Reg’s grave weeping and wailing. Catherine looked horrified and Piers removed Mamiti from the grave. They were also attacked by large biting ants. This was the moment that Catherine said “I want to go home” so piers and Andrew escorted her there.