Grief in Ethiopia as trailblazing Australian doctor dies | Hacker News Reader

Grief in Ethiopia as trailblazing Australian doctor dies

bbc.com

309 pointstagawa39 comments

For those who wouldn't click the URL, I just want to state that the good doctor died at 96 possibly due to old age related complications and this story has nothing to do with COVID-19.

Thank you!

Thank you for saving many clicks! Pandemics are a great excuse for clickbaits!

How is the title clickbait?

TBH, right now any death reported in the news is equated as a result of COVID19. At least I equate it so. Hence, it is a clickbait from my POV.

And then folks wonder why nobody takes words like click-bait seriously anymore. It's people like you.

Is a very interesting history in any case, unrelated with covid but inspiring. For those hesitating to click, It deserves a read IMHO.

Very glad to see this on Hacker News.

I had the fortune to meet her, as my dad was the architect of the new expanded hospital that opened in 1999. Amazing woman.

Sydney Morning Herald obituary here : https://www.smh.com.au/national/gynaecologist-named-a-nation...

I had a chance to meet her as well, around 15 years ago, at a fundraising event for the foundation. She was the real deal. Amazing woman. Amazing dedication to a worthwhile cause.

I remember a Nova documentary about this... https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/a-walk-to-beautiful.html

Edit: Also available on YouTube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HfPV7FEy6o

Thank you for posting this. Documentaries like these shed light on the saints that exist in this world.

To find such a clear North Star in your life, and then fully commit to it, in a totally foreign culture no less, and to know your work has literally life changing impact on others overlooked by society, must feel amazing.

Meanwhile, I push pixels for a living. Sure gives you an inferiority complex.

I first learned of her work from the book "The Hospital by the River". It's well worth reading. It can be bought directly from the Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation website, thus helping the charity.

https://store.hamlin.org.au/collections/books-alpha-asc/prod...

The HQ of her foundation is a few kms from me in Sydney. If you want to donate, there's links here:

https://hamlin.org.au/

https://fistulafoundation.org/

I drive passed it regularly.

In the midst of so much confusion, this was a truly beautiful, necessary read.

Wow, what a touching story about an amazing woman and human being.

I really wish I could make a difference like that.

Stories like this one usually give me bunch of really uneasy thoughts and feelings. It is difficult to avoid comparing own life path and choices to other people's - she achieved incredible things, saved lives and will be inspiration for many. And here I am, sitting countless hours behind screen,doing all these irrelevant things, writing code which maybe will increase someone's profit insignificantly. It is like it is.

But working under Catherine Hamlin are a bunch of people doing "irrelevant" things. Someone has to empty the garbage bins in the wards, but the hospital wouldn't work without that person. You don't have to run the show to be making a contribution.

You can, however, choose the circus you join. If you feel meh about what you do and you feel meh - or worse - about the organization you do it for, it's normal to feel uncomfortable.

I've always wondered how an infosec specialisation could contribute to this kind of organisation instead of working exclusively for massive companies. I just have not seen the possibility yet I guess.

As I always say: somebody had to fix Einstein's car.

> Stories like this one usually give me bunch of really uneasy thoughts and feelings.

Stories like these are exactly that - stories. Nobody is a saint. Not in this world.

People said the same thing about mother teresa and she turned out to be an awful person who enjoyed seeing the suffering of others.

Gandhi? MLK? [insert any name of a media's "saint"].

Ultimately, we find out that they were all too human and the sainthood bestowed on them by the media is bullshit.

> And here I am, sitting countless hours behind screen,doing all these irrelevant things, writing code which maybe will increase someone's profit insignificantly.

The true heroes are the ordinary people who labor away in anonymity. There has never been a truly good person on the BBC or any major "news" site.

It does not follow that because all people are flawed that she was a monster nor does it follow that since some people have been portrayed inaccurately that she was.

>The true heroes are the ordinary people who labor away in anonymity. There has never been a truly good person on the BBC or any major "news" site.

This is fetishizing following different biases as being an individualist.

If the mainstream press reports 2 + 2 = 4 saying it's 17 isn't brave its a failure of analysis.

> It does not follow that because all people are flawed that she was a monster

It does not follow because you just built up a straw man. I didn't say she is a monster, I just said nobody is a saint.

"Ultimately, we find out that they were all too human and the sainthood bestowed on them by the media is bullshit."

> If the mainstream press reports 2 + 2 = 4 saying it's 17 isn't brave its a failure of analysis.

In this case, it's the media who is saying it's 17. As I pointed out, every "saint" created by the media propaganda has been shown to be far from it. From gandhi to mlk to even lincoln, hitler, mao, you get the idea.

This is shallow analysis that adds little to the discussion.

This is even shallower and adds nothing to the discussion. Perhaps we should agree to disagree in our shallowiness.

Do you work with information? Re-read the article and notice how many of her great accomplishments were directly diagnosing and treating patients, which you can't do, and how many were making sure the right information went to the right place, which you can.

Yes, information has a role everywhere, but the article only mentions a telegram and "nobody knows about these women". What did I miss?

First example:

But the Hamlins knew it was both fixable and preventable - as they told Ethiopia's then ruler, Haile Selassie.

"He said, why do my women get this terrible thing where they can’t control their body waste?" Dr Hamlin told the BBC.

"We said, it is nothing to do with your women, it is to do with your lack of doctors in the countryside when they need to have a Caesarian section."

Second example:

But the Hamlins would not only help repair the damage; they also gave Mamitu - who has no formal education - a new career: she is now an internationally respected fistula surgeon, having been taught by the Hamlins.

Third example:

Then, in 2007, Dr Hamlin saw one of her initial dreams finally fulfilled: the Hamlin College of Midwives opened.

Thanks for your detailed reply. As I said, information has a role in everything, but I don't think these examples are especially about information, in the sense of an IT-worker.

1. Ethiopia's ruler needed someone credible to tell him.

2. Training a surgeon is about skill and knowledge, more than information.

3. How is opening a "College of Midwives" about information, except in the general sense that education involves information?

Getting the right information to the right people is key to success. There are people as skilled and knowledgeable as these doctors who can only have great impact when they work together with information systems.

Absolutely, IT has a general role everywhere. Dare I say on par with language, writing, printing press, etc.

She seems similar to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Pfau

One of the few true saints.

sad to see such a great person go

My heart goes to her family during this tough time. Her contribution will never be forgotten.

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