A mother nurtures and cares for the deepest places of your heart.
Much more than just giving meals and a bed to sleep on; mothers make a place for you. A mother sees the best you can be and accepts you for who you are. A mother is there when you’re hurt or afraid. She supports your dreams. She is a cheerleader, a coach, a trainer and your biggest fan.
'Emaye' means mother in Amharic. Dr Catherine Hamlin is 'Emaye' to her grateful patients, hospital staff and midwifery students. Mother - the universal word that describes the self-sacrifice and love a mother gives for not only her own children but those she cares for.
Oprah Winfrey stated that 'biology is the least of what makes someone a mother'.
“They are all precious to me. For every patient that comes to us we try to give them all the love, care and expertise that we have to help them to get better and back to a normal life.” Dr Catherine Hamlin
Catherine has demonstrated all these qualities for over fifty years of caring for obstetric fistula patients. She welcomes women without judgement, when they are at their most vulnerable. She cares for them and restores their lives, giving them back their dreams. The dream to again be a wife, a mother, a valued and productive member of her community. Noone is prouder than Catherine when a patient returns to village life cured, and resumes her place at the heart of her family.
She has fostered and encouraged past patients not only in their journey to be cured, but to become nurses aides, business women, and in the case of well-known Mamitu to become a world class fistula surgeon.
Catherine encourages, supports and celebrates the success of graduates from the Hamlin College of Midwives. As these remarkable young women journey to remote parts of the Ethiopian countryside to provide first class antenatal and childbirth support, Catherine is there to inspire them and cheer them on.
Catherine cares for her "daughters" from the moment they enter the hospital. They are without hope. Depressed and incontinent, their lives and family have been torn apart by their birth injuries. They are offered physiotherapy, nutrition, counselling and fistula surgery. It is not a given in African hospitals that patients will be fed, both literally and psychologically, in such a holistic way. As Catherine says, 'we look after the whole patient, not just the hole in the bladder’.
This Mother's Day we celebrate not only Catherine's amazing contribution but the contribution of all our mothers.
What a great way to honour your mother, by giving her a Gift from the Heart. Our range of cards will warm Mum's heart, while providing nurturing and practical assistance to mothers less fortunate. From the gift of a fistula operation through to physiotherapy, nutrition, clothing, bedding and shoes. We can all truly change lives this Mother's Day.
Cards are available pre-printed, as a PDF for you to print at home, or as an eCard.
Discover more beautiful Mother’s Day gifts in our special collection.
Especially on Mother's Day, we express our heartfelt sympathy to anyone who has experienced the loss of their mother or their child.