Fistula Survivor’s Name:  Wonseh Darbee
Interview Date:  September 4, 2018
Interview Location:  Phebe Rehab Center, Bong County, Liberia
Interviewers:  Kathy Beth Stavinoha and Kathi Gutierrez
 
Wonseh Darbee was born and raised in Nimba County, in 1982.  Her pa died but she still has her ma.  She has two brothers and one sister.  She is the big sister in the family.  When she was a child, she played soccer, told jokes, and cooked.  She was about 10 years old when she started cooking.  She went through the 8th grade in school and loved studying science and history.  She also loved math.  She is unmarried.
 
Wonseh went to a clinic* to deliver her baby and was in labor for four days.  She delivered her baby on the 5th day, but the baby had died in her womb.  The following day, “the pee pee started coming.”  She had her fistula for 2 years.  She has had three fistula repair surgeries but is still leaking a bit.  She wants a fourth surgery, but the doctors said she needs to rest, then return for the operation.
 
She would tell her friend, when she gets pregnant, to go to the hospital when she is ready to deliver.  The midwife** causes the problem to come – the pee pee and poo poo problem. 
 
The worst thing about having a fistula is that you can’t go among your friends.  A fistula is shameful to women who have them.  No friends would come around.  Her brother helped her but he was the only one besides Dignity:Liberia. 
 
She likes to bake.  At the Phebe Rehab Center, she studied pastry making.  She likes baking bread.  She can also make bar soap.  When she returns to Nimba, she will do everything!  Her #1 skill is pastry.
 
Wonseh will tell her friends and parents that she is a fistula survivor!  And she is!  Hear her story in her own voice. 

*Most likely a local, traditional clinic
 
**A tribal birth attendant who is not medically trained

Fistula Survivor’s Name:  Patience Wheager
Interview Date:  September 4, 2018
Interview Location:  Phebe Rehab Center, Bong County, Liberia
Interviewers:  Kathy Beth Stavinoha and Kathi Gutierrez
 
Born in Grand Bassa County in 1993, Patience Wheager is the youngest of seven children.  She has four sisters and two brothers.  Her pa died in the war but her ma is still living.  Her husband left her when she got her fistula.  She has a six-year-old daughter (born September 21st) who currently lives in Monrovia with Patience’s aunt.  After graduation, Patience plans to see her daughter in Monrovia and move to Buchanan.
 
She got her fistula in 2014.  Her labor started on a Wednesday but the baby became stuck half in and half out.  Her family took her to the hospital.  Because her people are poor, they had no car for their journey; they slept on the road.  The baby passed away on Thursday and was taken out at the hospital to prevent injury.  After this, she started leaking; she and her clothes were wet.  She also developed paralysis in her legs and feet, requiring her to hold a stick to walk.  She came to Phebe in 2015. 
 
She has had only one fistula repair surgery.  She is not yet dry; she is still leaking.  She will return to Phebe after graduation from the Rehab Center for an additional surgery.  If she ever gets pregnant again, she needs to deliver in a hospital, as she has stress incontinence.
 
She would tell her friend to go to the hospital to have her baby so she wouldn’t get a fistula. 
 
Patience chose to learn pastry making for her trade.  She can make laughing balls, sugar cookies, corn bread, chocolate cake, pigs in a blanket, and short bread.  She will sell her products in the market.  “When you can bake something, you can eat and you can get money.”
 
Patience is a fistula survivor.  Hear her story in her own voice. 

One of the highlights of any trip we take to Liberia is buying quilts and quilted wall hangings from the “quilt ladies,” Maude and Alice.  The colors they choose are vibrant and the designs often represent things Liberian.  Their work is unrivaled.  These two women survived Liberia’s civil wars making and selling quilts.  They now teach others how to quilt, so they too can make a living.   
 
As much as I enjoy looking at their beautiful handiwork, I love visiting with them and getting to know them.  Maude shared a story about the birth of her granddaughter that both impressed me and humbled me.
 
When Maude’s granddaughter was born, she weighed about 2 lbs, so they took her to the hospital where she was placed in an incubator.  Each incubator held three to four babies.  The baby’s mother was also hospitalized.  Each bed in the ward had about three women per bed; Maude’s daughter shared a bed with two other women.  Maude felt she could give her better care at home and declared her intention to take her home.  The hospital said if she took her daughter, her grandbaby had to go also.  She made the decision to take both of them home.
 
She wore the baby tied to her chest by fabric to keep her warm, and she did not wash her so she wouldn’t get cold.  In order to feed her granddaughter, she squeezed milk from her daughter into a spoon and fed the baby a little at a time.  When her daughter’s breast got swollen, a woman told her to heat some pawpaw (papaya) leaves and apply them to the breast to reduce the swelling. 
 
I was astounded at Maude’s instinctual wisdom and touched by the love that kept her granddaughter alive.  The girl is now six years old.
 
To quote Alice, Maude was “guided by God.”

By Kathy Beth Stavinoha