As a new group of Dignity Advocates experiences the beauty and hospitality of Liberia, my mind wanders back to our September 2018 visit to the Phebe Rehabilitation Center.  We carried granola bars and similar snacks with us, but they were unnecessary.  While we interacted with some of the fistula survivors, others, along with Sao and Leemue were busy preparing a feast for us!
 
They prepared our meal in the open-air kitchen.  The next day we visited the kitchen while they worked.  I was impressed at the skill with which they peeled vegetables with long, sharp knives.  (By the way, the survivors grow the vegetables in a garden just off the kitchen.)  The huge pot of rice, a Liberian staple, was prepared on a charcoal stove.  The fish, served with the head and eyes (traditional in Liberia), came from a nearby river.  The laughing balls were made by the Pastry Class students. 
 
A table was set in the palava hut and loaded with heaping bowls of food.  It was as delicious as it looked and smelled.  I had seconds and was delighted when we were encouraged to take the laughing balls back to our hotel.  My only regret was that the fistula survivors did not join us for the meal. 
 
I was touched that they went to such an effort for us and was moved that they shared their limited provisions.  Our hostesses are not wealthy.  
 
I’ve no doubt that this month’s team will be welcomed with the same friendliness. 

Fistula Survivor’s Name:  Beatrice Yohnson
Interview Date:  September 4, 2018
Interview Location:  Phebe Rehab Center, Bong County, Liberia
Interviewers:  Kathy Beth Stavinoha and Kathi Gutierrez
 
Beatrice Yohnson was born in October in Doala in Monrovia.  She has five brothers and five sisters.  They all had the same parents: one ma, one pa.  She is the second oldest.  She had five children.  Two died.  Her other three children, ages five, seven, and eight, are living with her mother in Monrovia.  Her husband and father died are dead; they were sick.  She is 35 years old.  She has gone through 6th grade. 
 
Her fistula was not the result of prolonged labor, but was the result of an operation at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, in 2017.  She was heavy and had a big tumor.  As they cut out the tumor, they cut something that caused her fistula.  Then she “pee peed” on herself. 
 
She always had to wash.  She was always crying.  So she asked God to help her.  The Redemption doctors sent her to Phebe Hospital.  One of her brothers took her there. 
 
She has had five surgeries for her fistula, but her fistula is not gone.  She is “leaking small” (has incontinence) now.  When she goes back to Monrovia, she will open a pastry shop.  For now, however, she’s going to stay at the Rehab Center – she is not going to graduate.  She has no friends at the Rehab Center, only God and us.
 
Only her mom knows she has a fistula.  Her friends don’t know because she was ashamed.  She wants help.  Only her mother, Dignity:Liberia, and God are helping her.   
 
She would send friends with fistulas to Phebe. 
 
Beatrice is a fistula survivor.  “In Jesus’ name, Amen!”  Hear her story in her own voice.

*My comment that fistula is caused by a midwife, was a reference to a tribal birth attendant who is medically untrained.