A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Dignity:Liberia’s president, Kathi Gutierrez, informing me that a discarded cigarette caused a fire at the site of House of Hope and Dignity, Dignity:Liberia’s maternity waiting home. It sparked a blaze that scorched much of the grounds.
No lives were lost, and the home, as well as the separate kitchen, were not damaged. However, the entire nursery burned up. This hit me hard. When I served with the building team in October, my job was to help Friday gather cuttings from Varney Goyah Town and a couple of sites in Monrovia and plant them in recently dug soil. Susie and I dug the dirt, filled plastic bags, and added the cuttings following Friday’s direction. They’ve been watered regularly since then and have grown. I feel as if a part of me is gone.
As hard as this news is for me, new plantings can easily be collected and restarted. The plantings, which will be used to keep the building cool and decorate the grounds, will be a bit delayed, but that’s all.
Yes, the nursery was destroyed, but it will thrive. Not all women who develop a fistula during prolonged labor can have the damage repaired. More often than not, they end up losing their baby and having hysterectomies. A part of them is gone. Their nurseries are empty. Unlike our plant nursery, they cannot restart their pregnancies. The goal of our maternity waiting home is to prevent such sad outcomes.
No lives were lost, and the home, as well as the separate kitchen, were not damaged. However, the entire nursery burned up. This hit me hard. When I served with the building team in October, my job was to help Friday gather cuttings from Varney Goyah Town and a couple of sites in Monrovia and plant them in recently dug soil. Susie and I dug the dirt, filled plastic bags, and added the cuttings following Friday’s direction. They’ve been watered regularly since then and have grown. I feel as if a part of me is gone.
As hard as this news is for me, new plantings can easily be collected and restarted. The plantings, which will be used to keep the building cool and decorate the grounds, will be a bit delayed, but that’s all.
Yes, the nursery was destroyed, but it will thrive. Not all women who develop a fistula during prolonged labor can have the damage repaired. More often than not, they end up losing their baby and having hysterectomies. A part of them is gone. Their nurseries are empty. Unlike our plant nursery, they cannot restart their pregnancies. The goal of our maternity waiting home is to prevent such sad outcomes.
| With your help, the nurseries of expectant mothers will also flourish. Please consider making a gift - $5, $25, or $100 will go a long way towards helping us reach our goal. Click here to help. I would be remiss in not mentioning that a woman who lived on the property behind ours lost her house. We are so glad that her life was spared, but we ask for prayers for her. Thank you. | |
Kathy Beth Stavinoha
Kathy Beth recently retired from St. Edward’s University after over 21 years of service. She lives in Austin, TX with her husband and cat. She graduated from high school in Monrovia, Liberia in 1977.
RSS Feed