The Phebe School of Nursing runs under the umbrella of Phebe Hospital, funded primarily by the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.  It is the largest school within the combined "Phebe Training Programs" (Registered Nurse; Certified Midwifery; Lab Technician; Nurse Anesthetist), averaging 200 students per year.
 
Phebe Hospital is the area’s equivalent of a Primary Health Provider in the United States.  The hospital is part of the country's medical training program with medical interns on site and with visiting international students and staff.  Its training programs are within a quarter-mile walking distance of the Rehab Center.  
 
The hospital is the surgical site for the women and girls participating in the Liberia Fistula Project and is their primary care provider through its clinics.  Students at Phebe have direct contact with the fistula survivors throughout their training.  The staff and students are dedicated, persevering with very little. 
 
Some of the school’s teaching material dates back to the war years of the 1990s, when many of the materials were carried by staff, on foot, to Monrovia and stored for preservation.  The school and hospital have come a long way since those years.  The Ebola crisis set the entire nation back but, thankfully, that is in Liberia’s rearview mirror. 
 
Dignity:Liberia has provided some of the items needed by the school.  The Ministry of Education requires that the school have "The Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine."  We provided two copies of the most recent edition.  We would very much like there to be enough copies for an entire class to have access to utilize simultaneously.  If you would like to help the school, please contact us.
 
To learn more about the Phebe School of Nursing, please go to their web site.  

One of the courses taught to fistula survivors at the Rehabilitation Center in Phebe, Liberia is Pastry Making.  The students learn how to measure and mix dry ingredients, oil, water, etc.  Those who can read and write can jot down the recipes.  Those who cannot, will memorize them.  As part of the commencement ceremonies, the graduates receive “starter kits” and money to help them set up shop somewhere. 
 
An incredibly tasty treat that they learn how to make is Laughing Balls.  These are made from doughnut-like dough, rolled in benne seeds, also known as sesame seeds, and then deep-fried in oil.  High fat and sugar is my dream treat!

Look closely at the slideshow pictures of the girls making laughing balls.  They are mixing ingredients and rolling dough on an outside table.  They are heating the benne seeds in a pot that is set on a charcoal flame.  Similarly, they are frying the pastries in a pot heated on a charcoal flame. 
 
The classroom conditions are changing.  In February, we received news that the Rehab Center had completed construction of a new education building.  Each teacher provided us with a wish list of classroom teaching aids.  We want to give you an opportunity to be part of modernizing the education building by providing the following items for the pastry classes: 
 
Cake Decorating Book, Paperback, $9.96
Photo guide to cake decorating, $15.03
8-piece cake decorating set, $10.07
Stainless steel 5-speed stand mixer with bowl, $49.99
KitchenAid hand mixer, $55.99
Large silicone muffin pans, $9.99
 
In order to purchase the item from our Amazon wish list, click on a hyperlink.  When you get to the shipping information fields, you should see an option to mail your donation directly to us.   Please act fast!  We are shipping a container of supplies this fall and our cut-off date for receiving supplies is August 31, 2017. 
 
We are also accepting monetary donations to go toward the purchase of an electric oven and a freezer.  To give to one of these big-ticket items, go to our Giving Page and make a donation, noting where you want your gift to go.  Gifts to Dignity:Liberia are tax deductible.  Thank you so much for your support! 
 
By the way, if you make a batch of laughing balls, please let us know how they turn out by posting pictures and comments to our Facebook page.

One of our board members, Linda Thornsberry, also serves as Director of Women on Mission at First Baptist Church Lee’s Summit, Missouri.  The women are interested in access to clean water around the world and funded a well in Guatemala about three years ago.  Verna, one of the group’s members asked, “Where’s our next well?” 
 
Verna has heard many stories about Liberia over the years from Jane and Jim Park, Kathi’s parents.  With Linda’s involvement in Dignity:Liberia, her interest in Liberia has increased.  Verna asked if the Rehab Center in Phebe needed a well, but fortunately, the center has water.
 
However, the Director of our NGO office, Emile Sam-Peal, knew of a group of three villages, collectively known as Cooper Town that needed a well.  Their only source of drinking water was a river in which they also bathed and did their cleaning.  Emile had noticed a number of the villagers hard skin problems, possibly due to the multiple uses of the river water.  After making further inquiries, Emile reported that it would cost $2,850 to build the well.
 
Over the course of the year, the 10 to 12 members of Women on Mission saved $1,700 toward the well for Cooper Town.  Following Christmas, they met their goal.  It was time to build a well in Cooper Town.
 
Emile’s well maintenance man, Varnay, dug the well.  There are no roads going to Cooper Town.  It is a three-hour hike through the bush; part of the trek involves crossing a river on a log.  The entire Cooper Town community was involved in constructing the well.  They carried all the supplies and equipment by foot.  Even little children pitched in, carrying bags of cement on their heads.   
 
The day before Linda returned to the United States from Liberia, Varnay stopped by the guesthouse, the home base for our dignity advocates, to give Linda a report on the completed well.  He gave her pictures of the project and provided a bottle of very clear water that he drew from the well!  Daniel S. Cooper, pastor of Faith Baptist Fellowship Cooper Town (as well as a schoolteacher) accompanied him. 
 
Cooper Town has a well because Verna and a small group of women are determined that people have access to clean water.  As it turns out, the three villages that make up Cooper Town have a population of 2,500.  For the cost of about $1 per person, 2,500 people now have easy access to clean drinking water! 

In traditional Liberia, palava huts are gathering places for important discussions, and casual gatherings.  The American Cooperative School, Monrovia that I attended in the late 1970s, had a palava hut.  The guesthouse at our Monrovia headquarters has a palava hut where we can sit in the shade and catch a breeze while we discuss the next day’s plans or just kick back and relax.  Most rural villages have a palava hut.  It is a place of community, a place of sharing.

Our blogs are a digital palava hut of sorts, where we invite you to hear about our trips and our memories of when we lived in Liberia.  You learn about our exciting plans and the progress we’ve made toward accomplishing our goals.  We hope our blogs also open your eyes to some of the pain and joy experienced by the fistula survivors.
 
Because ours is a virtual palava hut, we cannot see who has joined us.  We know people have stopped by, but we don’t know if they’ve lingered, or hurried on their way.  So please do us a favor and like our posts.  Take us to your own “palava hut” by sharing our posts to your Facebook page.  If you are curious about something in a blog, or if you have information pertaining to it, please let us know.  Comment on our web site.  We would love to hear from you.    
 
Let’s palava!

Tomorrow is Independence Day in the United States.  Much of America celebrates with parades, picnics, inspirational speeches recalling our forefathers and those who have served in the armed forces.  Of course, patriotic music is a part of the celebrations.  John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, with the trill of flutes and percussion of cymbals, is one of my favorites.  All of this capped off by colorful fireworks lighting up the night sky!  Thoughts of July 4th led to thoughts of the National Anthem and, as I hummed its tune, it occurred to me that the terms “the free” and “the brave” also applies to fistula survivors.

It takes guts for a girl to hold her head up after her family kicks her out her home because they cannot stand the stench caused by her constantly leaking urine and feces.  It takes determination to leave a familiar village, to move to a distant hospital and live on a ward with women who are from different tribes who don’t speak the same language.  It takes incredible bravery to go into an operating room and withstand a doctor’s poking and prodding with instruments to stop the leaking.  For those whose first surgery is unsuccessful, it takes courage to await a second (and sometimes a third) operation.
 
Those whose operations are successful are free from the stigma of the smelly “pee pee” and “poo poo” disease.  They are free to move about, no longer needing to sit on a bucket to catch their body fluids.  After completing a successful course in a trade at the Phebe Rehabilitation Center, they are free to earn a living and be independent, should their family and community continue to reject them.   
 
They are so grateful to be free, they sing about it.  In the video made during the 2015 commencement, you will hear the survivors sing “We Thank You Lord,” in which they thank God for their doctors, their trainers, their donors and for being healed from their sickness.