As mentioned in the July 16th blog, Steven Stauffer, Gender Coordinator for Peace Corps/Liberia, joined Dignity:Liberia to hold a menstrual hygiene cup demonstration and menstrual hygiene awareness activity on February 27.  The event was held at Effort Baptist Church in Paynesville. 
 
Prior to conducting the event, Steve was kind enough to give me an interview.  He started with the U.S. Peace Corp in 2005, first serving in Burkina Faso.  In 2007, he transferred to Ethiopia.  He had been in Liberia since September 2019.  [Note:  the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated his return to the United States.  He continues to work with his partners in Liberia through teleconferencing.]
 
Menstrual hygiene is one of core areas that Peace Corps/Liberia is working on to make sure that girls have all of the knowledge, the skills, and the attitudes necessary to keep them in school.  One of the reasons why girls drop out of school is that they do not have proper menstrual hygiene products. 
 
Peace Corps Liberia partners with a number of organizations, such as Dignity:Liberia, which helps them achieve their goals.  They want to give girls a sense of dignity so they can stay in school and don’t have to drop out of class for 3 to 5 days a month because they’re having their periods.
 
Steve worked with Girl Up Clubs and the Big Sisters Program to get the word out about the distribution we held.  These organizations had previously gone through the menstrual hygiene awareness activities and there was some built-up demand for the menstrual cup distribution because of that. 
 
We are grateful to Steve and the Peace Corps for working with us.  As he said, when girls stay in school, the whole country benefits. 

Interview audio:

During the fistula survivor interviews, you may have noticed a number of ladies sporting rhinestone face stickers.  These were applied at the palava hut where numerous activities were coordinated by the dignity advocates.
 
A part of any trip to the Phebe Rehab Center involves arts and crafts projects, as well as other activities with the survivors.  So many of the survivors spoke of their friends (and in some cases, their family members) abandoning them because of their fistula.  In the confines the Rehab Center, they formed new friendships and found acceptance.  Some are healed and some are still leaking “small small.”  Though each survivor’s experience was different, there were common threads in all their stories: the leaking caused by the fistula, of course, the abandonment by others, the shame they felt, and the isolation.
 
It is important for the survivors to interact with and be accepted by others.  It is also a joy to get to know these young ladies and for them to get to know us!  Boy did we get to know each other!  In addition to getting their faces decorated, they learned how to make bracelets and necklaces.  The big project that they all seemed to enjoy, was decorating T-shirts with stenciling, jewels and beads.  Some cut fringe around the bottom of their shirts and used beads to weave them together.  Others used stencils to paint them and jewels to further decorate them.  The shirts were quite elaborate and quite beautiful.  The girls clearly enjoyed letting their creative juices flow!  We left them with quite a few supplies to make more shirts.  
 
All this activity was probably a welcome interlude from the boredom of having little to do.  The Rehab Center had not received funding in several months.  Teachers were laid off and there is no material for sewing or soap making or to practice any of the other skills they had learned.  
 
Back at the palava hut, things were happening!

Fistula Survivor’s Name:  Albertha Zerinsaye       
Interview Date:  February 25, 2020
Interview Location:  Phebe Rehabilitation Center, Bong County
Interviewer:  Kathy Beth Stavinoha
Assisted by: Emma K. Katakpah
 
Twenty-year-old Albertha Zerinsaye is from Nimba County.  She has 5 sisters and 1 brother (some of her siblings have different mothers).  She speaks Mano.  She wants to tell God thank you for the help you’ve been giving to us. 
 
Albertha was in labor for one day, but the child was too large to be born vaginally.  She went to E&J Hospital in Ganta where she had a C-Section.  The baby did not live.  The next day, she started pee-peeing on herself.  She has no other children. 
 
She has had her fistula for four years.  She has had 4 fistula-repair surgeries but she is not dry.  Her most recent surgery was during the second fistula campaign in January 2020. 
 
She learned cosmetology at the Phebe Rehab Center.  She also learned soap making, tie-dye, and bread-making.  When she gets her materials, she can go into business.  She plans to return to Nimba, where will live with her parents.
 
When she came down with fistula, she and her boyfriend were together, but he left her when he found out about her fistula.  She felt bad and thought she was the only one who had this sickness.  She cried every day and stayed at the house.  She went to Ganta Methodist Hospital where a doctor told her they had a training center in Gbarnga.  When she came here (the Rehab Center), she made friends and is happy now.   
 
She would tell a pregnant friend that when she is in pain (in labor), she should not go to a midwife (tribal birth attendant) but should go to a hospital to give birth because the midwife will cause the problem (fistula). 
 
When she goes home, she will not be dependent on anyone because she has learned plenty of things at Rehab and she is able to take care of herself. 
 
Albertha Zerinsaye is a fistula survivor.  Hear her story in her own words.

Fistula Survivor’s Name:  Rebecca Garyozon        
Interview Date:  February 25, 2020
Interview Location:  Phebe Rehabilitation Center, Bong County
Interviewer:  Kathy Beth Stavinoha
Assisted by: Emma K. Katakpah
 
Rebecca Garyozon was born in Grand Bassa County.  Now 23, she recalls playing football (soccer) and kickball as a child.  She has one brother and six sisters.  They help their mom around the house.  Rebecca helps with cooking and cleaning. 
 
She speaks only English – no dialect.  She’s been through the 8th grade and would like to go back to school.  Her favorite topic was Social Studies.   
 
Rebecca got her fistula through childbirth.  She was in pain (labor) for one week.  Her mother took her to a country midwife (no medical training).  They “try, try,” but "the baby never came outside" (the baby was stuck). Then she took her to JFK [Hospital], where they performed a C-Section (“did the operation”).  When she went home, she started experiencing the pee pee coming down on her.
 
Having a fistula made her feel bad.  It made her to not go around her friends and made her stay in her house.  Her mom supported her, helping her stay clean.  Her friends didn’t stay with her. They avoided her.  Rebecca told me, “she go far away from me.”  She’s had one fistula repair surgery and is dry. 
 
She learned baking and soap making at the Phebe Rehab Center.  She prefers making soap, which she plans to sell.  She will go back to Red Light and sell things in the market.
 
She would advise someone in labor to go to straight to the hospital.  If she had a friend with fistula, she would support her.  The friends at Rehab are good friends.
 
Rebecca is a fistula survivor.  Hear her story in her own voice: