If you are a regular reader of our blog, you know that a team will be traveling to Liberia next week to lay the foundation of House of Hope and Dignity, a maternity waiting home.  We are partnering with volunteers from NGO Office Manager Matthew Walters’ church, First Baptist Church Oldest Congo Town. 
 
Typically, the blog before a trip includes an introduction to the team members.  I find it inspirational to hear what causes a person to invest time and money in a trip to Liberia.  This time, however, you will meet most of the team after the trip.  All except Susie. 
 
This is Susie’s third trip to Liberia.  I met her last year at the airport in Newark, when we served together on a team.  I’m looking forward to serving with her again, and I am pleased to introduce her to you in her own words.

Meet Susie:
I love doing missions, loving on people and helping others. I also love meeting new people and seeing and experiencing different places and things.

I feel we’ve been able to help some of the lovely ladies in Liberia with their personal needs. Being female myself, I identify with the importance of these needs.
  
After becoming involved with Dignity:Liberia, it occurred to me that my own mother was a victim of fistula at the age of 16. Like many of the young ladies in Liberia, she was living at home with her parents after she got married, and my father was drafted into the military.  She became pregnant, and attempted birth at home like her mother and many others did in those years.  The doctor was called, and present, but delivery of my 9 ½ lb. sister was so difficult that it left my mother with a fistula.  Thank the Lord she was later able to have surgery, to be repaired.
 
I am a retired corrections officer; I spent 24 years with the Missouri Department of Corrections.  I just celebrated my 75th birthday in southern Louisiana, doing Disaster Relief with the Southern Baptist Association.  I enjoy physical activity, and the Chainsaw and Flood Recovery Teams in particular, in Disaster Relief.
 
During the past 12 years I’ve been on a Project Hope mission team to Managua, Nicaragua.  Besides donating to help them afford many ministries, I especially enjoy physically helping construct the little houses in the villages we build.  
 
Helping to build the medical facility in Liberia, like the houses in Nicaragua, would be so rewarding, knowing I have had such an impact on these peoples’ lives for years to come.
 
I’m anxious to see what part of the building activities I can actually physically do.  Then stand back and see the accomplishments.

I have a bird feeder and a couple of squirrel feeders in my front yard.  I love watching the birds and hearing their chirping.  The squirrels are entertaining to watch, particularly as they try to climb up (and slide down) the pole to the bird feeder. 
 
Last year a raccoon figured out how to open the metal trash cans I used for storing bird seed and corn, so I started storing the bags in my laundry room till one of the bags had pantry moths that led to a pantry moth infestation. 
 
After the pantry moth experience, I decided to move things back to the outside storage, and bought a Sterilite footlocker for that purpose.  Less than a week after I bought it, I found the latches raised and a huge hole where an animal had chewed through the plastic.  Not to be thwarted, I bought a small Sterilite box that I placed inside a chicken-wire enclosure.  One day I left the door to the enclosure open, and something (I think a squirrel) chewed a hole in the lid. 
 
I next tried storing the damaged box inside the damaged footlocker.  Not smart!  When I went to retrieve a bag of birdseed, I found a hole in the side of the inner box!  Experiencing one setback after another has been very discouraging - enough that I’ve thought of abandoning my efforts to provide for the wildlife that visits my yard. 
 
After suffering from her own fistula, Dignity:Liberia’s founder, Kathi Gutierrez, felt the calling to help combat obstetric fistula in Liberia, where she had previously lived.  Knowing the emotional and physical pain she had suffered while having ready access to medical help, she knew that Liberian girls and women with fistula had it much worse. 
 
In the more than ten years that Dignity:Liberia has been working in Liberia, both the United States and Liberia have elected new presidents.  There has been the worldwide COVID pandemic, which is still ongoing.  Liberia also suffered through the Ebola pandemic which not only killed thousands, but temporarily led to some prejudices against the country.  Both during the Ebola virus and during COVID, funding earmarked for fistula campaigns was reallocated to combat the viruses.  More recently, many foundations in the U.S. have shifted their focus from maternal healthcare to COVID relief and other causes. 
 
Despite all this, Dignity:Liberia never considered abandoning its plans to build its maternity waiting home, House of Hope and Dignity.  In fact, a team is heading there in less than a month to lay the foundation for the home!  Some plans can’t be thwarted.   
 
To learn more about House of Hope and Dignity, click on this link or scan the QR code in the photo gallery above.
 
Thank you for your support!

​My husband and I have been watching the long-awaited 2020 Summer Olympics.  As I write this, they are more than half over.  Dreams have been realized and hopes dashed.  We watched tears roll down the cheeks of some competitors, as what was expected to be an easy win turned into defeat.  Some athletes felt shame for having let down the expectations of their nations.
 
This made me think of the fistula survivors I’ve met.  They went into labor, expecting an easy birth and a newborn baby to care for and love.  However, what was expected to be an easy delivery was instead a stillbirth, leaving the woman incontinent, in tears, and sometimes requiring a hysterectomy.  Some survivors have commented on seeing disappointment in their husband’s eyes.  They feel ashamed for letting down their families.
 
During the team sports, such as gymnastics, some team members did poorly while others excelled.  Even while nursing their own regrets at what might have been, the gymnasts still supported their teammates.  They took genuine pleasure when their friends did well.
                                                                                                                              
This made me think of the Rehab Center.  Some of the fistula survivors have had successful fistula repair surgeries.  Others have not.  While still suffering as they continue to leak, the survivors are sincere in their joy when a friend is healed.
 
For me, the defining moment of these Olympic games was witnessing the reaction to 46-year-old Oksana Chusovitina perform her vault.  Her first vault was stunning, but the second one did not score enough for her to advance from the qualifying rounds.  In appreciation for her inspirational effort, the arena erupted with applause and a standing ovation from the only audience in attendance - coaches, fellow competitors, journalists, and the judges.  The unifying spirit in that moment is what the Olympics are all about.
 
For Dignity:Liberia, the interest and support of friends around the globe has been inspiring.  Friends in Liberia, the United Sates, the U.K., Australia, Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and Norway are united in their support of Dignity:Liberia’s goal to eliminate obstetric fistula in Liberia.  Our first step toward that goal is to build a maternity waiting home in Todee District in rural Liberia.  Help us realize our dream.  Please make a donation today toward the construction of House of Hope and Dignity.  Your support means so much!  Together we can do it!  Thank you!

“Don’t touch!”  I don’t know how many times I heard those words from my mother when I was a little girl, as I reached for a knickknack on someone’s coffee table. 
 
Since moving to Texas, I’ve become a touchy-feely person.  I’ll put my hand on a person’s arm or back when talking to them.  I’ve become a hugger.  I like to pet my cat and dog.  Not only is their fur soft, but the act of touching them is calming. 
 
I recently read a story in the Bible about a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years.  She was considered ceremonially unclean.  Not only did she suffer physically, but she was a social outcast.  I’ve read this story numerous times over the years.  After hearing about the experiences of several fistula survivors, I was struck by the similarities.  Not only did their condition cause them pain, but also emotional scarring.  Imagine never being touched because of a medical condition you can’t control. 
 
I think we all have a better understanding of what that is like after having to follow COVID protocols for more than a year.  To protect ourselves, we avoided social contact with others and when we did have to be in public, we maintained a distance of six feet.  Family members who had been exposed to the virus had to isolate in a different part of the house.  The restrictions took an emotional toll on us.
 
Even though an obstetric fistula is not contagious, hundreds of Liberian women and girls are avoided by their friends and family because they are leaking.  Hundreds!  Every day!  Their stories may cause you to cry.  If you are touched by their pain, I hope it inspires you to do something to help. 
 
Dignity:Liberia is building a maternity waiting home to minimize the likelihood of expectant mothers developing a fistula, and a clinic dedicated to treat those who develop this debilitating condition.  To learn more.  click on this link or scan the QR code.
 
In October, a team from the United States is flying to Liberia where, along with a team of Liberians, we will lay the foundation for House of Hope and Dignity.  You can be part of that effort.  A donation in any amount, whether $5 or $5,000 will make a difference.  Please open your hearts and checkbooks and give generously to House of Hope and Dignity.  Thank you! 

I love having a small vegetable garden.  Years ago, we built a small enclosure in our back yard to protect my vegetables from squirrels.  Over time, as tree limbs have created more of a canopy over the garden, my plants have gotten leggy and not produced the desired vegetables. 
 
This year I built a raised bed in a new location.  It was a great decision.  I’ve had a bumper crop of cucumbers.  My three vines have daily yielded the short, pickling cucumbers that I love to eat.  I also planted beans (yellow waxed) that are doing quite well.  The Nasturtiums (edible!) are a bushy riot of color.  The only thing that hasn’t fared as well are my tomato vines.  Just 3 tomatoes – hardly a dinner salad.
 
This is all just fun for me.  Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy fresh vegetables.  When my husband first told me how much he prefers home grown vegetables to the store-bought ones, I had no idea what he meant.  I sure do now.  There is also something satisfying about digging in the dirt, watering, and checking for vegetables, but if I’m unsuccessful – as with my tomatoes – I can buy some in the store or at a farmer’s market.
 
At the Rehab Center, due to limited funding, the fistula survivors grow their own vegetables.  On one trip they posed with some huge pumpkins they had recently harvested.  This may seem a strange concept, especially to our readers in the United States.  We are used to a program’s administrators providing food and clothing to those in their care.  However, once House of Hope and Dignity is operational, we will follow the same concept. 
 
You will see that we have included a variety of seed types on our Containers of Hope supply needs Amazon Wish List. 
 
Click on the link to the list and scroll through the items.  Seed options include: corn, collard greens, okra, sweet pepper, and pumpkin.  We continue to help the Phebe Rehab Center and the fistula survivors residing there, even as we begin construction of our maternity waiting home.  Please take a few minutes to review the list and make a purchase.  We need medical supplies, educational supplies, general assistance and yes…items for our maternity waiting home. 
 
Encourage your friends to support us.  We are continually amazed, humbled, and grateful for your support.    

Kathy Beth Stavinoha
Kathy Beth lives and works in Austin, TX.  She graduated from high school in Monrovia, Liberia in 1977.

After my mother passed away in 1982, I found the Mother’s Day advertising on TV to be a painful reminder that I no longer had a mom to give a gift.  Now with email, the reminders show up in my In Box on a daily basis.  It seems that stores and nonprofits – including Dignity:Liberia - all have a Mothers’ Day message.  As painful as such messages used to be for me, I doubt it compares to that of a mother who has lost a child.
 
Most fistula survivors with whom I spoke have suffered stillbirth.  They carried their baby to term only to lose the child following a prolonged labor with questionable assistance from a birth attendant with no medical training.
 
A few years ago, people started wishing all women a happy Mother’s Day.  I felt that took away from all the moms who had gone through the highs and lows of raising a child.  I thought mothers deserved a special day of their own.  I’ve since reconsidered.  I have no children, yet many wonderful children have been in my life: nieces, nephews, children at church, and a number of first and second graders to whom I’ve been a reading buddy.  I imagine the children just want to show love and appreciation to those women who have assisted them along life’s journey.
 
We invite you to comment on this Facebook post with a picture of that special “mom” in your life – whether she’s your mother, daughter, or some other relation (or no relation) to you.  Tell us why she’s special.
 
We also ask that you make a donation to the construction of our maternity waiting home, House of Hope and Dignity, so that instead of a painful reminder, rural women in Liberia will have a joyful celebration of a special relationship on Mother’s Day.

I recently got my second COVID vaccine.  It’s been just over a year since the pandemic took off in the United States, and it seems as if we’ve been waiting for a long time for things to get back to “normal.”  I went to a mass vaccination center for my shots.  As I stood in the quick-moving, but long line, I was reminded of my first trip to Liberia as a dignity advocate.  On that trip, we gave vaccinations and distributed reading glasses at Charles Luke Town.  I remember the many villagers lining up to receive vaccines or glasses, much as I lined up for my shots.  That was nine years ago!
 
While we have engaged in various ministries (menstrual hygiene cup distribution days, sewing reusable menstrual pads, an agricultural trip) over the years, our main involvement, the heart and soul of Dignity:Liberia, has been working with survivors of obstetric fistula, trying to restore their dignity while engaging in craft projects and other fun activities.  We have never lost sight of our goal to combat obstetric fistula at its source by building a maternity waiting home in rural Liberia. 
 
We will soon meet that goal!  In February, many dignitaries attended the ground-breaking ceremony on the future site of House of Hope and Dignity.  The land has been cleared.  Blueprints are being drawn, and soon the yellow trucks (bulldozers) will be at work!  In October, a team of dignity advocates will go to Liberia to help with the building.  In partnership with First Baptist Church, Oldest Congo Town, we will be sifting sand, laying rebar, pouring the foundation, and placing plumbing.   
 
We have been waiting for this a long time.  We are so grateful to you for your unwavering support, prayers, donations, for spreading the word about us, and waiting with us.  

Kathy Beth Stavinoha
Kathy Beth lives and works in Austin, TX.  She graduated from high school in Monrovia, Liberia in 1977.

Last month, much of the continental United States was paralyzed by severe winter weather.  Snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures brought a lot of businesses and transportation to a standstill.  Even Texas, where I live, was not spared.  In fact, Texas suffered catastrophic damage as much of the state lost power and water. 
 
On February 14th, my husband and I were excited at the prospect of seeing snow in the morning.  When we went to bed, nothing was amiss.  We woke up at 2:00 a.m. to no power and plunging temperatures.  At first, we believed crews were working through the night to restore power.  As the outage continued, we learned that power would not be restored for days.  We were unable to reach help due to the condition of the roads.  We thought our street was the only one affected.  Houses a few streets over had power, and we could see the sky lit up by the lights of the downtown buildings.  We felt abandoned.  We felt isolated.  It was only after everything was over that we learned the extent of the outage and that millions of people were affected, just like us. 
 
The restoration of power wasn’t the end.  As temperatures rose, pipes burst.  People could not stop the leaks, resulting in the need for a massive clean-up.   Some will have a long wait before there will be repairs.  Millions were under a boil water notice. 
 
Perhaps it was because Becky and Kathi were in warm Liberia, for the groundbreaking of House of Hope and Dignity, that my thoughts turned to Liberia and I saw several parallels to fistula survivors.   
 
As their due date approaches, women are excited at the prospect of seeing the baby they have carried for 9 months.  They go into labor not expecting anything will be wrong with their delivery.  When the Traditional Tribal Midwife, who lacks medical training, realizes she’s dealing with a breech birth or other complication and sends her client to a medical clinic, the woman believes things will soon be better.
 
When a woman delivers a stillborn baby, she feels sadness and a sense of loss.  When the leaking starts, there is confusion and a sense of isolation.  More than one fistula survivor told me that she   felt abandoned.  She thought she was the only one with this condition.  It is only after she has fistula repair surgery, through the Liberia Fistula Project, and starts to meet others who suffered from fistula, that she realizes that there are others going through the same thing.  For some of the survivors, fistula repair surgery is not the end.  Some of them are still leaking and are awaiting future surgeries.  
 
During the power outage, help came from dedicated workers and generous volunteers.  Similarly, there are programs in Liberia that aim to heal and rehabilitate those with fistula.  Dignity:Liberia is honored to work with many dedicated Liberians whose job it is to help the women and girls with fistula.  We are also blessed with the support of our generous donors and the assistance of kind-hearted volunteers. 
 
However, the goal of Dignity:Liberia is to prevent fistula from happening in the first place.  That is why we are building a maternity waiting home.  We will soon share more about the progress we are making.  We want our sisters and daughters in Liberia to know they are not alone. 

Drone footage of women going to the groundbreaking for House of Hope and Dignity.

Kathy Beth Stavinoha
Kathy Beth lives and works in Austin, TX.  She graduated from high school in Monrovia, Liberia in 1977.

Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, Dignity:Liberia is not leading a team of Dignity Advocates to Liberia this February.  What a difference from February 2020.  Last year’s team taught over 173 individuals, mostly women, how to sew reusable menstrual pads.  We coordinated a menstrual cup distribution day with the United States Peace Corps.  We selected the land for our maternity waiting home, House of Hope and Dignity, and signed paperwork toward its purchase.  I also had the honor of interviewing a number of fistula survivors for our series, In a Fistula Survivor’s Voice. 
 
This pandemic has caused a lot of plans to be altered, but it has not stopped Dignity:Liberia from moving forward in building House of Hope and Dignity.  Board president, Kathi Gutierrez, and board member, Becky Mueller Huner, left for Liberia on February 3 in order to finalize the purchase of the land.  They will make arrangements to clear the land and meet with an architect.  There will be a ground-breaking ceremony which we’ll share with you at a future date.  Kathi and Becky will, of course, visit the Phebe Rehabilitation Center as well.  Oh, how I wish I could be there!
 
Although I am not physically in Liberia in February 2021, I am reliving my memories from February 2020.  On that trip I also interviewed Emma Kennedy Katakpah, Clinical Coordinator for Fistula with Liberia’s Ministry of Health.  Last April I posted part of her interview, in which she shared Survivor Success Stories.  I thought you would enjoy hearing more of what she had to say as part of this month’s blog.   

Like many Americans, my husband and I include our pets in our Christmas celebration, hanging stockings, and giving them presents.  This year, however, our dog, Russell, wasn’t feeling well on Christmas Day.  We thought he just had an upset tummy and took him to our veterinarian the next day.  She directed us to an emergency veterinary specialty hospital, as Russell had pancreatitis and gallbladder problems.  She first called a hospital near our house, but being the day after Christmas, there was no one to do the ultrasound, so she sent us to one that was farther away.  After he was discharged from the hospital and returned home, I couldn’t help but think how fortunate we are to have these options.  It made me think that many people around the world don’t have access to the same level of care that Russell had.
 
Many women in rural Liberia turn to a traditional tribal midwife (TTM), who lacks medical training, to assist in their delivery.  By the time they or their family or the TTM realize the birth isn’t going smoothly, it has become an emergency.  Unfortunately, rural Liberians often don’t have the option of going to a nearby hospital.  They have to travel a great distance for assistance. 
 
“Farther away” for us was about a 30-minute drive in our car over smooth roads (maybe 40 minutes in heavy traffic).  For the rural Liberian woman, transportation is a big expense.  “Farther away” can be several hours over unpaved roads and paved ones gouged out with potholes.  Travel may be on a crowded bus, in a wheelbarrow, or on the back of a family member.   
 
Once the family arrives at the medical facility, there’s the matter of payment.  Before Russell was treated, we were required to pay 75% of the estimated cost in advance.  For us, it was a matter of providing credit card information.  This wouldn’t be the case for the family arriving at the clinic or hospital.  Cash payment would be required and would likely be a significant percentage of the family’s income.  Even returning for follow-up care is a challenge for the rural Liberian woman.
 
Per the American Veterinary Medical Association, Americans spent $95.7 billion on pet services and products in 2019.  Per PetBusines.com, the average American dog owner spends $153.08 per month on their dog.  If you are one of those Americans, please consider making a donation of just 10% of that amount to Dignity:Liberia for our maternity waiting home, House of Hope and Dignity.  Proper pre-natal care and education is key to preventing a routine birth from becoming a medical emergency that can result in the loss of a child and a fistula. 

Kathy Beth Stavinoha
Kathy Beth lives and works in Austin, TX.  She graduated from high school in Monrovia, Liberia in 1977.