I find people have good hearts.  They want to help, but they have to know there’s a problem.  Someone has to tell them.  I recently made a presentation to the Brenham Evening Lions Club about Dignity:Liberia.  Some had heard of Liberia but knew nothing or little about the country.  They certainly had never heard of obstetric fistula.  However, they were eager to learn and were very interested in the pictures and information that I shared.  This made me wonder how our recent Dignity Advocates heard about Liberia and obstetric fistula.
 
Kay Green remembers reading about Liberia in an article in the Southern Baptist Women's magazine, Mission Mosaic.  A friend of hers, Carol Gutshall, contacted Dignity:Liberia’s founder and president, Kathi Gutierrez, who subsequently did a program at the Baptist Home, a nursing facility.  Kay’s ladies group began to sew dresses and reusable menstrual pads.  They later participated in a sewing day at board member Linda Thornsberry's church, First Baptist Church of Lee’s Summit.  
 
Susie Calaway learned about Dignity:Liberia and the obstetric fistula problem in the country from Kay.  They made their first trip to Liberia in 2019 and a second trip in 2020 just before the global shutdown due to the COVID pandemic.  They recently returned from their third 3rd “sewing trip” in March of this year.  Susie also participated in the “building trip” in 2021, when American and Liberian volunteers worked with the paid construction workers on House of Hope and Dignity, our maternity waiting home.  Kay and Susie shared what they learned about obstetric fistula and became part of the solution. 
 
After the recent workshops in Liberia, some of the participants passed on what they learned with other women and girls.  A young lady who attended one of the classes held on the Lott Carey Baptist Mission School campus, taught a class in her community, sharing what she learned.  Similarly, a group of young women who are members of an organization called TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More, attended one of the 2024 reusable menstrual pad workshops in Monrovia and subsequently organized their own a reusable sanitary pad training sessions.  Following a class in Telecom community in Kakata, Margibi County, they received permission from Liberia’s Ministry of Justice to hold classes in women’s prisons.  They shared pictures and video with board member Anne-Marie Mueller.
 
The song “Pass it On” includes the line, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.”  You can be that spark!  Spread the word about obstetric fistula in Liberia and what Dignity:Liberia is doing to combat this injury.  Long-time supporter Miatta Caine recently wrote an article for TLC Africa.  There are other ways to spread the word: repost this blog on your Facebook newsfeed talk about obstetric fistula in small gatherings with friends.  How did you hear about obstetric fistula?  How did you learn about Dignity:Liberia?  Pass it on!

During the reusable menstrual pad workshop, Dignity:Liberia posted a number of photos taken by Matthew Walters and various team members to our Facebook page.  Today’s blog includes favorite photos taken by team members on their recent trip.
 
Dignity:Liberia board member Linda Thornsberry, who led the workshops, told me that on her first Saturday in Liberia, she attended an event sponsored by the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), that included a small market of items made by women and a meeting held by the organization.  Several members gave short talks.  They were interested in Dignity:Liberia and asked Dignity:Liberia’s Founder and President, Kathi Gutierrez, to give a short talk.  Linda spoke with several AWE members after the meeting.  On the following Monday, five or more AWE members came to the Rotary Sewing Workshop in Monrovia.  One of Linda’s favorite photos is of her with one of the students.
 
Kay Green’s favorite picture is one of her with Susie Calaway, dressed for the last day of teaching with their “class necessities” (pin cushions, patterns, etc.).  They are long-time friends who get to share a common love for mankind in faraway lands.  Kay and Susie have missioned together in Hawaii, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Liberia.  Liberians have stolen a piece of their hearts. 
 
Jenneh Wilson does not have sewing skills, but helped by serving as a supply runner, making gift bags, and managing registration. She set up the chairs and fans, got water and food, and helped with sewing as best she could.  Her favorite memory, however, was helping deliver a baby by c-section with Dr. Kebah at Trinity Medical Clinic.  It was a life-changing experience that filled her with love and joy.    
 
Jill Gordon wrote that there were too many touching moments to just pick one.  However, she greatly admired a “creative thinking young man” who showed her weaver bird nests, babies, and an egg.  He then he piled a bunch of lizards in her hand.  She wrote, “He’s destined for great things.”
 
Susie Calaway’s heart is into helping ladies in their pregnancies, and trying to prevent fistulas, so it was a great privilege for her to step inside the maternity home, House of Hope and Dignity.  She was surprised to see Friday, whom she met on the “building” trip and just had to hug him.  Her favorite picture is of the two of them looking out from the maternity waiting home.  She also walked the grounds, talked to a neighbor lady, who is planting a garden down past a well named “Rick’s Well,” after one of the Dignity:Advocates who helped with construction in 2021.  She enjoyed reminiscing of the time she spent bagging plant cuttings under Friday’s direction, and the excitement she felt of “being a part of it all.”

Kathi Gutierrez shared the story about visiting a little hospital around the corner from where the classes were being taught in Kakata.  They met a young mom who had just given birth.  Kathi asked the mom if she could see her baby.  The mother was very proud of her baby boy whom she had named God’s Gift.  She said they had to cut her open.  Kathi told her that she had the same cut when she had her son.  Kathi felt moved to pay the mother’s bill after finding out how much it was.  The nurses grew excited and told the woman “See? We told you this baby has destiny with God.”

As Kay wrote, the team was there for a mission - to equip girls and women to overcome the stigma of period poverty and to learn a solution to help them live a successful life.  She added, “If only one student passes the skill forward, the chain reaction to changing Liberian women's lives has begun.”
 
This has already happened!  Anne-Marie Mueller, another Dignity:Liberia board member, wrote  that the ladies from the first class held in Monrovia had formed a group TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More – and have already held a "reusable sanitary pad training session in Telecom community in Kakata, Margibi County."  
 
Quoting Kay again: “I believe we finally have taught the correct group to keep the sewing and teaching going without us. It has been a great blessing to work with this like-minded, mission group to influence the ladies of Liberia.”  
 
Keep an eye on our Facebook page.  We will soon share photos of TEAM as well as a young lady who attended a class at Lott Carey who are keeping the “sewing and teaching” going. 

Whenever Dignity:Liberia donates supplies to the Rehab Center or to a hospital, we are thanked profusely.  We explain that the donations are not from us directly, but from donors back in the States.  However, we get the credit, because we are the faces that the recipients see.
 
A couple of weeks ago, our team returned from Liberia, where they conducted 10 workshops, teaching participants how to make reusable menstrual pads.  435 people attended the workshops, including school girls and boys, entrepreneurs, and members of other women-related non-profits.  Our goal was to help school-age girls stay in school so they could complete their education.  An educated girl is less likely to become a pregnant teenager who has to drop out of school, and more likely to become a wage-earning adult who can make choices about her life. 
 
Additionally, several business people attended with the goal of being able to make and sell these reusable personal hygiene products.  While someone purchasing a pad is having to spend money, they are not having to do so every month.  Many boys in our classes said they were going to teach their moms or sisters how to make the pads.  The impact on these 435 lives is huge! 
 
It would have been very difficult to hold these classes without the tireless help of Matthew Walters and Jackson Carter. 
 
Jackson drove for the team, picking up people and materials.  In addition to being an excellent driver, he is a highly skilled mechanic.  When there was a problem with one of the vehicles, he repaired it, even giving up his own truck’s battery to replace the one in ours! 
 
Matthew reserved rooms at the guesthouse in Kakata in advance of the team’s arrival.  He shared pictures and videos with me on a daily basis, which I was then able to post to Dignity:Liberia’s Facebook page.   
 
The women conducting the workshops got well-deserved credit, but Jackson and Matthew’s contributions were vital. They are unsung heroes, as are all of you who donated supplies and helped assemble material. 
 
To learn how to donate time, material or cash, go to https://www.dignityliberia.org/

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.   

A few years ago, as I tried to read the list of ingredients on a can of cat food, I groused to my husband, “Well if they want you to be able to read this, why don’t they make it bigger?”  It wasn’t too long afterward that it occurred to me that I might need reading glasses.  The next time I was in a discount store, I stopped by the display of reading glasses and bought a pair.  Problem solved.  I’ve actually purchased readers of different strengths for needle work and computer usage and have a pair in almost every room of the house.  While my deteriorating vision is frustrating, it is easily rectified.
 
While going through pictures for the May 14th blog, Sewing Reusable Menstrual Pads, I ran across the above picture of a lady reading a pamphlet.  I asked Kay Green about it.  She told me that there were always some students who could not see to thread their needles.  The teachers watched out for them and advised her when they noticed a student struggling. 

Kay had a supply of reading glasses and used the only thing she had, which was a Daily Bread devotional, to determine what strength the lady needed.  She had her read the largest text, then medium, then at the very bottom of the page where the smallest text appeared.  They would try various pairs of glasses until they could see the text at the bottom.  One of them could not read, but said she could identify letters. This went on at each of the three sessions that was held.  Kay wrote that this definitely was a needed ministry, and she would not travel again on a mission trip without a supply of reading glasses. 

The need for glasses is a minor inconvenience for me.  It’s more a reminder that I am getting older than anything else.  In Liberia, the need has a far greater impact on a person’s life and not just in rural communities.  Not being able to read without corrective vision can end an education.  A severe vision impairment can impact the type of work a woman can do.  The ability to see clearly can change that. 
 
Kay found it both fun and gratifying to help the ladies who took the sewing classes, adding that they were so grateful.  Her foresight to be prepared with reading glasses and a way to test vision may have a far greater impact than she realized! 

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

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!

Many Liberian girls miss school one week out of every month due to their monthly cycle, because they can’t afford to buy disposable pads.  This puts them at a big disadvantage.  In March of 2019, a team of dignity advocates taught schoolgirls how to make reusable, washable menstrual pads.  This allows them an uninterrupted education, which gives them more options as adults. 
 
Liberia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) was so impressed, they invited us to return in order to show high school teachers how to make these pads.  We were pleased to be invited and were excited that last year’s volunteers were able to return for this project in March of 2020.  Emma Katakpah, Clinical Coordinator for Fistula with Liberia’s MOH, was interested in and supportive of Dignity:Liberia and the sewing project.  She attended each session, supervising the volunteers from the Ministry of Health. 
 
While a number of the students were learning to make the reusable pads for personal use, some planned to teach others their new found skills, or even sell what they make. 
 
One attendee, Victoria, is a fistula survivor we had previously met at the Phebe Rehab Center.  She now has her own sewing business in Monrovia.  She came to our class to learn to make the sanitary product which she can make to sell.  This will be good for her and for those who can purchase reusable sanitary pads at a reasonable price.   

There also were 4 or 5 men in attendance.  One young man is a teacher at the junior college.  He plans to teach young women how to make pads.  He came to all of our sessions and helped teach after the first one.  Some of the young men were high school students and were going to give the pads they made to someone at home.  One young man said he planned on teaching his sisters.  Menstruation is a somewhat taboo topic in Liberia, particularly among men, so this is quite significant.

A lot of preparation went into assembling the kits that were given to each class participant.  Some wonderful women at First Baptist Church of Lee’s Summit donated their time to help make 130 hygiene pattern kits to send to Liberia.  When Martha Griffin, who took the kits to Liberia, learned that there would be three days of classes, she knew she needed more kits. 
 
She put us to work, starting on our first day in Liberia.  I recall separating stacks of material, cotton from flannel and bagging scissors, thimbles, and pin cushions (which Martha made prior to returning to Liberia), while Dr. John Grechus counted out needles and added other items to each kit.  Others cut and stitched cloth.  Our efforts increased the number of kits to 260.

Classes were held at two different facilities over the course of three days.  The first workshop was in a nice facility in the school library.  At our second workshop facility, the students worked under difficult conditions, using a flashlight in a dark room when electric lights were not available.  One lady had poor eyesight and could not see to thread a needle.  Thanks to some foresight on Kay’s part, she had an extra pair of reading glasses to give her.
 
Although the materials we used in class were brought from the United States, we made sure that the girls and women would be able to obtain supplies locally.  For example, the plastic bags from water sold in the streets, can serve as barriers inside the pads.  Old T-shirts or baby blankets can be used as fabric.  Buttons, string, and snaps can be substituted in the absence of Velcro. 
 
Because only one student had access to a sewing machine, we taught the ladies how to sew the kits into hygiene products by hand.  Everyone who attended displayed patience, determination, respect, and a willingness to learn.  They listened and carefully followed directions, clearly wanting to learn.  Their respect for anyone trying to help them was evident.  They were kind and helpful to each other as well.  Working with such model students was a joy.  They all finished or were close to finishing their projects and we are confident that they will be able to reproduce the sanitary products.  
 
The overwhelming majority of the ladies left class with at least one completed pad and instructions to make more.  We taught 173 individuals (about 100 teachers and 73 younger students) how to make feminine hygiene products.   
 
We are grateful to the many caring friends at home who helped provide supplies to make this project possible.  We are also grateful to Liberia’s Ministry of Health for their support and the volunteers who came to assist. Finally, we are grateful to the many teachers who took the time to learn how to sew reusable menstrual pads.  As they teach others this craft, it will greatly increase the number of girls and women who can make their own kits, giving them a chance to complete their education and have more choices for their future.

On February 23, the Dignity:Liberia team had the pleasure of hosting lunch with Liberia’s Minister of Health,
Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah.  Our relationship is long-standing with her as we have participated in Fistula Campaigns and performed surgeries at her Hope for Women Clinic.  She is supportive of Dignity:Liberia’s ongoing visits, especially to the Phebe Rehabilitation Center in Bong County.  She also supports our plans for a maternity waiting home.  (Please see our page on House of Hope and Dignity.)

The Liberia Fistula Project has struggled with funding recently, but Dr. Jallah desires an ongoing, active project. They are researching funding opportunities so they can resume the Fistula Campaigns again, with the hope of having 4 campaigns a year. The Ministry of Health is partnering with foreign medical teams and resources.
Dr. Jallah is willing to coordinate the timing of the campaigns with the availability of those teams.  This is exciting news for us as we are partnering with Medical Missions Foundation next year for a campaign!

She has expressed concern about a rise of fistula occurrences that have happened over the past year in the Bomi area and is currently investigating the cause. This may be the area that we will concentrate our efforts in 2021.

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