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.

Thanks so much for following and supporting us!

On March 8th we welcomed the team to Liberia.  Our mission was to instruct women and girls in the making of their own Menstrual Hygiene Kits.
 
The hustle and bustle of the airport is an experience in itself, especially after traveling for 24 hours plus.

On Saturday, March 9th, there was some orientation to the guesthouse where we were staying, unloading suitcases, sorting crafts, and planning our weeks ahead.  And of course, preparing food and eating together.

The “quilt ladies” also stopped by with some beautiful quilts that were too hard to resist.  Maude told us the story of the Coffee Tree quilt.   Look it up at this website https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40500884

On Sunday, the 10th, we went to church with Rev. Emile Sam-Peal, our host at the guesthouse and leader of the Dignity:Liberia NGO in Liberia.

Then we spent the rest of the day preparing for our first teaching session.

Monday, the 11th  and Tuesday, the 12th, it was at Lott Carey Baptist Mission School that we started the journey of teaching and learning how to make personal hygiene kits in Liberia. But it wasn’t all serious work, we had some great fun with jump ropes and necklaces. 

Also, Kay had the wonderful opportunity to share music with the Music Instructor at Lott Carey through Recorders.  The students really enjoyed and the teacher was very enthusiastic about being able to teach a wind instrument.  We had a few but we will collect more to send to them

    
     On Wednesday, March 12th , it was Decoration Day where family graves were
     cleaned up and decorated and loved ones remembered.  We took the time
     to visit the grave of a missionary that had died while working at Ricks Institute,
     Jenny Mills.

     Then we continued preparations to head up country to Phebe to visit the
     Rehabilitation Center and a trek to Coopertown.

Thursday, March 14th was mostly driving.  We passed a parade that was in celebration of J.J. Roberts Day, a holiday in honor of the first Liberian President.  We checked in at the Passion Hotel.  A pleasant stay where there is a restaurant, comfortable rooms with running water and even air-conditioners.  Keep in mind the current (electricity) was only on from 5:30 pm until 8:30 am.  We found out that the owner, Tormorlah Varpilah, is on the board at Phebe Hospital.  He runs a Children’s Center in Gbargna providing extra education and food for the community children. While we were there, they had a party for all the children. What a great way to celebrate life!

On Friday, March 15th, we spent the day at the Rehabilitation Center.  Unfortunately, most of the staff had been let go because of funding cuts, but they came to visit with us.  We pulled out the materials and taught how to make the hygiene kits, necklaces and jump ropes.  They fed us a wonderful lunch of Palm Butter and dry rice. Sao led us in singing about the blessings of the Lord and affirmed that we shall meet again.  With the financial uncertainty of the Rehab Center, Sao and Lemu will be the only ones left that can help out the girls.

On Saturday, March 16th, a group of five, Linda, Kathi, Kay, Susie, and Vicki, set out for Coopertown.  The others went back to Rehab and taught how to write their name on chalkboards we gave them, origami, clear stones with words of encouragement and braided necklaces.  A few years back, a group of women from Kansas City had gotten together money to have a well built in the village (see Verna’s Well).  Now they were coming to visit and see the village and meet the people.

On Sunday, the 17th, we headed back to Monrovia where we took the afternoon off and went to the beach.

On Monday, the 18th, we were ready for our
last teaching session at Effort Baptist Church. 
But first on Monday morning was our
shopping on Benson street for fabric and
clothing!

 At Effort, women from the community were invited to come and learn about making hygiene kits as well as other crafts such as ribbons.  They were excited about the ribbons for practical reasons, “We can make ribbons for the ushers!” There were two sessions, Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. 

In September, I was part of the Dignity:Liberia team that traveled to Liberia.  For me, the most memorable experiences from our trip were delivering supplies and donations to the Phebe Rehabilitation Center and interviewing fistula survivors. 

We drove onto the Rehab Center compound in two different vehicles on the morning of September 3rd.  I was in the lead vehicle and was overwhelmed with emotion at the joyous greeting we received.  Women and girls - fistula survivors - came running from their dorm rooms and greeted us with hugs and smiles.  Some of our team had been there in March, so were familiar faces, but all of us received an enthusiastic welcome.  Next, Sao, one of the teachers, joined us playing a saa saa (a musical gourd).  The girls began singing and dancing.  I was laughing with joy and soon clapping my hands to the music.
 
We then unloaded boxes of supplies and took them to the Palava Hut where Sao and an assistant meticulously inventoried every item received.  The boxes contained a number of items for the various trades taught at Rehab (pastry making, embroidering, tailoring, soap making, and cosmetology).  The trade each survivor learns will enable her to earn a living once she graduates and leaves the Rehabilitation Center.  We also provided toiletries and boxes of Depends that the matron, Leemue, had requested.  (Some of the girls are still leaking and will require additional surgery.  These lined panties allow them freedom to move about confidently.)  For months Dignity:Liberia had collected these supplies in anticipation of this trip.  Donors included friends, fellow church members, and even strangers – all answering a call to help.  It was gratifying to witness these supplies reach the intended recipients and to know they will improve the quality of their lives.
 
We spent two and a half days at Rehab.  Much time was spent engaging in various crafts with the fistula survivors and getting to know them.  They looked at pictures stored on our phones and enjoyed hearing about our lives in the United States.  One girl taught me how to say hello in Kpelle: “Ya-tuah!”   
 
On the second morning, I interviewed 12 fistula survivors, whose stories will be posted on our web site.  During the interviews, I finally fully grasped the depth of pain and despair these women and girls have experienced.  They all spoke of the shame they felt from being constantly wet.  They spoke of being shunned by friends and family.  They have lived in isolation for years, and could no longer go about in society.  No wonder they welcomed us with such joy!  We see them as the beautiful human beings that they are.  They are no longer untouchable.

            In June of 2017, I was fortunate to go on a trip and see many of the great things that Dignity Liberia is doing in Liberia. My friend Steve Hontz asked me if I wanted to go with him to check it out. My 2016 visit to a Global Orphan Project orphanage in Haiti gave me a new perspective on the poor, and the voiceless. My visit to the orphanage drove me to want to learn more, and experience more. I did not really know much about Dignity Liberia’s work before our trip in 2017. I knew my church was working very closely with Dignity, and I had served with the founder of Dignity, Kathy Gutierrez, at Lakeland Community Church. I knew what they were doing was good and necessary work, and I knew going into the trip, much like my trip to Haiti, I would be challenged and taken outside of my comfort zone. I knew that I would come back with a different perspective than the one I walked in with.
            After twenty hours of flying and layovers, Steve and I made it to Monrovia, Liberia. There we were greeted by Emile and Jackson. Emile is the Director of the Liberia NGO Office, and Emile coordinated what we would do every day. We would spend many hours with both of them as they helped us gain perspective and context on their mission, and our experiences while in Liberia. We were housed at the Dignity Liberia’s patient and guest house. Every evening we would break bread with Emile and his son Ethan, and spent time reflecting on what we experienced that day. We also got to partake in bucket showers, what a memory. Since there was no water pressure, we had to fill a 50 gallon barrel with water and treat it with bleach, then use buckets to bathe, a memory I will never forget. We also only had electricity for a couple hours in the evening and morning, a true luxury in Liberia.
            On our visit to the clinic we were able to see women who were suffering from fistula, but they were having their lives transformed by doctors and nurses working with Dignity Liberia and the clinic. I had very mixed feelings on what I saw at the clinic. I saw good work being done, and hope being given to women needing this life changing surgery, but they just simply needed more equipment and resources to keep up with the demand. Many of the rooms were empty because they need more beds and medical equipment. We met Dr. John Mulbah who is the main doctor at the clinic. It is easy to tell that Dr. Mulbah has a passion for helping and healing the women suffering from fistula. For these women to get healthy it is not only good news for them, it is good news for entire community. I was also very fortunate to visit the Lott Carey Baptist Mission School. Emile not only has his duties for Dignity Liberia, he is also the Superintendent/Principal of the school. Spending the day at the school was a very exciting and fun. We got to meet and play with the kids. The children would come up to me and ask questions about what it was like in the United States. One highlight of the trip was playing a big game of soccer on a field on the school grounds and just how small things like a game of soccer can bring the child out of all of us. Like the clinic, there are many more things that the school can’t do simply because they don’t have the money to make repairs and buy school supplies. According to Emile the American Christian organization that owns the school has cut back funding to the school. So many updates needed for the school cannot happen because of the lack of funding. However, that trip to the school helped me come to a decision about my future. For many years I was going back and forth on what I wanted to do as a career, and that trip to the school helped me come to the decision that I wanted to become a teacher.
            Overall what struck me the most in my time in Liberia is the power of community. In Liberia, you need to have a community to survive, so you have no other option than to love and care for one another. I will always remember driving around in Monrovia and just seeing everyone in community in its purest form. People buying things in markets, kids playing soccer, or groups just talking in front of a shop. I believe in the United States we don’t have the depth of community that the Liberians have, and personally, I envy that.