Fistula Survivor’s Name: Beatrice Yohnson
Interview Date: September 4, 2018
Interview Location: Phebe Rehab Center, Bong County, Liberia
Interviewers: Kathy Beth Stavinoha and Kathi Gutierrez
Beatrice Yohnson was born in October in Doala in Monrovia. She has five brothers and five sisters. They all had the same parents: one ma, one pa. She is the second oldest. She had five children. Two died. Her other three children, ages five, seven, and eight, are living with her mother in Monrovia. Her husband and father died are dead; they were sick. She is 35 years old. She has gone through 6th grade.
Her fistula was not the result of prolonged labor, but was the result of an operation at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, in 2017. She was heavy and had a big tumor. As they cut out the tumor, they cut something that caused her fistula. Then she “pee peed” on herself.
She always had to wash. She was always crying. So she asked God to help her. The Redemption doctors sent her to Phebe Hospital. One of her brothers took her there.
She has had five surgeries for her fistula, but her fistula is not gone. She is “leaking small” (has incontinence) now. When she goes back to Monrovia, she will open a pastry shop. For now, however, she’s going to stay at the Rehab Center – she is not going to graduate. She has no friends at the Rehab Center, only God and us.
Only her mom knows she has a fistula. Her friends don’t know because she was ashamed. She wants help. Only her mother, Dignity:Liberia, and God are helping her.
She would send friends with fistulas to Phebe.
Beatrice is a fistula survivor. “In Jesus’ name, Amen!” Hear her story in her own voice.
Interview Date: September 4, 2018
Interview Location: Phebe Rehab Center, Bong County, Liberia
Interviewers: Kathy Beth Stavinoha and Kathi Gutierrez
Beatrice Yohnson was born in October in Doala in Monrovia. She has five brothers and five sisters. They all had the same parents: one ma, one pa. She is the second oldest. She had five children. Two died. Her other three children, ages five, seven, and eight, are living with her mother in Monrovia. Her husband and father died are dead; they were sick. She is 35 years old. She has gone through 6th grade.
Her fistula was not the result of prolonged labor, but was the result of an operation at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, in 2017. She was heavy and had a big tumor. As they cut out the tumor, they cut something that caused her fistula. Then she “pee peed” on herself.
She always had to wash. She was always crying. So she asked God to help her. The Redemption doctors sent her to Phebe Hospital. One of her brothers took her there.
She has had five surgeries for her fistula, but her fistula is not gone. She is “leaking small” (has incontinence) now. When she goes back to Monrovia, she will open a pastry shop. For now, however, she’s going to stay at the Rehab Center – she is not going to graduate. She has no friends at the Rehab Center, only God and us.
Only her mom knows she has a fistula. Her friends don’t know because she was ashamed. She wants help. Only her mother, Dignity:Liberia, and God are helping her.
She would send friends with fistulas to Phebe.
Beatrice is a fistula survivor. “In Jesus’ name, Amen!” Hear her story in her own voice.
*My comment that fistula is caused by a midwife, was a reference to a tribal birth attendant who is medically untrained.
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