Quilts for Empowerment coming to Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Mary Ann McCammon, a registered nurse, combined her passion for quilting and women's health by launching Quilts for Empowerment (QFE), teaching quilting to obstetric fistula survivors in Kenya, Africa.

Obstetric fistula (OF) are debilitating complications of obstructed labor during childbirth, which results in uncontrollable leakage through the bladder or kidneys, leading to devastating and dehumanizing medical conditions for the affected women.

The program's goal is to help women who have had surgical repair of their fistulas reestablish themselves back into their community with the skills and self-confidence to be economically independent.

McCammon's ambition in life was to become a nurse. She received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Missouri, then a PhD in nursing from the University of California in 1979. She was a professor of nursing at Oregon Health & Science University where her clinical practice and research program focused on improving the health of marginalized women: homeless women, women with disabilities, abused women and low-income pregnant women.

When she wasn't focused on her nursing career, she quilted.

"In the late 1980s, when I began quilting, I made traditional quilts for beds and babies," McCammon said. "I was an absolute purist at first and I hand-pieced and hand-quilted everything."

Many of McCammon's art quilts focus on obstetric fistula and have been juried into local, regional, and national shows.

After taking a hiatus from quilting to continue her hectic nursing schedule, McCammon resumed her hobby in 2000 when she retired and has taught traditional quilting to the women incarcerated at a correctional facility in Wilsonville, Oregon.

"But, when I learned about obstetric fistula in Kenya, I recognized this was a marginalized group of women I wanted to help," McCammon told The Nugget. "My initial thought was to volunteer as a nurse but knew that would be short-term."

So, in 2015 she donated her fistula art quilts to the Fistula Foundation in San Jose. The foundation then facilitated her first trip to Kenya to teach quilting.

When McCammon arrived in Eldoret, Kenya at the Gynocare Fistula Center with a bag full of quilting notions and embroidery floss, she learned quickly that none of the women had ever hand-sewn, drawn a picture - or with few exceptions, could use a treadle seeing machine.

But over the next four weeks the class size grew from three to nearly a dozen.

McCammon said, "My hope was to teach obstetric fistula survivors how to make quilts that would provide them with the skills and self-confidence to achieve economic independence."

First, the women learned to hand-stitch around motifs. Then they made simple landscape quilts. Finally, they learned simple embroidery stitches to tell their "stories" through stitched images that they drew out on paper first. These early quilts laid the groundwork for their art quilts.

Over the next two years, McCammon taught the survivors to hand-stitch with embroidery floss, which included table-mat sets, tote bags, and "story quilts" of various sizes.

"The women are creating quilts from simply what they know, their life around them," McCammon said.

After subsequent trips to work with the women and refine their craft, McCammon established the nonprofit organization "Quilts for Empowerment" in 2017.

"I just couldn't give up on these women. I wanted these women to have stable incomes and to be able to put their children in school," she said. "They craft the quilts and I bring them back and sell them here and give them a flat rate for each product."

McCammon returned once again in April 2017 to introduce the idea of making large art quilts incorporating new embroidery stitches, applique, and more motifs.

"The women embraced the idea and began filling large black pieces of fabric with their unique embroidered motifs."

Nora Otondo, a fistula survivor, is now the program director for QFE in Kenya.

"She's a great quilter, has her master's in counseling and can handle the phycosocial problems the women are having," McCammon said.

"We are partnering with Women and Development Against Distress in Africa (WADADIA) to teach quilting to women in their fistula support groups, and Norah is teaching them."

QFE has grown and is now forming a community-based organization in Kenya: Kenya Quilts for Empowerment. McCammon will be the U.S. representative to their board.

McCammon will be at Wildflower Studio during quilt week and is available to meet folks and talk about the program in Kenya.

A QFE board member, Deb Sorem, will also be available to meet with people during the week.

Owner of Wildflower Studio, artist Chris Nelson, who is known for her paintings of landscapes and songbirds, remembers meeting Deb Sorem at Sisters Library during her art show.

"I met Deb when she bought one of my paintings," Sorem said. "She told me about Mary Ann and her work with fistula survivors. We were looking for somebody to represent for the quilt show and that cause drew us in, and we are honored to represent them."

QFE will have all their products for sale, including three types of art quilts for sale: the "Raw Tops," which are black art quilts without borders so that buyers can frame as they choose. And there will also be quilts that have been framed by Wildflower Studio.

"Deb is an amazing fiber artist and has been framing many of our quilts in preparation for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show," McCammon said. "I couldn't do it without her!"

McCammon will be giving a public PowerPoint presentation Monday night, July 9, about the program.