The People Behind the Projects: Mark & Allison Karnes

We had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Mark and Allison Karnes and learn a little more about what inspires them to do this life-changing work in Ethiopia. Dr. Mark is responsible for the prolapsed uterus surgeries, and his wife Allison is the brains behind the WRAPs (washable, reusable, affordable pads) project.

Not everyone has the temperament and motivation to pick up their lives and move to Cameroon.

But Allison and Mark Karnes decided that was the path for them. Oh, and they did it with a baby on the way.

The couple made the trek to central Africa shortly after Dr. Mark graduated, where they operated a primary care clinic.

Life wasn’t always easy – the heat was intense and they dealt with malaria, parasites and all kinds of realities of life that don't exist in the States – but it’s a special part of their history.

Two of the Karnes' children were born in Cameroon, and when they left five years later, a third was on the way. They now have five children, several of whom have lived and worked in various parts of Africa.

A few of the MWAHFE committee members who went to visit with Mark and Allison Karnes in Port Huron. We had a lovely chat at Cracker Barrel! What an honour to find out a little bit more about this inspiring couple.

It would be more than two decades after that journey in Cameroon that the Karnes returned to the continent, spending 25 years in Michigan in between. There, Dr. Mark ran his own gynaecological practice.

“We knew that at some point in time we’d go back in Africa,” he said.

They couldn’t stay away, and they felt called to return. Just over a month after retirement, the Karnes landed in Ethiopia.

“When you visit Africa, it gets in your bloodstream. You get infected with it,” said Mark.

And it would be about more than just serving the people. The Karnes were inspired to share their knowledge and leave a lasting legacy behind.

It was at a medical missions conference that they learned about the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), an organization that seeks to keep African surgeons at home, with hopes of reversing the “brain drain” that often draws the best and brightest physicians to developed countries like the US and Canada.

Knowing they wanted to contribute to that initiative helped narrow down the options for a return to the African continent.

But why Ethiopia?

“They had coffee there. And popcorn,” Dr. Mark said with a chuckle.

Of course the decision was more complicated. The Ethiopian climate attracted the Karnes, and Allison formed a special bond with friends at the Soddo Christian Hospital.

“When you visit Africa, it gets in your bloodstream.”

— Dr. Mark Karnes

It seemed like a good fit.

And PAACS drew them in.

“It's one thing to know how to perform a caesarian, and save the life of mother and baby. But to teach someone how to do that is (about) duplication,” said Mark. And at the Soddo Christian Hospital, that's exactly what he does.

Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia volunteers even had the chance to take a peek at a surgery conducted by Dr. Mark – with help from an training doctor – on a recent trip. Practicing medicine is very different, even at a privately-funded hospital, in Ethiopia. Supplies are not always readily available, and even water isn't a guarantee.

But what struck our volunteers the most was the incredible patience that Dr. Mark showed throughout the course of the operation. Not only was he working to repair a delicate reproductive system, but he was sharing his knowledge with a less experienced surgeon. 

“It's very important, because I'm not always going to be there,” Dr. Mark said.

Dr. Mark chats with Shelley outside the Bucama Health Clinic in rural Ethiopia in February 2017. This facility directs some patients to Soddo Christian Hospital to undergo surgery with Dr. Mark.

While Mark is changing lives in the operating room (learn more about prolapse), Allison is out doing the same in rural schools all over the region with the WRAPS initiative. (Check out our spotlight story on WRAPS here!)

“We talk a lot about menstruation and what it is, and the biology of it,” said Allison. “I talk a lot about being safe, because rape is still a big concern.”

The WRAPS – washable, reusable, affordable pads – have caught the eye of many, including some local and influential leaders who have brought Allison into schools that had never received similar programming.

Allison teaches a workshop on WRAPS at Abba Pascal Girls School, one of the sites for Girls Gotta Run programming.

It’s sweet to listen to Mark and Allison talk about their lives. What’s clear is that the couple has an incredible bond and partnership. They know each other’s passions inside and out, and the pride in their voices is evident when they talk about those projects.

Over their decades in Ethiopia, the Karnes have played witness to so much change – and progress.

“In 2007 there was only one paved road in Soddo,” said Mark. “When we first arrived, all of the taxis were donkeys and mules and horses.”

There wasn't a bajaj in sight.

Just seven years ago, about 94% of women were estimated to be delivering their children at home without medical care. Now that’s dropped to about 50%, Mark said.

Development is constant, and life changes all the time.

“They even, on the weekends at this one hotel, have ice cream,” said Mark with awe.

It’s amazing how much can change with “funds and a little heart,” said Allison.

The Karnes are the perfect example of that. And there’s so much more the couple hopes to accomplish.

“I can’t live long enough to do enough there. I have projects that would keep me busy for another 100 years,” Allison said. “It only takes a little money to change the lives of an entire community.”

Despite the hard work and the long hours, the Karnes said it is an honour and a joy to work, live and serve in Soddo.

 “We are the ones who are blessed,” Mark said.

“We learn so much from the Ethiopian people.”

Spotlight On: WRAPS

by Megan Stacey

For many women in Canada, it’s almost inconceivable that a monthly period could be more than a minor inconvenience.

Keep us home from work? Not likely.

Keep our daughters home from school? Not more than a day here or there.

But what if it wasn’t so easy to pop over to the pharmacy and find rows of feminine hygiene products?

For millions of young women in less developed countries, menstruating stops life in its tracks. It means staying home and using leaves or other materials as a sort of make-shift pad. School, in many cases, is out of the question.

Allison Karnes just couldn’t accept that reality.

“I was reading this book and there was this section that talked about girls in Africa missing so much school because they don’t have any pads. It just leapt off the page,” said Allison, who’s from the States. “I had never thought about that before.”

Though statistics on this topic are scarce, there is a lot of anecdotal data to show that girls are missing school thanks to their periods. One study showed that more than 40 per cent of schoolgirls in northern Ethiopia reported missing school because of menstruation in the past month.

Even in places where feminine hygiene products are available, they are prohibitively expensive.

Allison was living in Ethiopia – her husband is Dr. Mark Karnes, who performs surgeries to correct prolapsed uteruses, another project to which MWAHFE directs funds – when she had the idea to make reusable pads. She decided this was the perfect way to make a difference.

After pitching the idea to others and picking the brain of a friend doing a similar project in Kenya, WRAPS was born.

Allison and her right-hand woman, Inge, hired a team of Ethiopian women to help sew and develop the washable, reusable, affordable pads (WRAPS).

“It was hard. We worked and worked and worked to get our design. We made it from scratch. We made a lot of bad pads,” Allison said with a laugh. “We finally feel like we hit upon a pretty good pad.”

It took a lot of trial and error – starting with some market research and buying pads sold in Ethiopia.

“We looked at what they had on the market, and cut it to that length and width,” she said. “We added little tabs…and I import all the Velcro from the U.S. But that’s easy to bring in, because it’s so light.”

WRAPS are made of simple materials, including Ethiopian flannel and dollar store shower curtains that Allison buys in the U.S. The pads even incorporate unused surgical towels that Dr. Mark and other doctors have in their pre-op kits but may not use.

“I was walking across the hospital compound one day, and saw these blue towels floating in the wind. I’m always on the lookout for materials that might work,” Allison said with a chuckle.

WRAPS are changing lives, starting with the six women who found employment through the project.

All have returned to school – at levels from Grade 3 to post-secondary – and are finding fulfillment through their work. Some of the women have heart-breaking life stories, and one was even rescued from the sex trade.

And of course the impact extends to the young women who receive the pads.

“WRAPS is a really critical piece of support for women and young girls in Ethiopia, because they often don’t have other resources to be able to manage menstrual cycles.”

— Tracey Hedges

“WRAPS is a really critical piece of support for women and young girls in Ethiopia, because they often don’t have other resources to be able to manage menstrual cycles. That limits the activities they can do, especially as it relates to school and functioning within the family during that time,” said Tracey Hedges, the WRAPS project lead for Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia.

“That impacts on their self-esteem and their self-worth. Being able to offer such a simple intervention – by North American standards – has such a huge impact on their daily lives,” Tracey added.

The goal is to distribute the kits to young women.

“We’re looking at primarily Grade 5 through Grade 8. We feel if we can capture the girls at the middle school level, and keep them in school, we have a better chance of getting them to high school,” Allison said.

“We really want to work with the younger girls, because that’s where the dropout rate is so high.”

A WRAPS kit – which costs donors about $15 – includes several washable pads and a pair of underwear inside a small cloth bag.

“A small amount of money has such a significant impact on their physical health, their emotional well-being, and their ability to continue to function in their daily lives,” Tracey said.

All that for just $15 – what a return on investment!

Of course the WRAPS venture hasn’t been without challenges.

Last summer, Allison and her team hit a huge roadblock after her daughter tested out the WRAPS kit.

“She said the pads were just beautiful and washed up just fantastic – no blood stains, they don’t stain, they’re just beautiful – but they’re not holding the moisture. She said ‘I’m leaking right through.’ That was a horror, as you can imagine,” Allison said.

“I fell apart and had a meltdown. All my girls were sobbing with me.”

It turned out that workers had substituted one of the waterproof materials with another, more permeable, one.

But Allison’s partner Inge was undeterred.

“She’s like ‘well, we’ll just remake them all.’ So we remade…3,000 pads this summer,” Allison said. “(Now) I know these pads are not going to leak. I’m confident that they’re the best we can make.”

And the program is still growing. Allison’s goal is to eventually return to the communities where they’ve distributed pads to talk with the young women and their families to ask about the WRAPS and if they’re making a difference.

Tracey is confident that this project is more than worthy of donations from MWAHFE.

“For those young girls who have the option or ability to go to school, we need to really support and encourage them in that.”

— Tracey Hedges

“For those young girls who have the option or ability to go to school, we need to really support and encourage them in that. For them to have to miss school because of a normal bodily function is just really a shame,” she said.

“Allison is on a roll….I can’t wait to see where it goes.”

It’s just one more way that Mothers with a Heart for Ethiopia is able to support women and children in Ethiopia.

“To be able to support them in continuing their education, so they can go on in their education and develop into good leaders and pursue their goals is just amazing,” Tracey said.

“That’s the impact that such a small item can make on their lives.”