Here are two stories that I would like to share with you:
The first one was earlier today. While I was out jogging from the training center at Taba (the village town we're staying in) I came across school kids who were heading home from school. As they saw me heading down hill, one kid turned around and yelled "Umuzongo" which is the word for white people, and all at a sudden a group of kids turned around and started running in front of me. I greeted them and kept on my way but turned around to find 8 of the kids keeping pace with me. it was such a fun experience and they continued with me for the next mile and half. It was inspiring indeed.
The second story was related to a site visit to one of the clinics around Butare. The clinic I visited was at the umodogodo (village) of Murkazi. The purpose of the visit was to learn about the health care system in Rwanda at the community level. The clinic we visited had about 25 beds and served a population of about 11,000 some people travel 2 hours to reach the center. Some of the services provided there are geared around maternity and pediatrics. They had a small lab with one microscope, a centrifuge and simple tools for urine and preliminary blood tests. They also had a small pharmacy. We toured the facility including the Labor and Delivery ward. We then walked into the post natal room to find a 1-day old baby. It was a humbling experience but inspiring at the same time. The quality of the clinics here despite the simplicity and lack of automation exceeded our expectations in terms of some of the patient registration practices and quality of care. The dedication of the staff in assisting patients and making sure the community members receive the medical attention they need was visible and is worth highlighting.
Perhaps in a separate entry I’ll touch on the health insurance system they have here in Rwanda and far exceeds the US…
Until then, love you and miss you all.
p.s. I wish I could post some pics but the connection here is too slow.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
A day in my Life in Butare
Things are great here so far. Rwanda is a beautiful country and the people are amazing. The weather is great too since it's on high altitude. The scenery is like being out in California, it is that beautiful with hills and all.
So I spent two days in DC for orientation and got to meet the team there. This is the first Peace Corps group back in Rwanda in 15 years so there's a lot of excitement around it. They had a reception for us at the PC headquarters with the Rwandan ambassador to the US and the Director of PC so that was nice. The trip out to Rwanda wasn't bad, we had two 7 hour flights to Brussels and then to Kigali, the capital to Rwanda. We spent two days in Kigali. the first day we had a meeting with the Minister of Health who shared with is the vision and the country goals related to healthcare. They're excited here as well and we were featured in the paper twice already. the second day we went to the Genocide memorial and museum which was very emotional.
We are now in Butare, 2.5 hours south of Kigali. Butare is known as the intellectual capital of Rwanda with the national university and museums. We're staying at a campus that's run by a group of nuns as part of an NGO. It's nice here. We each have a room with a bed and desk. We share bathrooms but they keep things clean. We're also served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. PC also set this up as a training center for us so they have classes for us in the shape of shacks outdoors. Each class is 4 people and we each get a teacher that teaches us Kenyarwanda. A typical day for me is:
My alarm goes off at 6:00 AM. I take a nice bucket shower (very weak water flow) and now they installed water heaters so at least it's not cold showers!! Breakfast is served from 7:00 to 8:00. Sometimes we get eggs, bread rolls, avocados!!, gebna roomi, nutella, as well as coffee and tea. At 8:00 we start our classes. they broke us into groups of 3-4 with a Rwandan teacher (they speak English) the classrooms are outdoors and in little gazebos in a courtyard garden which is amazing and inviting environment for learning. at 10:00 we get a tea break which they serve with local deserts. 10:30 we’re back in class. Lunch is served at noon. lunch consists of soup (lentil or mixed vegetables), rice or pasta, greens, and some type of meat (usually goat meat). We continue again with classes till 5:00 PM (the afternoon session today involved community activity so we went to the market and practiced our kinyarwandan with the locals) 5:30 we go to a place nearby for some sports activities (volleyball, basket, and soccer) Dinner is at 7:00 Pm after that we either chill outside. Two people have guitars so they play some tunes and we study. I'm usually in bed by 10:00.
It’s amazing how fast we’re learning the language we’re already going out to town and interacting with the locals in the local language.
Murabeho
So I spent two days in DC for orientation and got to meet the team there. This is the first Peace Corps group back in Rwanda in 15 years so there's a lot of excitement around it. They had a reception for us at the PC headquarters with the Rwandan ambassador to the US and the Director of PC so that was nice. The trip out to Rwanda wasn't bad, we had two 7 hour flights to Brussels and then to Kigali, the capital to Rwanda. We spent two days in Kigali. the first day we had a meeting with the Minister of Health who shared with is the vision and the country goals related to healthcare. They're excited here as well and we were featured in the paper twice already. the second day we went to the Genocide memorial and museum which was very emotional.
We are now in Butare, 2.5 hours south of Kigali. Butare is known as the intellectual capital of Rwanda with the national university and museums. We're staying at a campus that's run by a group of nuns as part of an NGO. It's nice here. We each have a room with a bed and desk. We share bathrooms but they keep things clean. We're also served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. PC also set this up as a training center for us so they have classes for us in the shape of shacks outdoors. Each class is 4 people and we each get a teacher that teaches us Kenyarwanda. A typical day for me is:
My alarm goes off at 6:00 AM. I take a nice bucket shower (very weak water flow) and now they installed water heaters so at least it's not cold showers!! Breakfast is served from 7:00 to 8:00. Sometimes we get eggs, bread rolls, avocados!!, gebna roomi, nutella, as well as coffee and tea. At 8:00 we start our classes. they broke us into groups of 3-4 with a Rwandan teacher (they speak English) the classrooms are outdoors and in little gazebos in a courtyard garden which is amazing and inviting environment for learning. at 10:00 we get a tea break which they serve with local deserts. 10:30 we’re back in class. Lunch is served at noon. lunch consists of soup (lentil or mixed vegetables), rice or pasta, greens, and some type of meat (usually goat meat). We continue again with classes till 5:00 PM (the afternoon session today involved community activity so we went to the market and practiced our kinyarwandan with the locals) 5:30 we go to a place nearby for some sports activities (volleyball, basket, and soccer) Dinner is at 7:00 Pm after that we either chill outside. Two people have guitars so they play some tunes and we study. I'm usually in bed by 10:00.
It’s amazing how fast we’re learning the language we’re already going out to town and interacting with the locals in the local language.
Murabeho
First two weeksin Rwanda
Cheers from Rwanda, Muraho, Amakoro?
This is my first blog entry since I got here. The internet connection is not the best so it's been a challenge signing in.
We're now into our third week in Rwanda and it's been an amazing experience so far. We're in Butare, 2.5 hours south of Kigali the capital. Butare is not as large of a city as I thought it would be but it's beautiful. The university campus is nice and the surroundings are full of greenery and hills.
Rwanda is known as the country of 1,000 hills and being here I can see why that is the case. We've been going through some extensive training in the local language and culture. the local language here is Kenyarwandan and it's amazing that I'm picking up the language and able to communicate after two weeks here.
I'll keep this short but will post two more entries one related to my daily routine and another on foods in Rwanda. Feel free to post questions or leave comments.
Miss you all
This is my first blog entry since I got here. The internet connection is not the best so it's been a challenge signing in.
We're now into our third week in Rwanda and it's been an amazing experience so far. We're in Butare, 2.5 hours south of Kigali the capital. Butare is not as large of a city as I thought it would be but it's beautiful. The university campus is nice and the surroundings are full of greenery and hills.
Rwanda is known as the country of 1,000 hills and being here I can see why that is the case. We've been going through some extensive training in the local language and culture. the local language here is Kenyarwandan and it's amazing that I'm picking up the language and able to communicate after two weeks here.
I'll keep this short but will post two more entries one related to my daily routine and another on foods in Rwanda. Feel free to post questions or leave comments.
Miss you all
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