Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Week 3 (Ibyumweru Gatatu)


Third week of August was exciting with a change of pace!! I had learned the week before of a planned visit by a team of executives from GE Health to assess and review the installation and utilization of medical equipments that were donated in the past, to have an inauguration party and to assess a few more sites for future donations.

Monday I met with the assessment team and planned for a reception and inauguration party to receive the GE Foundation executives.

I worked with my counterpart and other hospital staff on putting together a pp presentation highlighting the services and statistics from the hospital, highlighting local and global partners, reviewing some of the equipments donated by GE and success stories from the field.

The reception was a great success complete with a secondary school drummers and cow dancers; the attendance of all district officials including the mayor, vice mayor for social development and health, representative from the local police and defense forces!!

The GE team was taken on a tour of the hospital grounds and got to see the impact of the modern equipment in action. The equipment the hospital received empowers health providers and is saving lives. A list of equipments includes patient monitoring systems, infant warmers and incubators, radiology modalities, lab equipments as well as anesthesia workstation!!

The GE team seemed to be pleased with the tour and the visit and were most impressed by the accountability and professionalism of the staff. The GE personnel noted how all donated equipments were accounted for during their visit and promised to provide further support through training and maintenance.

I'm also glad to announce that the team's trip was a success that GE Foundation is committing another $300,000 in equipments to support health centers and hospitals around Rwanda.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

August in Rwanda (Week Kabiri, 2)


Week 2 of August was Peace Corps In Service Training, or following with PC's love for acronyms, IST. IST is a weeklong retreat marking the completion of Phase I of our deployment in the field. It was the first time all of us PCVs reunited since we were sworn in on April 15th and shipped out to site. During the first three months we were expected to acclimate and adjust to our new homes, conduct a community based assessment identifying community needs and starting to think in terms of what our projects will be like.

IST was a time for us to share on our experiences, successes and failures during the first three months. We each gave a 10 minute (timed) presentation to the rest of the PCVs. In between, we had some language training and other group activities such as brain storming for group projects.

I should mention that IST was held at a nice resort in the town of Kibuye on Lake Kivu. Kibuye is a beautiful lake front town in the western province and sits in a lagoon on the lake. Lake Kivu, one of the great lakes of eastern Africa, boarders Rwanda to the west with the shore on the opposite side belonging to the war-torn DR Congo. The lake is crystal clear despite disputed reports of possible Schistomises and pockets of methane gas and is dotted with several islands.

On Wednesday, we sailed off to Amahoro or Peace Island. PC set up a picnic for us out there along with full service lunch (the kitchen staff along with all the silverware, big stainless steel food containers, and drinks joined us on the 35 minute boat ride to the island!! it was cheaper than ordering brochettes on a stick and french fries!!)

IST turned out to be a relaxing and rejuvenating week for us. The days consisted of breakfast in the morning starting at 7 followed by training sessions from 8 to 12 when we break for lunch. we then start again from 1 till 5. At 5, a group of us would change in to swimming trunks and bathing suites and go for a swim in the lake with the watchful eye of our medical director!! (p.s. non of us contracted Schisto as far as I know, yet to be confirmed). With the full moon lighting the night sky during this week, one couldn’t resist night swims in the lake under the bright light of the full moon reflecting on the lake!!

I must say that I was looking forward to go back to my site after IST full of energy and excited to start my new project.

August in Rwanda (Week 1)



August has been full of adventures for me in Rwanda. I moved yet again to a new site (luckily to a place I've been before and with strong connections), but I also got to add to my experiences here in Rwanda.


Week 1: trip to Nyungwe National Park and Chimpanzee trekking. Took the bus 5 and half hours to Kate's site where I met with other friends and crashed in Kate's little tiny one bedroom house!! That same night, went to a interesting BBQ at some South African contractor's pad. In Rwanda constructing a new tourist's 5 star lodge for Dubai World, these guys lived a life that was far away from what we've been accustomed to while in Rwanda...it was a welcome change of scenery for sure


Waking up at 4 AM and getting ready for a two hour ride on the back of the Acre Fund truck was priceless. Laying in the flat bed in the back and staring at the sky as the sun rises over the tea fields was quite an experience. We had to get to the park early to catch the Chimps during their morning ritual of grabbing on leaves and fruits for breakfast followed by grooming sessions before they start coming down the trees and finding a new place to set up their nests. So turns out Chimps set up a new camp every night!! Chimps move in big groups usually a family of 50 that's lead by one alpha chimp.

Saturday afternoon we drove to Tyazo on Lake Kivu and home to the Acre Fund office. The Adventist Church owns an amazing house on the lake with canoes, rafts and other water sport toys.