Project Updates from Rwanda

(Goat-giving Ceremony)

This past Friday marked the kick-off of the income generation project of our maternal healthcare education program. 31 of the 50 women participating in the program received goats. The first women to receive goats were selected based on their attendance at the previous teaching sessions, and the remaining women will receive the second generation of goats. Women also received hoes and inaugurated the two fields which have been rented for two years for their use. This culminated in a ceremony with speeches by members of RVCP, the head nun of the Huye Health Clinic, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of Rwanda, and the Huye Sector Executive Secretary. A mother and participant in the program also gave a testimony: "My child was 5 kgs. After attending teaching sessions about proper feeding the kid is now 14 kgs," and she said she will never stop coming to sessions because they were so helpful. In the grand scheme of things this is only small progress, but for these women it could mean a healthier life for their families.

Reflections

(Some of the mothers in our target group for the Maternal Healthcare Education Program)

(GlobeMed's G.R.O.W. Team - Sara, Kim, me, Blair, Carolin)

(With the caretakers at the L.L.C.M. orphanage)

(Residential street in Kigali)

(School children in Ruchira)

(All primary school girls where these uniforms)

(Mother/Participant in our program)

(Children outside the Huye Health Clinic)

(This give you a good idea of what the villages surrounding Butare look like)

Since my return from Rwanda I’ve had adequate time to reflect on my experiences, in fact I’ve spent exactly two months trying to deny thefact that Iever left. I never believed that reverse culture shock existed, but trust me when I say I am still feeling the lingering effects (good thing I’m headed for culture shock round two in threeweekswhen I leave for my semester abroad in Jordan).

(Her name is Rachel too...naturally we had to get a picture together)

Leaving Rwanda was hard. I removed myself from my comfort zone in going, but I had formed a new one Butare, with friends that welcomed me as if I were family and a project into which I could pour 100% of my effort. I was even starting to become a regular at several restaurants around town. I felt I was really starting to make this placemynew home. I shopped at the market with the locals, I had clothing made in a traditional Rwandan fashion, and I even went to the hospital for a malaria scare. On the weekends I went to MellowTwist, a nightclub, with the locals, and I was picking up a few words of Kinyarwanda (although they were mostly names of farm animals, and thus not very helpful). The nurses at he Huye Health Clinic were starting to recognize my face and the women in our education program had memorized my name. And as pathetic as it is, whenever we traveled around the country to see various sites I became

“homesick” for Butare. I even grew to love my bed, with its paper-thin mattress that molded around the bed boards and mosquito net that trapped mosquitos inside to buzz around my head more often than it actually kept them out.

(Leonard, the head of the L.L.C.M orphanage and family...plus the blatantly obvious G.R.O.W. team)

(Maternal Healthcare Education Seminar with RVCP - this is where we formed the basic premise of each of the 12 sessions of the program)

(Crossing a bridge on our way to see the beekeeping project, one of RVCP'S income generation projects)

(True Rwandan woman)

I was so in love with everything Rwanda had offered that on a whim I extended my stay an extra week. In my last few days I became violently illand was so weak that I could barely walk. My friends took me to the hospital for fear that it was malaria and secretly I hoped that it was so that I could extend my stay even longer than I already had. But to my chagrin it was not malaria, and two days later I was back on my feet and preparing for my return home.

(A ceremony in front of the Huye Health Clinic during which the clinic was presented with new beds from the hospital in Butare)

I had not expected to make friends while I was working withGlobeMed and RVCP on the project, but I made many, and they treated me as if I were just a fellow Rwandan instead of an American and a “muzungu.” Leaving them was the hardest part of my entire trip. Many of them teard-up when we parted ways and bade me farewell with a “see you soon” because I had promised that I will be back next year. When I got on the plane everything set in and I was a mess. I didn’t expect to get upset, but of course I cried the entire flight from Kigali to Ntebe. I guess I’m hyper sensitive about these kinds of things.

When I got home I was in denial. I spent my whole first day home uploading pictures while I listened to my playlist of Rwandan songs on repeat and Skyped almost every single one of my friends. Luckily, Rwandans are great at staying in to

uch and I still talk to many of them a few times a week. It felt weird going outside with shorts or short skirts on. And the excessiveness that characterizes

much of American culture was particularly glaring. I s

pent a week purging my belongings: I gave away over half of my clothes, books, and other miscellaneous items I had acquired over many years.

After this initial reverse-culture shock I started to appreciate my experience as I was able to look back at it as a whole. I wish I could say that it totally changed my life, but it didn’t, it only changed little parts here and there, which have led meto slightly alter my view of the world. For one thing my faith in humanity has been partially renewed. In America it is easy to become discontent, but remain complacent. My time in Rwanda showed me that action is essential, and that when someone truly cares about another person it can make all the difference. Instead of focusing on cultural differences, I realized that people are much more similar than one would expect; when it comes down to it we all want the same things. I also came home with a much needed boost of confidence. I dealt with situations that I previously believed I could never handle and came away a little stronger for it. I’m still processing some things, and continuing to make up my mind about others, but I know one thing for sure: I will return to Rwanda. Hopefully I will return next year to supervise the second year of the maternal healthcare education program or have some kind of internship with research on the side. I’m currently interested in studying the use of cooperatives for localized development or the effects of the genocide on religion. Whatever and whenever it may be, I can’t wait to return to this place that taught me so much, but from which I still have so much to learn.

(Nurses from the Huye Health Clinic being trained by a specialist in basic prenatal care)

(Goodbye card from our friend Christopher - one of the nicest things I have ever received)