A Busy (but Wonderful) Week in Lake Kivu District!

Well, it’s been a busy week in Lake Kivu district!  Cal spent most of the week on the road visiting three rural district hospitals where we are training Family and Community Medicine doctors.  One of them has a long-term doctor who is taking charge of the training, but the other two require regular visits.  A typical day includes arriving about 9:30 AM after a 1.5 – 2 hour drive, following one or more of the resident doctors through their rounds in the hospital ward they are overseeing (which alternates between Ob, Medicine, Surgery, and Pediatrics), and then having more extended discussions or short teaching sessions with the group of residents in the afternoon.  The cases are fascinating – most are severely ill with long-standing illness such as liver failure, kidney failure, chronic osteomyelitis (infection in the bone), heart valve disease with heart failure, or chronic malnutrition.  Interestingly, there are almost no cases of malaria in any of the hospitals, which is a marked change from only 2 years ago when almost 30% of all patients were ill with malaria.  Many think that this is due to the widespread free distribution of insecticide-treated bednets and the widespread use of a new anti-malarial drug for those infected, which more effectively kills the parasite.

Mimi has been thoroughly enjoying herself making our house a home.  We were blessed with a visit from John and Kathi Pitzer, neighbors from Denver and long-time friends, for the first two weeks of January, who helped immeasurably with the initial organization, curtains, and moving things around.  They also spent a week teaching at a School for Deaf Children run by a group of nuns, introducing classes in sewing and carpentry. 

One major goal of the Pitzers was to help us unpack our shipping container which had been sent in early September, the container had not arrived in Rwanda by the time they had to leave.  It did arrive last week however, and two days ago, on a Friday afternoon, a truck pulled up to the house with the largest Christmas event ever!  We now have a refrigerator, freezer, washer and dryer, gas stove, and box after box of items we had totally forgotten about!  God still provided assistance however – we are hosting three men from Denver who came to participate in a Church meeting in Rwanda and then move on to Uganda to check some projects in which they are involved there.  They had two free days to help us unpack, and they worked steadily with us to distribute the goodness in the boxes. 

We currently have two visiting doctors with us (a husband-wife team) from the University of Colorado, one of whom is teaching birth control to Ob and Family Medicine residents, and the other who is working with the clinical instructors at the main teaching hospital to help develop their teaching skills.  They are both avid cyclists, and last weekend took a 180 km. trip with a staff member of the Rwnadan Cycling Team.  One of the memorable moments with them came from a planning session with the Head of the Ob/Gyn Dept, who attempted to moderate their ambitious teaching plans with the statement, "You Americans wear the timepiece, but we Rwandans have the time!"

Settling In

Although Mimi and I feel relatively comfortable in Rwanda and have many friends and acquaintances here because of our past 5 years of intermittent visits, we are finding that it is still a new experience to "settle in".  Since our container of household items sent in early September has not yet arrived (it is still being processed at the point of entry to Africa, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania), we are using the very generous supply of household items left by our landlord together with the items we had brought in our personal luggage over the past 3 visits.  This includes the basics of kitchen items, bedding, personal toiletries, and even includes a tiny dorm-type refrigerator, microwave and Kitchen-Aid mixer (which came in our personal luggage!).  It does not include a washing machine, freezer, iron, working oven, or more than 6 drinking glasses!  So, there are some things that still feel like camping.  For example, we had some American friends (and neighbors) for dinner last week, and for dessert, Mimi fixed brownies camping style - the batter was put into canning jars (supplied by the neighbor) and "baked" by inserting the jars into a pot of boiling water.  Absolutely wonderful!

Our New Year's Eve was quietly spent taking our colleagues (Michael and Amy Miller and family) to the airport for a month of R & R in the U.S., watching a movie, and settling into bed.  However, we discovered that the New Year celebrations in Rwanda are the highlight of the year, even eclipsing Christmas in many respects - almost all night we were treated to amplified dance music from various quarters, along with the impassioned preaching of a local Pentecostal church - until about 6 AM.  We may welcome the new year with a nap today!

Since we have about 5 available bedrooms in our spacious rented house, Mimi is preparing for lots of hospitality.  Last week we were treated to the arrival of John and Kathi Pitzer, neighbors and friends for the past 30 years, who will be with us for about 2 weeks.  They will be launching a new program of crafts for the children at the national School for the Deaf - woodworking for the boys and sewing for the girls - which it is hoped can help with some income and eventual employment.  This week we will be hosting a missionary physician from a hospital in the north of Rwanda who we can offer a place to stay while in Kigali, the Director of Mission for Centura Hospitals in Denver who is bringing an orthopedic team for reconstructive surgeries in several rural hospitals, and an Ob/Gyn from the University of Colorado who will be training our family medicine and Ob/Gyn residents in the country over the next month.  In about 10 days we will be hosting a visiting Anglican bishop and two colleagues who is here for the inauguration of the new Archbishop of Rwanda.  Even without our shipment, we still have 3 beds available, and so Mimi is making the best use of what we have with her own homey touches, like fresh flowers from our garden. 

With my colleague Dr. Miller in the U.S., Cal will be visiting the medical school and at least 3 district hospitals on a rotating basis every week to spend time with the family medicine residents in training, and to lay the foundation for classes to be taught over the next few months.  So far, we are having a ball tackling the challenges and enjoying the country.  We are already "legal" here, having been granted a long-term visa in less than a week - so they must want us to stay!  When our container arrives, it will be like Christmas all over again!