Day 2: Waiting

There are a lot of things to worry about on a medical mission. Will we have all the equipment we need? Will there be enough time? The thing I’ve never worried about is whether there will be enough patients. Unfortunately this year, there are not enough patients and we are left with time on our … More Day 2: Waiting

Re-Entry

It is always hard to come home from vacation–there’s sadness that it’s over, bags to unpack, and maybe dread that you have to go back to work. I have a similar experience when I come back from Rwanda. Though it’s not a vacation, being in Rwanda is a different version of my usual life. Our … More Re-Entry

Sunday visiting

I made it home safely but wanted to share this last post. After shopping on Sunday morning, I went to visit my Rwandan friend Janviere’s family. To learn more about Janviere, click on this link. I was nervous about visiting as I had no idea what to expect. She lives with her mom and brother … More Sunday visiting

Heading home

I am sitting in the airport in Amsterdam, halfway home. I haven’t blogged for the last few days so I will try to catch up on storytelling. I had a great day on Saturday at the coffee farm tour. I’ve never really considered the long journey required to make my favorite caffeine-filled beverage. From planting … More Heading home

Day 6 2020

I made it to Friday! Exhaustion has begun to set in, as usual, but I should be able to get a full night’s sleep tonight. It was a busy day at Kibagabaga. We continued to see new patients with fistula, as well as post-operative patients, patients who had surgery in prior years, and everything in … More Day 6 2020

Day 4 2020

Good news! Jimy did well with her surgery and is back to acting like a typical 14 year old. She had surgery yesterday morning and had not been out of bed at all when I went to see her this afternoon. She said she was too tired to get up and that she wanted to … More Day 4 2020

Day 2 2020

Today was a busy day, starting with more patient exams and ending with a bus packed full of our American team and the Rwandan medical students. I was certain the bus would either get stuck driving up the very steep hills or tip over because it was completely overfilled. Fortunately, neither happened and we arrived … More Day 2 2020

Day 1 2020

We made it to Kibagabaga! Not much has changed at the hospital, but there is a lot of new construction everywhere else in Kigali. Rwanda is truly booming, which is great to see. As I was writing this, I saw a book on the coffee table called, “Assessing Girinka Programme”. Apparently there is a program … More Day 1 2020