Leah's Rwanda

I am happy to announce that I am heading back to Rwanda on January 25, 2019. I have purchased my plane ticket and am beginning to gather my thoughts. This is my fourth year going, and sitting down to write this has helped me to remember the many reasons I keep going back. I realize … More Heading back in 2019

I am happy to announce that the Rwandan Ministry of Health, with the aid and encouragement of IOWD, is in the process of building a 3rd operating room at Kibagabaga Hospital in Kigali. This is the primary hospital where the team operates while in Rwanda. Having a third operating room will allow surgeons to perform … More August 2018: Updates!

I made it home safely and am finally back to waking and sleeping in the Eastern time zone. I always forget how hard it is to accommodate to the time change when flying east to west–I am ready for bed by 3PM! I have sorted through and edited most of my photos, and wanted to … More Home again

The last day always has a way of both seeming far away and coming way too soon. I feel like I have been here for much longer than 9 days, but I am ready to be home. I never sleep very well here (despite being exhausted) and working in the heat is hard on my … More Day 9: Headed home

Today we started our day very early–I woke at 4:15AM. We had to leave the hotel by 4:45AM so that we would reach the chimpanzees by 6AM. After the sun rises, the chimpanzees eat and then they are on the move and we would have to run to keep up. About 30 minutes of the … More Day 8: Nyungwe National Park

I started the day bright and early today, headed to the hospital to do rounds. There were no surgeries today as the fistula team took a well deserved day off. This also allowed the gyn team to do their surgeries, since there are only two operating rooms and the fistula team requires both. I spent … More Day 7: Headed to the chimpanzees

Today I continued to work on all the little jobs that pop up as the mission goes on. One of the women (Donatha) had a very long surgery yesterday–8 hours. She had a complicated problem that required an abdominal surgery. She had a 103 degree fever this morning, which made us worried that she might … More Day 5

I am writing this on Thursday as I was too tired to write last night. My duties always slow down at this point as we have nearly finished seeing patients in the clinic. The team is now focused on operating and monitoring the patients who have had surgery. My tasks now include filing, ensuring medications … More Day 4