Hospitals and Clinics and Schools, Oh My!

July 2011 came quickly. Michael was, as I expected, very excited about the HBB program and its implications for Rwanda. As I've said before, Michael is my mentor but he lets me find my way. This is not to say that he leaves me to blunder along on my own until I finally hit on something worthwhile. He does provide some gentle guidance in the form of open-ended questions and in sharing his experience with other professionals' projects that he's been involved in. I value his advice because he did, after all, do a pretty comprehensive study of developing countries and their particular issues and of Rwanda in particular, so he is somewhat of an expert in this area.

It isn't often that I get really strong endorsements out of Michael. He's pretty non-invasive--more like a quiet listener who occasionally will say something like, "really? Perhaps we could look at trying to turn this into an opportunity...." After I told him about HBB I got an email almost immediately and the first sentence was "This is fantastic!!" I'm learning. It's interesting to me as I plod along on this course that I feel has been waiting for me for a long time, how gratified I am with small victories. You can imagine how I felt when I received a "fantastic" from my mentor and friend--the one I consider the expert in this field I am pursuing. His excitement confirmed what I suspected when I first heard about the HBB program, and now we were frantically putting together an itinerary for Rwanda that would be based on introducing this program to the places in the country that could be trained to implement it. Finally my path had led to sustainability!

Michael's next suggestion caught me off guard. He said it was now time for me to meet with the Minister of Health of Rwanda to let her know what I was doing in this country. Really? Couldn't I just continue to fly along under the radar, not drawing too much attention to myself but just making little differences in my little area of the country? I have a confession to make here. I am always a little uncomfortable when people tell me what a great thing I am doing and what wonderful work it is. Quite honestly, I feel like a pretender. Don't get me wrong, I am very dedicated and passionate about the work I do in Rwanda, but I tend to downplay it in my own mind because it doesn't seem like it should really count because I AM HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE!!!! I love what I am doing and I love this country and the people and I love feeling like I have something to offer them that will make their lives and the lives of their children better. I guess it is time for me to get over this idea of "what I did on my summer vacay" and realize that this really is vital work and I really have been studying this country and its people and its history and the needs I see are overwhelmingly huge, but I really do have information that I can share that just might make a difference in a big way. What we are trying to do here really is a big deal and it is important, and of course the Minister of Health would want to hear about it!

So.....in mid-July another colleague of mine, Lindsay, and I set off for Rwanda prepared to introduce the HBB program to some hospitals, clinics, and the Kigali Health Institute--oh yeah, and to Dr. Bingawaho, the Rwandan Minister of Health!

I wanted to introduce you to Lindsay with these photos first because they kind of sum up the Lindsay I have come to know on this trip. Lindsay is one of my co-workers and she is often someone that others overlook or dismiss as kooky, hyper, or silly. They are SOOOOOOO wrong! Well, she can be all of those things at times, but she is also warm, and fun and childlike. I do not mean "childish." Childlike to me is an amazing quality that most of us lost somewhere along the way. These photos of her are my favorites because they show Lindsay as I have come to see her....warm and loving and completely giving of herself. She loved the people of Rwanda, as I do, which of course totally endeared her to me all the more. She also immersed herself in the activity of the children. They accepted her and were drawn to her, in part, I'm sure due to her blonde hair, but also because I think they recognized her childlikeness--her ability to meet them at their level with an open heart and mind. She saw them. They were no longer the forgotten ones of Rwanda in her eyes.
I will forever love her for this.

Several months before we left on this trip, Lindsay had suffered a terrible hurt. She had been wounded deeply by an incident that is not mine to tell, so suffice it to say she was recovering (if we ever truly do) from a broken heart. I think I related to this piece of Lindsay because I, too, came on my first international nursing mission after a broken heart. I had left my job as a clinical educator, in part for the "tongue in cheek" way I described earlier in this blog, but also after what I perceived to be an enormous betrayal by people I had trusted and looked up to. Maybe that is how we come to really important places in our lives.....broken and hurting, so that we can truly understand the brokenness and hurt in others and touch it in a special way that comes only from having traveled a similar path.

Lindsay and I hit the ground running once in Rwanda. We were scheduled to visit three hospitals and the Kigali Health Institute, but that somehow turned into five hospitals, the Kigali Health Institute, the Minister of Health, a couple of childrens' homes, and an add on trip to the Akagera National Park for a day of fun. Because I was pretty new to this whole HBB thing myself, Lindsay kind of hung back and acted more as a helper where needed while we were introducing the program in Rwanda. Most of the pictures around this introduction are of me.....but she did occasionally step in and do some teaching of her own, which made me proud of her! It can be an intimidating thing to teach people who don't have a firm grasp on your language, but Lindsay was up for the challenge and she handled it with equal measures of grace and humor.

Here are some pictures of our efforts:

It was a lot to cover in the short time we were in Rwanda. Most days we came back to our hotel and had to force ourselves to stay up long enough to eat dinner before collapsing into bed for some much needed sleep. I was encouraged by the reception we got everywhere we went, though. This program touched a cord with the healthcare workers in Rwanda, and I think they see it as a means to help reduce infant mortality in their country. At last, we have found a way to implement something sustainable, replicable, and measurable in this country. Now the work really begins!