Monday, July 27, 2009
Time in Rwanda is coming to a close
I will be leaving Rwanda for Denver on Thursday. Unfortunately, I have not posted as much as I envisioned. Perhaps I will post some more about my various adventures then. The slow bandwidth and limited internet access discouraged me from posting more. Or, feel free to ask me about them next time that we talk.... I've had a great time, though. I've been able to visit Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda and I have traveled all over Rwanda.....From Akagera National Park to Lake Kivu, from Ruhengeri to Butare, and many places in between. I've been able to visit many hospitals, go on rounds, participate/observe in surgeries, and get to know many of the resident doctors. We have also been able to provide the doctors with great resources and hopefully will get good education research out of it. This has been a great trip. I hope to see many of you soon.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
More from Kigali
Another guy who’s with us a lot is Dr. Herbert Gitsi. He is also a young guy. Probably in his late 20’s. He’s finished medical school but has not gone into residency training to specialize. (Unlike the U.S., it is easier to get into medical school, but harder to get into a residency program. Whereas for us, once you’ve gotten into medical school almost all doctors enter residency programs.) I call him Dr. Herbert. In general, they refer to doctors as Dr. So-and-so using their first name instead of their last. In fact, some the doctors even have told me things like, “Call me Dr. Patrick. You probably can’t say my last name anyway.” They’re usually right.
Dr. Herbert works as a coordinator for the various residency programs and is the main liaison between the UC Denver and NUR folks for getting things setup. He’s also really nice and very genuine. He lives in Kigali, but unfortunately his wife and 3-month-old child do not. He does not see them very often. Fortunately, they arrived on Sunday for a visit and will be moving to Kigali in the somewhat near future (August, I think.) While driving from pace to place, Fils and Dr. Herbert like to ask us about the U.S. or tell us about Rwanda. They both have a good deal of pride in their country, especially Fils.
We end up talking about funny things like the fact that most if not all streets in a city in the U.S. have names and are paved. That virtually all houses are numbered. and that the mail comes to your house. Sometimes these things seem like amazing ideas to them, because Rwanda has not had a public tax system until recently and thus did not receive the benefits of improved roads, schools, etc.
However, the current administration (led by President Paul Kagame) does large public campaigns about Rwandan investing their future. This includes things like education and also includes things like taxes. There are billboards that encourage people to pay their taxes and how they’ll receive better infrastructure. More on this next time....
Dr. Herbert works as a coordinator for the various residency programs and is the main liaison between the UC Denver and NUR folks for getting things setup. He’s also really nice and very genuine. He lives in Kigali, but unfortunately his wife and 3-month-old child do not. He does not see them very often. Fortunately, they arrived on Sunday for a visit and will be moving to Kigali in the somewhat near future (August, I think.) While driving from pace to place, Fils and Dr. Herbert like to ask us about the U.S. or tell us about Rwanda. They both have a good deal of pride in their country, especially Fils.
We end up talking about funny things like the fact that most if not all streets in a city in the U.S. have names and are paved. That virtually all houses are numbered. and that the mail comes to your house. Sometimes these things seem like amazing ideas to them, because Rwanda has not had a public tax system until recently and thus did not receive the benefits of improved roads, schools, etc.
However, the current administration (led by President Paul Kagame) does large public campaigns about Rwandan investing their future. This includes things like education and also includes things like taxes. There are billboards that encourage people to pay their taxes and how they’ll receive better infrastructure. More on this next time....
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The People I've Met in Rwanda
The people I’ve met in Rwanda…..
As it often goes with international travel, I’ve met people from all kinds of places. However, I’ll mention some of the Rwandans I see regularly.
The overall UC Denver project has hired a driver to help transport anyone associated with the project around the city and the country. His name is Fils (pronounced fizz.) This young guy frequently takes Amy and I across town to the public hospital in Kigali called CHUK (pronounced say-osh-ooh-kah…French initials for its name.) He has also taken us to Butare, a city in southern Rwanda where the NUR medical school is.
While traveling around town, Amy and I have gotten to talking with him quite a bit.
Like most Rwandans, Fils is an extremely nice guy. He’s 25 years old. He’s not married, but he’s hoping to be by the time he’s 30. He likes to go to this club called the KBC (Kigali Business Center) by the locals but is actually named the Planet Club.
A lot of folks in Rwanda are barely making it. But, clearly there are folks who’ve got consistent good jobs. Fils has driving responsibilities with our project about 5 days a week or so. I figure this regular employment is what helps him to afford going out to a club.
In general, I’ve heard that it’s not well-liked for foreigners to ask locals about their experience during the genocide unless they know the local Rwandan well. And for good and obvious reasons, too. When I stop to think about it, I realize that anyone over 15 is carrying around deep emotional scars regardless of what side they were on. In the U.S., we sometimes think of slavery as the Great Sin of our country. I suppose the genocide is theirs. They know it and it hurts. They’ve experienced death in ways I could never imagine.
Getting back to Fils….He’s an open guy that is fairly easy to talk to as a person. Sometimes we have a little bit of a language barrier, but his English skills are fairly good. With more time he might be someone I feel comfortable asking about his experience during the genocide. He was only a child. Only 10 years old. Yet, old enough to remember.
As it often goes with international travel, I’ve met people from all kinds of places. However, I’ll mention some of the Rwandans I see regularly.
The overall UC Denver project has hired a driver to help transport anyone associated with the project around the city and the country. His name is Fils (pronounced fizz.) This young guy frequently takes Amy and I across town to the public hospital in Kigali called CHUK (pronounced say-osh-ooh-kah…French initials for its name.) He has also taken us to Butare, a city in southern Rwanda where the NUR medical school is.
While traveling around town, Amy and I have gotten to talking with him quite a bit.
Like most Rwandans, Fils is an extremely nice guy. He’s 25 years old. He’s not married, but he’s hoping to be by the time he’s 30. He likes to go to this club called the KBC (Kigali Business Center) by the locals but is actually named the Planet Club.
A lot of folks in Rwanda are barely making it. But, clearly there are folks who’ve got consistent good jobs. Fils has driving responsibilities with our project about 5 days a week or so. I figure this regular employment is what helps him to afford going out to a club.
In general, I’ve heard that it’s not well-liked for foreigners to ask locals about their experience during the genocide unless they know the local Rwandan well. And for good and obvious reasons, too. When I stop to think about it, I realize that anyone over 15 is carrying around deep emotional scars regardless of what side they were on. In the U.S., we sometimes think of slavery as the Great Sin of our country. I suppose the genocide is theirs. They know it and it hurts. They’ve experienced death in ways I could never imagine.
Getting back to Fils….He’s an open guy that is fairly easy to talk to as a person. Sometimes we have a little bit of a language barrier, but his English skills are fairly good. With more time he might be someone I feel comfortable asking about his experience during the genocide. He was only a child. Only 10 years old. Yet, old enough to remember.
What We're Doing in Kigali
I had meant to write more before now. Oh well. Here goes…..
I might write a few installments for the next few days…..
Since arriving in Kigali, I’ve been doing a number of things. Let me start with why I am here in case I haven’t told some of you. I’ll try to cover some of the other things I’ve done in later posts.
Another medical student (Amy Willis) and I are working on a project with our faculty advisor in Rwanda. Our faculty advisor (Dr. Inis Bardella) is a family medicine doctor who is currently working on medical education in Rwanda. She works for the Univ of Colorado (UC Denver) and is currently the main liason for cooperative effort between the Univ of Colo and the National University of Rwanda (NUR) to improve their post graduate medical education programs. (In the U.S., we usually call this residency training, and this is where a doctor completes his or her specialty training such as pediatrics, orthopedic surgery, etc.) Basically the scoop in Rwanda is that the country has a shortage of practicing doctors. During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, many doctors either fled or were killed. Additionally, the medical education system has been recovering. Not only has their been a shortage of practicing docs but also a shortage of faculty. So, the University of Colorado received a grant from US-AID (US Agency for International Development) about 2.5 years ago to help NUR with their post-graduate medical education programs (residencies) to help create a sustainable solution to their shortage of doctors and faculty.
To help out UC Denver has been doing many things. For example, they’ve helped to create a new post-grad program (Family and Community Medicine – FAMCO) and they’ve been providing visiting faculty to teach needed areas.
Amy and I will be working on a project within this larger project. We are working with Dr. Bardella to help provide reference resources to these post-graduate doctors that are working on their specialty training. A general assessment of their resources revealed that they were extremely limited by our standards. Their books and journals are out of date. Their internet is slow …. And that’s when it works because the electricity is frequently out. So, the idea is that we wanted to provide resources that these doctors could carry with them and be chalked full of info.
To do this, we will be providing them with PDA’s (personal digital assistants….How many of you thought Public Display of Affection??? Get your mind out of the gutter!) These PDA’s will have medical reference programs on them that will have searchable info for the doctors to use. Then they can be connected to the internet from time to time to be updated, so that they do not go out of date.
We’ll be collecting info on how they use them and publish the results. The World Health Organization is developing applications for different regions of the world for this type of use. The idea is that our results will help to define how these resources are developed to help future medical students and post-graduates.
We’re doing this with all of the post graduates in the country which are spread out amongst 4 different cities and we’ll be traveling to each of them. In fact, I’m headed to Ruhengeri this week from Tuesday until Friday. We’ll be meeting some of the FAMCO residents and I’ll probably be doing some clinical work with them as well.
So that’s what we’re doing.
I'll be posting more in the next day or two.
I might write a few installments for the next few days…..
Since arriving in Kigali, I’ve been doing a number of things. Let me start with why I am here in case I haven’t told some of you. I’ll try to cover some of the other things I’ve done in later posts.
Another medical student (Amy Willis) and I are working on a project with our faculty advisor in Rwanda. Our faculty advisor (Dr. Inis Bardella) is a family medicine doctor who is currently working on medical education in Rwanda. She works for the Univ of Colorado (UC Denver) and is currently the main liason for cooperative effort between the Univ of Colo and the National University of Rwanda (NUR) to improve their post graduate medical education programs. (In the U.S., we usually call this residency training, and this is where a doctor completes his or her specialty training such as pediatrics, orthopedic surgery, etc.) Basically the scoop in Rwanda is that the country has a shortage of practicing doctors. During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, many doctors either fled or were killed. Additionally, the medical education system has been recovering. Not only has their been a shortage of practicing docs but also a shortage of faculty. So, the University of Colorado received a grant from US-AID (US Agency for International Development) about 2.5 years ago to help NUR with their post-graduate medical education programs (residencies) to help create a sustainable solution to their shortage of doctors and faculty.
To help out UC Denver has been doing many things. For example, they’ve helped to create a new post-grad program (Family and Community Medicine – FAMCO) and they’ve been providing visiting faculty to teach needed areas.
Amy and I will be working on a project within this larger project. We are working with Dr. Bardella to help provide reference resources to these post-graduate doctors that are working on their specialty training. A general assessment of their resources revealed that they were extremely limited by our standards. Their books and journals are out of date. Their internet is slow …. And that’s when it works because the electricity is frequently out. So, the idea is that we wanted to provide resources that these doctors could carry with them and be chalked full of info.
To do this, we will be providing them with PDA’s (personal digital assistants….How many of you thought Public Display of Affection??? Get your mind out of the gutter!) These PDA’s will have medical reference programs on them that will have searchable info for the doctors to use. Then they can be connected to the internet from time to time to be updated, so that they do not go out of date.
We’ll be collecting info on how they use them and publish the results. The World Health Organization is developing applications for different regions of the world for this type of use. The idea is that our results will help to define how these resources are developed to help future medical students and post-graduates.
We’re doing this with all of the post graduates in the country which are spread out amongst 4 different cities and we’ll be traveling to each of them. In fact, I’m headed to Ruhengeri this week from Tuesday until Friday. We’ll be meeting some of the FAMCO residents and I’ll probably be doing some clinical work with them as well.
So that’s what we’re doing.
I'll be posting more in the next day or two.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Arrival in Rwanda
Hi everyone,
As many of you know, I left the Denver area almost immediately after I finished up my school year. I first headed home for La. to visit my family and attend a few special events. On Sunday, June 8, I attended my new nephew's baptism. His name is Sam and I also became his godfather.
His was great during the service. In fact he clapped each time the priest mentioned eternal life!!!
I visited with family that week. Then, on Saturday, June 13 I went to my friends' (BC and Brandi) wedding in the New Orleans area.
On Sunday, I took off from New Orleans bound for Kigali, Rwanda. I'll be working on a project for school. Back in Colorado, I am in the global health track at the school of medicine. Which basically means that in addition to my degree I am getting some further education in global health. This summer I'll be working on a project as part of that.
Thankfully, I made it here safe and with no problems. It's quite a trek to get here, though. My flight itinerary to me from New Orleans to Houston to London to Nairobi, Kenya to Bujumbura, Burundi to Kigali, Rwanda.
So, my first stop was in Houston. While I was waiting for my plane to London, I went to show my required documentation for international travel to the folks at Continental airlines. They gave me a small scare. They asked where I was ultimately going and I replied that I was going to Rwanda. They looked up the required documentation. Then, they told me that I was missing a certain visa and that I wouldn't be allowed to board the plane until we got it taken care of. I had gone through this documentation check in New Orleans, so I was a little surprised that I was being told this in Houston. I politely told them that I think they had the wrong information. After a short discussion, the man working for Continental printed out the documentation requirements for me and we discovered that he thought I was going to Angola, not Rwanda. Then everything was resolved and they let me get on the plane.
On the first long plane flight (to London), I sat next to an American guy in his 30's who went to school in London for a master's in international politics. The flight was overnight, but unfortunately, I only got about 30 minutes of sleep. I had a 10 hour layover in London. So, I went into town, got some food and walked around a bit. I found a rose garden and laid down to rest. After about 3 hours or so, I got really tired and decided to go back to the airport and try to sleep. So, I went back and got about 1 and a half hours of sleep there. After I woke up, I got fish and chips at a restaurant in the airport. It was good, but certainly nothing special. The fish still had the skin on one side and the fries weren't very crisp. Oh well. I guess I'll have to go back sometime and find a better place. Oh before I finish talking about London..... Heathrow Airport is a mess....especially terminals 4 & 5. That place is like a maze and how it is built seems very oddly disorganized. I was kind of surprised that a place like London had such a mess of an airport. But, I just kept asking people where to go and they were all very nice.
Then from London to Nairobi (the second overnight flight), I sat next to a woman in her 20's from Norway that worked for the UN in Kenya. She had been visiting Norway and was on her way back to Kenya. This time I got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep. So that was great.
After leaving Nairobi, I went through Bujumbura before coming to Kigali (Rwanda.) Bujumbura (Burundi) had an interesting airport. It looked kinda of like what you see in the movies...an isolated and underdeveloped airport with UN planes and helicopters.
Eventually, I arrived here in Rwanda at about 10:20 am. It took a few minutes to go through immigration and customs. My bags were off the plane and ready to be picked up as soon as I got through. That was great. In fact, I went through customs on the 2nd floor of the airport and could see my bags over a balcony while I was waiting in line. What a relief. I was a little worried about my bags not making it because the transfer in Nairobi was rushed and not well organized. But, everything worked out great!!!!!
Dr. Bardella (my faculty advisor) and her husband got there about 10 minutes later, picked me up and took me to the house I'm staying at. Wow! Our house is on a hill and has an incredible view off the back porch overlooking the town and some hills/mountains. I've got a large bedroom and my own bathroom, too. I hung out with Dr. Bardella and her husband for a little while. He then had to be at a meeting. So, Dr. Bardella went to her house to get me some food. I took a shower and unpacked a little. Dr. Bardella came back and we hung out for a couple of hours talking about medical education.
Then I took a 2 hour nap!!!! That was awesome!!!! I woke up around 5pm and went to the cell phone store for a phone. After the cell phone store, I went to Dr. Bardella house for dinner. I made it home at about 8:30 last night and was in bed by 9:15pm.
All in all yesterday was a great day!
Today has been good, too. I've wandered around a bit. At one point I met some school children near the Kigali soccer stadium. They were excited to hang out and a few of them even had the confidence to try out their English skills with me. Their English was pretty rough and they didn't understand the majority of what I said. But, their English is certainly better than my Kinyarwandan (the local language...pronounced Keenyah Wahndan.)
I'm starting to get over the jet lag a little. I don't feel nearly as disoriented today as I did yesterday. I imagine within a couple of days I'll be doing well.
I hope all of you are doing well. I'll try to post some pictures at some point.
As many of you know, I left the Denver area almost immediately after I finished up my school year. I first headed home for La. to visit my family and attend a few special events. On Sunday, June 8, I attended my new nephew's baptism. His name is Sam and I also became his godfather.
His was great during the service. In fact he clapped each time the priest mentioned eternal life!!!
I visited with family that week. Then, on Saturday, June 13 I went to my friends' (BC and Brandi) wedding in the New Orleans area.
On Sunday, I took off from New Orleans bound for Kigali, Rwanda. I'll be working on a project for school. Back in Colorado, I am in the global health track at the school of medicine. Which basically means that in addition to my degree I am getting some further education in global health. This summer I'll be working on a project as part of that.
Thankfully, I made it here safe and with no problems. It's quite a trek to get here, though. My flight itinerary to me from New Orleans to Houston to London to Nairobi, Kenya to Bujumbura, Burundi to Kigali, Rwanda.
So, my first stop was in Houston. While I was waiting for my plane to London, I went to show my required documentation for international travel to the folks at Continental airlines. They gave me a small scare. They asked where I was ultimately going and I replied that I was going to Rwanda. They looked up the required documentation. Then, they told me that I was missing a certain visa and that I wouldn't be allowed to board the plane until we got it taken care of. I had gone through this documentation check in New Orleans, so I was a little surprised that I was being told this in Houston. I politely told them that I think they had the wrong information. After a short discussion, the man working for Continental printed out the documentation requirements for me and we discovered that he thought I was going to Angola, not Rwanda. Then everything was resolved and they let me get on the plane.
On the first long plane flight (to London), I sat next to an American guy in his 30's who went to school in London for a master's in international politics. The flight was overnight, but unfortunately, I only got about 30 minutes of sleep. I had a 10 hour layover in London. So, I went into town, got some food and walked around a bit. I found a rose garden and laid down to rest. After about 3 hours or so, I got really tired and decided to go back to the airport and try to sleep. So, I went back and got about 1 and a half hours of sleep there. After I woke up, I got fish and chips at a restaurant in the airport. It was good, but certainly nothing special. The fish still had the skin on one side and the fries weren't very crisp. Oh well. I guess I'll have to go back sometime and find a better place. Oh before I finish talking about London..... Heathrow Airport is a mess....especially terminals 4 & 5. That place is like a maze and how it is built seems very oddly disorganized. I was kind of surprised that a place like London had such a mess of an airport. But, I just kept asking people where to go and they were all very nice.
Then from London to Nairobi (the second overnight flight), I sat next to a woman in her 20's from Norway that worked for the UN in Kenya. She had been visiting Norway and was on her way back to Kenya. This time I got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep. So that was great.
After leaving Nairobi, I went through Bujumbura before coming to Kigali (Rwanda.) Bujumbura (Burundi) had an interesting airport. It looked kinda of like what you see in the movies...an isolated and underdeveloped airport with UN planes and helicopters.
Eventually, I arrived here in Rwanda at about 10:20 am. It took a few minutes to go through immigration and customs. My bags were off the plane and ready to be picked up as soon as I got through. That was great. In fact, I went through customs on the 2nd floor of the airport and could see my bags over a balcony while I was waiting in line. What a relief. I was a little worried about my bags not making it because the transfer in Nairobi was rushed and not well organized. But, everything worked out great!!!!!
Dr. Bardella (my faculty advisor) and her husband got there about 10 minutes later, picked me up and took me to the house I'm staying at. Wow! Our house is on a hill and has an incredible view off the back porch overlooking the town and some hills/mountains. I've got a large bedroom and my own bathroom, too. I hung out with Dr. Bardella and her husband for a little while. He then had to be at a meeting. So, Dr. Bardella went to her house to get me some food. I took a shower and unpacked a little. Dr. Bardella came back and we hung out for a couple of hours talking about medical education.
Then I took a 2 hour nap!!!! That was awesome!!!! I woke up around 5pm and went to the cell phone store for a phone. After the cell phone store, I went to Dr. Bardella house for dinner. I made it home at about 8:30 last night and was in bed by 9:15pm.
All in all yesterday was a great day!
Today has been good, too. I've wandered around a bit. At one point I met some school children near the Kigali soccer stadium. They were excited to hang out and a few of them even had the confidence to try out their English skills with me. Their English was pretty rough and they didn't understand the majority of what I said. But, their English is certainly better than my Kinyarwandan (the local language...pronounced Keenyah Wahndan.)
I'm starting to get over the jet lag a little. I don't feel nearly as disoriented today as I did yesterday. I imagine within a couple of days I'll be doing well.
I hope all of you are doing well. I'll try to post some pictures at some point.
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