Week 4
It is crazy that my last week in the Capitol of Rwanda has come and gone. I have spent a month in Africa and a part of me doesn’t believe it. Either way, this past week was a great way to end the first stage of this amazing opportunity! It consisted of a lot of lasts, but will lead to a lot of firsts. We took our last quiz, had our last Kinyarwanda class, and enjoyed a full week together as a group for the last time. I have grown very close to the entire group of talented and intelligent individuals, and I will be sad once I cannot see them everyday.
In class this past week each of our classes focused on preparing us on our separate assignments. During lecture we covered the concepts and commons problems of centrifuges, electrical motors, water baths, stir and hot plates, and autoclaves. The last two lectures covered Designing for the Developing World. This past month I completed one of the two classes that I am able to take during this program. The second class is not really a class but a report detailing a description of any design idea I can come up with to help make the health care system better for the developing world. The lectures over this topic gave us information on the steps we need to take in order to create a successful design.
I am excited to access the needs that my personal hospital requires and to try to create an idea that could be submitted for my report! It is not going to be easy, but I am up to the challenge!
During our lab portion of our days, we focused on other topics that directly relate to our jobs in the hospital. We went over tips of how to use the Internet resources to find manuals and other necessary paper work. We went over how we could plan our days in the hospital, how to properly take inventory of all medical equipment, and spoke one-on-one with our coordinators to learn more about our unique assignments.
We learned that the three of us will be living in a house with separate rooms. Our days will consist of working with Jean Claude, a Biomedical Equipment Technician and head of the maintenance department. For the next five weeks we will be working in Ruhengeri hospital or in any of the fourteen clinics in the Musanze district every weekday from 8 to 5. I am going to have a job at a hospital!
It is crazy that my last week in the Capitol of Rwanda has come and gone. I have spent a month in Africa and a part of me doesn’t believe it. Either way, this past week was a great way to end the first stage of this amazing opportunity! It consisted of a lot of lasts, but will lead to a lot of firsts. We took our last quiz, had our last Kinyarwanda class, and enjoyed a full week together as a group for the last time. I have grown very close to the entire group of talented and intelligent individuals, and I will be sad once I cannot see them everyday.
In class this past week each of our classes focused on preparing us on our separate assignments. During lecture we covered the concepts and commons problems of centrifuges, electrical motors, water baths, stir and hot plates, and autoclaves. The last two lectures covered Designing for the Developing World. This past month I completed one of the two classes that I am able to take during this program. The second class is not really a class but a report detailing a description of any design idea I can come up with to help make the health care system better for the developing world. The lectures over this topic gave us information on the steps we need to take in order to create a successful design.
I am excited to access the needs that my personal hospital requires and to try to create an idea that could be submitted for my report! It is not going to be easy, but I am up to the challenge!
During our lab portion of our days, we focused on other topics that directly relate to our jobs in the hospital. We went over tips of how to use the Internet resources to find manuals and other necessary paper work. We went over how we could plan our days in the hospital, how to properly take inventory of all medical equipment, and spoke one-on-one with our coordinators to learn more about our unique assignments.
We learned that the three of us will be living in a house with separate rooms. Our days will consist of working with Jean Claude, a Biomedical Equipment Technician and head of the maintenance department. For the next five weeks we will be working in Ruhengeri hospital or in any of the fourteen clinics in the Musanze district every weekday from 8 to 5. I am going to have a job at a hospital!
Along with the last few lectures and labs, we also had our last week of Kinyarwanda class. It actually turned out to only be two days of Kinyarwanda, one day of French, a visit to another local hospital, and a trip to a market!
Before the last day of actual Kinyarwanda class our group was determined to figure out how to watch Finding Dory at some point in the week. Or teacher, Francis, was curious about what we were talking about. One thing lead to another and the class ended up acting out the entirety Finding Nemo during class. I was Nemo.
We sped through it all somehow, we even found the manuscript online. It was quite spontaneous. However, it is with a heavy heart that I say we were unable to watch Finding Dory. But it’s okay! That is one more thing I will look forward to when I get back to Texas!
Before the last day of actual Kinyarwanda class our group was determined to figure out how to watch Finding Dory at some point in the week. Or teacher, Francis, was curious about what we were talking about. One thing lead to another and the class ended up acting out the entirety Finding Nemo during class. I was Nemo.
We sped through it all somehow, we even found the manuscript online. It was quite spontaneous. However, it is with a heavy heart that I say we were unable to watch Finding Dory. But it’s okay! That is one more thing I will look forward to when I get back to Texas!
Weekly after school adventures included a trip to the tailor, a bagel shop, and a coffee shop (where I had an incredible choco-cappuccino). I also tried to teach my host family what partner dancing was, and played UNO with my host mom. She was super excited that my roommate, Petek, had brought cards just for her! We had our last dinner with our host family on Friday night. And it was an amazing meal. We had rice, beans, fish in an African sauce, spinach, and salad (which here means onions, a little tomato, and avocado). We sat and mostly listened to the family talk amongst them selves. After all, we are still very lost when it comes to the local language, even after a month of classes.
Once we finished our meal, Laura, Petek and I brought out gifts for the family that we brought from our respective homes. I brought a stuffed animal for the baby, a bracelet and earrings for our host mother, and an assortment of seashells from South Padre Island, the beach very close to my hometown. Our family was more than grateful, and I was overcome with sadness from the idea of living in Africa without them.
The next and my last Saturday morning in the capitol, my roommates and I took part in one of Rwanda’s most valued traditions, Umuganda. Umuganda is a day where the entire country takes part in some form of community service for their local community and it happens on the last Saturday of every month. Laura, Petek, and I grabbed shovel, hoe, and a machete that was bent at the end (apparently you use it to cut grass) and we were ready to go.
We walked a little down our road and got to work filling potholes in the dirt roads with more dirt. It was hard work, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even if a man took my shovel and I started to haul the dirt instead, it was still nice to do a different kind of good. I could feel the sense of community around me, and once again I was inspired by the will that Rwandans have to be there for each other.
Later that same day, the entire class visited the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. This village takes children in the most need and gives them a home, food, and a great education with no cost to the children. It started out as a village for the orphans of the genocide, but has evolved to help a new generation of children. At this village, we set up a workshop on how to build a heart rate monitor kit with a group of the students there who are interested in the sciences. I had the amazing opportunity to teach two young men, Pappy and Fabrice, what different components on a circuit board did and how to solder them onto a board. They were both very kind and intelligent individuals, and with a little practice, they were able to create a working heart rate monitor! We were one of the few groups with a working board! It was truly a blessing to see their faces light up as soon as they realized that they were able to successfully create something that was completely new to them.
The end to our last day in Kigali could not have been any better. Grace, a native Rwandan who is participating in our program, invited the whole group to her house in the city for out last meal together. I can say, without a doubt, that I had the best meal in Africa at her house. The food was so great that I ate it all before I could take any pictures. No matter how good the food was the company was better. We talked and laughed about a few stories of our first month in Africa before saying our goodbyes. I know that we will meet up on the weekends, but life in Africa this next month will not be the same without all of the great friends that I have made.
This first month in Rwanda has definitely proven to be on crazy ride. The memories that I have made and the people I have met have a special place in my heart. It’s a little cheesy, I know. But it is true.
I am ready for you Musanze. I am ready to take on the world of working in another country. Let’s do this. Tugende!
This first month in Rwanda has definitely proven to be on crazy ride. The memories that I have made and the people I have met have a special place in my heart. It’s a little cheesy, I know. But it is true.
I am ready for you Musanze. I am ready to take on the world of working in another country. Let’s do this. Tugende!