A Nurse's Notes

"I Speak English"

On Sunday clouds and thunder filled the sky.  Even though it was raining north and south of us, we didn’t get any rain until church started.  Then it began to pour.  Hard rain on a huge metal church roof equals a lot of noise, so the congregation started to sing.  What fun to hear the voices compete with the rain!  Two little friends and I had to scoot over a bit when the roof started dripping.  One little girl held my Bible while the other held my hand.  At the end of the service my little friend told me in Kinyarwandan that she could speak English, and then she counted to twelve.  So I now know all her English!  :-)

Nyungwe Forest Canopy Walk

On Saturday a bunch of us drove to Nyungwe Rain Forest to go on the Canopy Walk. We arrived at 10:15 but were told we’d have to wait for the noon tour. We ate our sack lunches while it rained. By noon the rain had stopped, so the wait turned out to be a good thing! First, we hiked the beautiful trail that goes halfway down into the valley. Then we came to the big metal bridge that allows us to walk way up through the top of the trees, through the canopy of the forest. Part of the bridge stretched over a valley where we could look down, but clouds obscured our view. If it had been clear, we could have seen Lake Kivu where Kibogora Hospital is located. But, on the other hand, having it cloudy was nice as we didn’t get hot. We saw some interesting birds. Because tourists come from all over the world, our guide told us the Latin names for the trees we saw. Problem was, none of us knew Latin. But when he told us we were looking at “mahogany,” that we knew. :-)

Pictures

I'm having trouble up-loading pictures to my blog.  But have been able to put pictures on Facebook.  If you would like to see some pictures from the stories I've shared here or other pictures feel free.  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150556959593831.383751.606168830&type=3

The Trip Home

Wednesday I rode to Kibogora with Edson, one of the mission chauffeurs. When I left Rwanda, he was a new driver, still needing practice. But this time, I sat back and watched him handle the roads, potholes, and other cars with skill. Time didn’t stand still while I was out of the country. The new road project on the way to Kibogora is impressive. They’re repaving the road to cover potholes with wonderfully smooth asphalt. And the last forty minute dirt road to Kibogora is now completely dug up and being widened in preparation for asphalt. What a huge project!! Turning off the main road to drive the last five minutes from the town to the hospital, I knew I was almost home as I waved to greet people. What fun to honk at the red mission gate, see our night watchmen again, and set foot in my house to look around at what has and hasn’t changed. Over dinner, Sheila and I caught up on what she’s been doing and what’s been happening at the hospital. Normally, the trip from Kigali is exhausting, but this night, I was too excited and happy to be tired.

Barbie Mama

I’ve played with the kids in pediatrics a few times this week.  My favorite day was when we hid the bean bags, and the kids had to find them.  Such fun!  We had to keep an eye on the crawling babies because of the stampede of children racing to see who could find the bean bags first!  

This girl is in the surgery unit for burns.  She has cerebral palsy and fell into the cooking fire at home.  She’s had some skin grafts done.  She loved watching the kids race around, looking for the bean bags and, of course, having her picture taken!  As you can see, she’s the proud mama of a Barbie doll.  Every day she comes, carrying her “baby” on her back.

Kigali Traditions and Changes

A visit to Kigali always includes a lot of shopping.  This time was no different.  Tiles, toilets, food, printer paper…always a unique variety of items.  In the grocery store and the butcher shop, the staff recognized me.  It was nice to catch up on what they’ve been doing.  It’s amazing how much has changed in Kigali.  They have milk in plastic jugs now.  Before the only milk was powdered or in a cardboard box that didn’t need refrigeration until opened.  There are new street lights that count down how many seconds until the green changes to red.  There are lots of new buildings and paved roads.  And you can even buy Ritz crackers and Oreos!!  The city is becoming so modern.  I’m happy for the progress, but I have to admit, I kind of liked it the way it was before I left.

Saying Goodbye

Today I was called to look at a baby.  I agreed with the doctor that there was nothing that could be done;  this baby was dying.  Not an easy call to make.  But the baby had a huge liver and spleen.  She was breathing only ten times a minute (not the normal 40-60).  Dr. Ngoya was great.  He called the surgeon to see if it was something that could be operated on, wanted to do a repeat x-ray, and kept looking for something else that could be done.  But for this baby, that wasn’t going to happen.  We took pictures of the baby and mama and prayed with her as she said good-bye to her second child who passed away seven hours later.  Two dead babies;  no living children.  I’m sure what we did wasn’t much, but I’m glad we did what we could.  

Back with my Little Friends

 

Back with my Little Friends

 

Thursday

Thursday was full of greetings, smiles, hugs, and asking how people and their families are doing. It was nice to see friends again. I enjoyed observing Helen, the lady in charge of stock control, and the improvements she’s made in the department since I left. There’s still some "tweeking" to do, but it was nice to come back and see the good changes that have been made in the past year. Sometimes when you’re here all the time, it’s so easy to focus on what still needs to happen instead of what has happened.