A Nurse's Notes

CAHO

This past week I was in Michigan, attending the Central Africa Healthcare Organization (CAHO) annual meeting. It was a great weekend of meeting people who worked at Kibogora in the past and whose names I’ve heard many times. Now I have faces to go with those names! I reconnected with folks who came to Kibogora while I was there. I spent almost a week in Michigan, speaking at a quilting group and a Bible study plus attending CAHO. One day I drove to visit friends and enjoyed an afternoon at the park with their kids.

Michigan, Here I Come

This Tuesday I fly to Spring Arbor, Michigan, for the CAHO meeting (Central African Healthcare Organization). It will be my first time to go, and I’m excited to finally meet people I’ve heard about or “known” via e-mail. I also get to meet my future co-workers, the Berg Family. We’ve been e-mailing for a while, but now I’ll meet them in person and then again at the Kigali airport when they arrive in July. I leave for Rwanda in 7½ weeks!

After almost a year of no one seeing my cat at Kibogora, I hear that Peter is back!! Friends of mine are spending their spring vacation at Kibogora. They said a thin, flea ridden orange cat followed them into my house as they went in to borrow some games, jumped up on a chair, and curled up. He’s home! I thought for sure he was dead. Now I’m excited to get “home” and see Peter. He’d better stick around for the next ten weeks until I get there!

1 Acre Fund

If you're interested, here is the link to another NGO which has been working in the Kibogora area to help farmers.  I thought it was quite a good report on the work they've been doing.  I didn't realize their work reached so far into Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.  They've made a difference in our area, so I'm glad to see there are many others who have been helped as well.  http://cironline.org/reports/business-fund-puts-african-farmers-road-market

To-Do-List

I’ve started my to-do list for heading back to Rwanda in June. The problem is...the list is getting longer faster than I can cross items off. :-)  I have a number of books I want to read before leaving. Too bad the books aren’t talking books, as I’m making a number of trips to eastern Washington to speak this month and next. But guess I’d better not try to read a bound book while driving! :-)  Right now it’s still easy to think I’ve lots of time, but in reality I don’t. Just eleven weeks before I fly. Yikes, I’d better go read some more!

Pictures

I have added more pictures to the Kids and Kibogora Hospital photo albums if you want to see more pictures of my recent trip to Kibogora.

Life Choices

My path recently crossed that of a young woman who has a lot of drama in her life right now. I can’t change any of the factors in her life at the moment, but I can pray for her. As I walked away from the encounter, I was so thankful for my family and the lack of “drama” in my childhood. Yes, my parents did take my sister and me to “wild and crazy” places. This caused my grandfather to worry about my dad’s sanity when he took me to Mozambique at 16!! But those trips were great adventures, helping me become the person I am today.

I see kids at Kibogora who are there because they or a sibling is sick, so they’ve come with their mother to the hospital. I love watching them color, play with the cars and race track, search for hidden bean bags, and enjoy other games. These children normally have ever so many chores to do like getting water and firewood, helping with the cooking, taking care of the family goats, collecting leaves and grass for the cow or rabbits, caring for smaller children, helping in the garden, and going to school. Yes, these kids do find time to play, but they also have a lot of work. So at the hospital, it’s fun to watch them have time to run and laugh and be kids.

Changes in Charting

The hospital where I’m working this home assignment year switched last night to a new computer program for charting patients. There was lots of preparation, classes, etc. last month while I was visiting in Rwanda. I have to admit it was nice to take my classes, leave the country for a month, and then come back to work a few days before the switch, missing all the stress and anxiety that has filled the hospital as the big moment drew closer and closer. It’s hard to change to something new.

I like routine and knowing what I’m doing. When I came back from Rwanda last year, I was really excited to come home to a land I understood. But, you know, life isn’t that simple, and things changed. I was quite surprised that the changes weren’t as easy as I thought they’d be. I couldn’t even remember how to swipe my credit card at the grocery store! And now I’m back to English, so I can understand everything, right? Wrong! Apps, Droids, Bling. What in the world are those words? Not ones that existed when I left the USA!

Change can be good, bad, or neutral, but it’s a part of life. So I’m going to work tonight with a good attitude to learn this new system. Hope I still have that good attitude by morning. If not, I’ll stop by the grocery store on my way home for ice cream—my usual coping mechanism after a bad night at work!  ☺

Lessons on Wheels

The other day I went roller skating with my sister and friends. It’s been close to twenty years since I last skated. As I put on the skates, I remembered the fun times I’d had as a kid. But when I actually stood up, it was a whole different story! The girl who used to gracefully zip in and out of people, lean into turns, and even do small tricks was gone. Now I could hardly walk up and down the carpeted area. It took time getting comfortable before heading out on the rink, an area with more people and greater speed. I’m definitely not as good as I was as a kid, but I can at least have fun cruising around the rink...at a moderate speed.
Three kids really impressed me. Maybe first or second graders, they spent more time sprawled on their knees or rear ends than on their skates. They just laughed and got up to try again. I’d been reading the week before about being determined to finish something even when times are hard. These kids were a great visual for that—getting up over and over again, no tears, no sense of feeling like failures—just good honest determination to master the sport of skating! Hmm...how can I apply that to my life?

Beautiful Rwandan Birds

Thanks Sherrie for your patiences to get these great pictures!