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Headed Back to Kigali

This morning we ate a quick breakfast at the hospital ( a peace corps worker from Maryland joined us) and headed out back for Kigali! It was bittersweet leaving Shyira. I was so impressed with their staff and I just loved all the people there especially because of last night playing at the soccer field. We saw the cutest thing as we were leaving… We saw a huge group of children marching down the street in two lines and singing songs as they went. When we got closer we realized a little girl in the front had a white veil on and bouquet made out of ribbon or something. They were playing wedding! It was so so adorable. The drive back to Kigali went so fast. I could look out the window at those views all day long. When we got to the city we finally got to eat lunch at the Hotel Des Mille Collienes. It was super good! We were all so tired of potatoes and beans so the food there was much appreciated! When we got back we got to work on our final presentations for tomorrow. Suzanna hadn’t typ
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Last Full Day in Rwanda - Final Presentations!

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Today we did our final presentations at the University of Rwanda. It was a big day for everyone involved because we had to compile all of our experiences into 20 minutes and the University of Rwanda students who have been helping us for the last 3 weeks were defending their final thesis to their professors. I just have to say I am so amazed the the UR students. They are so generous and loving to us! They devoted two whole weeks of the time for free to help us in the health center and the hospital! All while preparing the biggest presentation in their College careers! They even stayed up through the night to finish their presentations because they were helping us during the day. They are truly amazing. I loved presenting on nutrition and I think it went well! It was cool to watch everyone's presentations and listen to their thoughts about the experiences we had. It was a great way to conclude the internship! After our presentations we went to Java again! It was very good. We had a
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Shyira District Hospital - Day 3

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 We started off the day today with a “small hike” Well thats what the villagers told us. You see the hospital we are at is brand new, like I mentioned before and we were told at the top of the hill was the old hospital which is now a health center. It turns out that the hospital was at the top of the mountain, not the medium sized hill in front of it. The hike was pretty steep the whole way up and it took us a little over an hour to get to the top. I just can’t believe that people had to hike this path to get to the hospital when they were sick, injured or in labor!! Its so crazy! We were so confused why it made sense to build a hospital at the top of a mountain but when we got to the hospital which is now a health center we found out that it was built in the 1930’s. Apparently more people lived up there back then rather than down in the valley where we are staying. The health center was very very minimal and super dirty. They said they get about 45 patients a day. I think most peop
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"You are the Gift" (Shyira District Hospital - Day 2)

Today was definitely a little slower. I really like this hospital. It is just so clean! We attended a nutrition class this morning that was given to all of the mothers who had just given birth. they talked bout child nutrition for the first 1,000 days of life (conception to age 2). It was cool and it made me really happy that they were educating mothers on proper nutrition right away. I haven’t seen any major cases of malnutrition while I have been here until today. I was visiting the malnutrition room and there was this little boy who looked so sick. He was crumpled in a heap on the bed and his eyes looked like they were bulging out of his head. His teeth look way to big for his tiny mouth. He was covered with a blanket so I couldn’t see his body but I didn’t need to to know we was frighteningly small. Later in the day I saw him strapped to his moms back like all of the babies are worn here. I thought that maybe he was three years old but a nurse came up to me and told me he was EIGH
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Shyira District Hospital Day 1

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Today was so awesome! I feel like I say that every day but each day is so different and I am learning so much! We started the day off by attending a staff meeting early this morning. They introduced us and told the staff what we were going to be doing for the next three days. We then got to sit in on a briefing from each ward in the hospital from the weekend and the night shift. There were a few arguments which were really hard to follow but it was really cool to be there. I felt like a staff member at the hospital! After the meeting we got to tour the hospital with the clinical director. He took us through each ward and explained everything as we went through. The hospital is actually very new! It has inly been open for a little over a year. I was so impressed with how clean it was. I will get to the details later but overall this hospital was really amazing. We even got to see their waste management facilities which is very important for IPC. They have a great system including an in
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Teaching at Church and then off to Shyira

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Today we had a relaxing morning and we got to go to church! I love that we can go to church here! Rwanda is so special because I feel like there is a heavy presence of faith everywhere I go. Most of the people here are Catholic and it shows! On our way to church the streets were very calm and not many people were walking around like usual. Rwanda also sets aside two Sundays a month called “No drive day” and there are main roads that motor vehicles are banned from in the morning from 6am-10am. Church was really fun! The Uganda mission president and his wife were there today. Sacrament meeting was really wonderful. I love how the church is the same wherever you go. Today was fast and testimony meeting so we had the pleasure of hearing the sweet and humble testimonies of the members here. We also got to teach primary today!! It was so fun. Haha the kids are NUTS! But so cute. Jenna taught a lesson about sharing and gave out some of the sock dolls she and her family made for the kids here
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Last Day at Biryogo - IPC Presentations

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Today we got to present to the medical staff at Biryogo! It was very fun and challenging at the same time. Elise translated for us. We had our slides in english and kinyarwanda so everyone could understand. We tried to be interactive and the staff liked that! They were all so nice and payed close attention. They were all taking notes and were excited to implement our simple suggestions. I loved working with all of these people. They were so nice and welcoming to us. Im so sad to leave Biryogo, it was such an amazing experience working there! With Veronica the Health Center Director
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