Week 2 Working in Gihundwe Hospital

Week two in Gihundwe Hospital!

I found out the name of our town is actually Kimimbe. Our total number of equipment fixed is 11 pieces which we were told was the average for last years groups. Including our fixes at CHUCK and Kinombe Hospitals we are at 16 which I guess means we are doing pretty good. Also we made a friend. There is a fellow white person from America who stays at our hotel. He is a working on his masters in public health and is here on a water treatment program. We typically eat dinner with him every day. Its good company to have.

We celebrated two holidays with the Rwandans. July 1^st was a holiday, I am not sure what holiday but it was one were we only worked in the morning. Also, July 4^th is their celebration of the official end to the genocide. So we also didn’t work. On July 4^th our BMET and the hospital director drove us to a ceremony that was taking place that day. We thought we were going to a soccer game but our BMET told us to change into nice clothes and when we arrived we sat in the “upper classs” “privileged” seating. I wish I brought my camera to document it but alas I thought I was going to a soccer game. There were senators there, the mayor of the city, two military men with the equivalent of our Special Forces hats and a lot of awards on them. Everyone around us was dressed in a suit and tie. Adam and I were in polos… The ceremony was nice, we didn’t understand anything but there was a parade, dancing, singing, chanting, cheering, speeches and a military display.

That afternoon we traveled to a nearby city (4hrs) via public transport named Butari. This was the official meet up town for the students. On Saturday, we traveled to Nyungwe National Park and partook on a canopy walk through the jungle. Similar to the safari, I felt very blessed to be in the position I am to be experiencing all these exciting adventures. On Sunday after church we encountered a family of monkeys. There were probably 20-30 of them. One came really close (6inches from my foot) but when I tried to touch it, it got in a very defensive position so I let it be.

This next week we work in Bushenge hospital. It is approximately 20min from where we live and they will send a car to pick us up. We are only supposed to work there for this next week. After that we will talk with our coordinator at Ginhundwe Hospital to see if he has more work for us there or if we should continue working in Bushenge. Bushenge is located in a small village town, meaning there are about 5 shops and the rest of the town is homes. The hospital is fairly new (2yrs old) with the hopes that it will be a province hospital. This means it will be the nicest hospital in the entire western province. This upcoming weekend we hope to travel to Kigali. The US Embassy will be holding a 4^th of July party for all the Americans in Rwanda. We are also trying to make plans to go spelunking in some caves in the Northern Province.

*pics already on facebook, will update pics here soon*