Rugazi Week 3

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Rugazi week 3

Day 27- Baby Gena’s birthday (in the kind words of the Ugandan students)!!!! In the morning I went to the general ward with Bernard and Gena. In the afternoon Ben, Gena and I went to Saint Michael’s High school to arrange a presentation to their students towards hand hygiene and latrine cleanliness. The meeting was successful and the school agreed to having a presentation and after that event Rugazi group B went to meet with the local Village Health Team (VHT) about collaborating in the a workshop towards latrine cleanliness that is set for the coming up Tuesday. Throughout the whole afternoon I was assigned to distracting Gena while the others prepped for her surprise party. Around 6 or 7 we all surprised Gena for her birthday and sang a very long and never ending birthday song!!!, Ben and I made some speeches towards the birthday girl then we went around a circle and had everyone say some kind word towards Gena. The whole evening was wonderful we danced and drank the night away till 2 am!!!!

Day 28- Oh my did that night of dancing get to me. I spent the morning on the maternity ward with Mike and later that morning Rugazi Group B quickly learnt how to make tissue basket, brooms and toilet covers from sticks and banana leave fibers. After lunch the group went to Nyahkatunga Village with the assistance of a couple KIU students to do our workshop. We started off with doing community members Blood pressure (used it as an incentive for attendance) and Cris and I presented on how to make a tissue holder basket. Others presented on how to makes a broom and toilet cover and the workshop went from 2:45-5:00pm and the rest of the evening we lounged around the hostel. The day was successful!!!!

Day 29- Had a late start on maternity (uneventful) and went for a walk around the community in the evening.

Day 30- Went to the maternity unit with Mike again and we assessed a mother who birthed triplets at home. The Biggest learning of the week was I did my first delivery with assistance from Mike. The experience was incredible and very hard to describe, I just can’t wait to assist with more deliveries. In the afternoon Rugazi Group B worked on our report, specifically the Challenge model and I packed for Rwanda.

Day 31- Big trip to Rwanda!!! Got up at 6:30 am, finished packing and had breakfast. Mike and Norman “gave us a push” and helped us get a taxi At 7:30 am got a taxi but holy it was incredibly packed basically the first thing I said to Norman was “it doesn’t look like we will all fit, I was completely wrong (we fit like a glove!) Big learning curve about Ugandan taxi’s…basically the vans seat 9 people yet they pack about 19 people into the van. One thing is we are packed in so tight that if the van ever rolled no one would move. On the way to Mbarara people would get out at one village then take a boda to the next village and hop back into the taxi…it is very confusing. Once we got to Mbarara we got out at a gas station and hustled into another taxi that was heading to Kabale our next destination. Once crammed in we bought some somas from a street vendor and we successfully did not get sick…thank the lord!!!! The trip took about 3 and ½ hours and we arrived in Kabale to meet up with the rest of the Canadian team and our private driver and officially started our trip to Kigali, Rwanda!!!! We had a very long stop at the border in which a yellow fever card went missing yippee!!! We arrived in Kigali at 7 pm and stayed at Discover Rwanda Youth Hostel (very nice!!!!). The room had three bunk beds and a closet. That evening we went to a café called Shockalite and had a yummy chicken quesadilla and lemonade.

Day 32- Had an awesome breakfast at the hostel, toast, eggs, fruit and coffee!!! Afterwards we went to the Rwandan Genocide Memorial; this was very sad but very informative. I liked how they also incorporate history on other genocides, many that I was not even aware of. My heart goes out to all those families who are mourning and still finding loved ones, I was blessed to have the experienced this opportunity for learning. Three funeral processions (at the “Mass Grave” site within the memorial) it was shocking and showed how recent this terrible event was. It sent chills down my spine watching the families walk into the memorial with caskets towards the burial site. After the whole tour we bought gifts and had lunch at their café which was wonderful. In the afternoon we went to a handy craft market where I shopped my heart out and bought some very sweet gifts and a beautiful painting for myself!!!! Later that afternoon we received bad news that our van was overheating but has an appointment with a body shop in the morning, thank god!!!In the evening we went out for supper and then called it an early night.

Day 33- The adventure Back to Rugazi!!!! Attempted to leave by 9 m but had delays because of the vehicle. We finally left by 10 am and had to stop a couple of times to pour water onto the motor because it was over heating, eventually it sorted itself out. Our pit stop at the border was quicker and well good news the missing yellow fever card was found, yay!!!! About 10 minutes outside of Kabale our van got a flat tire at this point I felt like we were never going to get the Rugazi but things have a funny way of working themselves out. Once in Kabale we said our good byes to the girls and found ourselves another taxi. Got I one then got shuffled to another then drove around the city for 45 minutes ( to fill van up to maximum capacity)-sigh- it is never going to end. Finally on the road again which ends up being a 4 hour trip with stops included. One interesting stop was because the traffic police were up ahead and to avoid a ticket because of over packing a vehicle, they kicked people out and put them on boda’s which drove around the police, then we all stopped and the people on the boda’s got back onto the taxi. Total chaos!!!! Once in Mbarara we were shuffled into another taxi on to the way to Kasese which is past Rugazi. This one was more spacious we bought some popcorn just before leaving Mbarara and then once again back on the road!!!! Holy I was pretty sure I was developing a pressure ulcer because my bottom was killing me!!!!! We arrived in Rugazi safe and sound but late and luckily our group loves us so much they even saved us a plate of supper!!!! We chatted for a bit then were off to bed for a nice deep sleep. Life Lesson: Do not take the taxi during long distant drives.

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