How to summarise a full on week in Rwanda and Burundi visiting projects and work sponsored by cbm!
Rwanda
o In Kigali, capital of Rwanda met up with Helen Green and Nathalie Vezier, Programme Coordinator cbm East Africa who is our guide for the next week or so.
o First day Friday visited an orthopaedic and general hospital and school complex run by the Anglican Church an hour out of Kigali. cbm sponsors the orthopaedic work. Met dozens of children and young people who had had operations for club foot or had plasters set for traumas etc. There was also a rehabilitation department offering ongoing physiotherapy and occupational therapy, as well as a prosthetics department – we witnessed a young man taking his first steps on his new prosthetic leg manufactured there. Other people were involved in small scale income generating crafts and activities.
o Afternoon back in Kigali Helen and I spent some time viewing the Genocide Memorial Museum – it was very interesting to read and understand a little more about the dreadful events of the 1994 genocide and the conflict between Tutsi and Hutu peoples – when an estimated 1 million mostly Tutsi people were killed in a period of 100 days (as well there were many 1,000s more killed in the period leading up to that time). It was very moving and difficult subject matter to comprehend and to deal with. On the one hand it is amazing now to see the progress in the country with new roads and buildings in evidence everywhere, and outwardly people getting on with and enjoying their lives. However underneath there appears to be tensions which still continue unresolved.
o Saturday morning picked up by Piet a young Belgian ophthalmologist and driven an hour out of Kigali in a different direction to a large Roman Catholic complex which includes a substantial eye department of Kabgayi Hospital which is sponsored by cbm. We were invited to observe in the theatre for his Saturday list – 8 patients for cataract surgery, and one for exploration following injuries and foreign matter in the eye from a grenade explosion in the market place on Friday night. It was very impressive to see the operating theatre in action – the microscope had two eye sets so we were able to take turns observing the detail of the surgery – a form of cataract surgery – “small incision surgery” is practised where the surgeon makes a small incision and removes the lens badly impacted by cataracts and inserts a replacement lens. As the incision is only small no sutures are required to close it. The average time taken per operation was about 12 minutes. There were two beds in the theatre and as soon as one op was finished Pete immediately changed gloves and moved to the next patient. We talked to several people who were blind due to their cataracts and due to the operation now had sight.
o Piet very generously invited us to stay at his house for the Saturday and Sunday evenings – so we had a relaxing day on Sunday and took a walk around the hillsides and nearby villages. Monday morning we were driven by the Kabgayi hospital driver back to Kigali and then out towards the south to cross the border into Burundi at …
Burundi
o Here we were met by a cbm worker Johannes and a Doctor from the Ministry of Health. The Burundi Ministry of Health have underway a programme of baseline surveys and mass medication where indicated for five Neglected Tropical Diseases.– cbm is contracted to provide technical expertise and implementation of the programme.
o The team we were to visit were in a very remote area. We travelled all afternoon on rough roads and tracks and had an overnight stop at a very remote township where the guest house at US$6.50 per night did provide a bed and electricity some of the time and a large tub of water in the bathroom area for washing etc. It was fairly basic but adequate. A further two hours drive in the morning to find the team undertaking their survey on this occasion for Trachoma. Communication had gone out a few days earlier and people in a wide surrounding area were bringing the children aged 1 – 9. The team consisted of two supervisors, two nurses and two recorders. It was not a particularly busy day as this was a sparsely populated area – each child had their eyes examined by the nurse using a binocular to examine under their eyelids. It was interesting seeing this operation, but was a lot of time, effort and rough conditions endured given the location of the team.
o We journeyed on further south gradually on better roads where we met a cbm worker Methodist Minister who heads a community based disability programme with 3 community workers, identifying and supporting people with disabilities. We visited a local medical centre, a couple of families being supported by the community workers and then the Methodist Hospital from which the programme is based on to Gitega where we visited an optician service, the blind school and hostel and a hostel for people with physical disabilities which are facilities the community workers can refer to as required.
o The next morning we set off for the drive to Bujumbura the capital city – interesting drive through countryside with crops of tea and coffee and various markets along the way – crossed the watershed between where water flows into the Nile system and the Congo river system. The descent into Bujumbura is a dramatic drop of around 1,000m in about 23 km – like the Kaimais on the Matamata side but longer and without any passing lanes. Numerous large trucks going in both directions, bicycles hurtling down hill laden with produce (bananas, sacks of charcoal etc), cars trying to pass. To get to the top again cyclists would hitch a ride up by holding onto the back of trucks going back up – usually 4 – 5 attached to each truck. The road has a reputation for being one of the most dangerous in the region – added to the traffic issues until about 6 months ago was also a stronghold of rebel soldiers – peace and calm exists at the moment with plenty of government soldiers on patrol.
o Visited another community based disability service run by the Emanuel Church and sponsored by cbm. We had a briefing with the staff, visited the school for deaf children on the site where they are based and then visited three separate meetings of groups of mothers of children with disabilities. These groups meet regularly for support and information provision but on this day had stayed on longer so we could meet with them – unfortunately they had expected us mid day / early afternoon and the last group we did not get to until after 5.00pm.
o It was great to see these programmes and some very good working being done, as well as appreciating some of the huge challenges ahead for the country of Burundi and for development programmes. The Burundi way of life appears to be much more individual and small family group orientated and the concept of support groups will take some time to develop. This is also a society where disability is often literally hidden away – so it is very positive to see groups coming together and the need to support people with disabilities being recognised.
o At nearly 6.00 made our last appointment with the Ministry of Health where a team had remained at work to meet us. This was a programme addressing onchoceroses (River Blindness) – and is funded principally by the WHO with some sponsorship by cbm. The disease is a waterborne and results in worms entering the body initially causing extreme itching (and damage to skin and tissue as scratching occurs) and eventually the worm progresses to the eyes causing blindness. The treatment is an annual dose of medication which is essentially the same as Ivomectin used in farming in NZ.
o Thursday we ended this stage of the programme of visits and flew back up to Nairobi, where Helen visited the cbm regional office and web conferenced with cbm HO Germany to debrief on the visits to the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. It had been a full-on time so we were pleased to then have a few days now to unwind a little.
o Friday we flew to Zanzibar ( the spice islands just off the coast of Tanzania) for a couple of days change of pace before today, Sunday afternoon, we fly back (30 mins) to Dar Es Salaam ready to begin the next stage of work first thing Monday.
Comments
Comment by jane on 2009-10-04 16:16:01 -0700
Enjoyed the catch up and the photos. Looking forward to seeing zanzibar. Watch our for a friend of ours who works for WV in Dar Es Salaam,- Davine, young South African woman
