Rwanda Wrap-up & Tanzania

Needless to say, we've been traveling quite a bit the last five days and internet cafes and time have been hard to come by. We are currently in Longido Tanzania, but I want to recap the end of of our Rwanda adventures before skipping to where we are now.

On Sunday, Pastor John a local Lutheran pastor, took us to see a hospital that he and a community are building in a very remote area in the Rwantonde. We thought that Pastor John was taking us to an area, where we'd walk around, look at the site, what they have built, and then talk to him about his vision for the hospital. What happened though, was quite different. We drove out to the area, which was very remote and you had to have 4-wheel drive. When we pulled up there were lots of people under a big tree next to the building site. We got out of his Land Cruiser and the people were singing. We were guided to where they were and it became very apparent that they had come because we were there. This was pretty hard for me to take and really grasp the magnitude of it. The majority were mothers and children. They were everywhere we looked, probably at least 300-400 people. They asked us to sit on the benches in front of the group. The children were all seated right in front of us. I have never seen so many children and people gathered together here. Pastor John and the community leaders introduced themselves and we introduced ourselves. Everything was translated by Pastor John. I was sitting there, in front of this huge group of people, who have put thousands of hours into building the foundation for the hospital, in hopes that someone will come and help them build the rest. My heart felt heavy with the responsibility, obligation, love, and sadness that I was feeling. There are so many people who need help and these people have put their own sweat, tears, and hard work into what that they have built all so that hopefully someone will come and help them so that they can have access to healthcare. My mind was running the whole time, thinking if we can't help them, who can? There are 13,000 children in this area and they don't have access to healthcare. How can this be the same world that I just left? It seems so far away and so distant. Why are these people any different than other people? They're not, but somehow, they are.... this is why my heart hurts.

After the introduction and meeting, we were given a tour of the work that the community has accomplished. As we walked around, Denise and I took pictures of the children. When they figured out that they could see the image on the back of our cameras, they became even more interested in getting their photos taken. There were so many children and only two of us, so we were surrounded. It got a little intense at times to have that many people around you at once, but they were having a great time and so were we.

There were several children who Dr. Brad spoke with about their conditions. One little girl's eyes were very infected. He asked if she had trouble seeing and she said that the light bothers her eyes. He asked her parent how long she had been having trouble and they said three years. Brad said that he thought steroid drops and an antibiotic would clear it up. That's all and she's been suffering for three years! There was one little boy who had broken his arm and had a cast on. We asked how he had gotten the cast put on and they told us that they made a make-shift stretcher for him, carried him from the village to the road which took 24-hours, then to the hospital. The hospital then had to send him to another hospital for care as they were not equipped. At that hospital, they were told that he should come back once a week to have it checked on. That, of course, was not going to happen realistically, so he hadn't been back. They were planning on taking him this week to get his cast off. Dr. Brad began looking at his arm and unwrapping his cast. The arm was healed, so this saved his family money for getting him back to the hospital, which would have been a 2-3 day trip. They were so happy and were extremely appreciative of Brad's help. It was almost as if he had performed a miracle or magic to them.

On Tuesday, we left our dear friends, Earnest, Bishop Josias, Eugene, Valens, and Nancy, in Kibungo. We went to Rwamagana where we attended the grand opening of the Center for Champions. There was a large group of mzungos (the most we've seen) from my church in Bellevue who were attending. First Presbyterian Church in Bellevue funded the $600K project building a campus and vocational school for up to 600 students. It was quite an event and lasted for 3-4 hours. There were traditional drummers and dancers, which was very fun. Nancy and Valens came along with us and were nice enough to be our transportation to the event.

We then hired a minibus driver, which turned out to be Valens' brother, which was great. He and his driver partner drove us to Kigali where we stayed the night. We left the next morning at 8:30am for Arusha Tanzania.

Arusha is a pretty large city, which we've decided we like it much better out in the rural areas. There are so many people in the cities and they aren't very clean (w/the exception of Kigali which is amazingly clean). We spent our first afternoon walking around, then ate dinner at a Mexican/Italian restaurant. On Thursday, we met with the leaders of MWEDO (Maasai Women's Development Organization). They have many great programs for Maasai women, like selling their jewelry, educational scholarships, literacy programs, education on maternity health, etc. They are looking for a way to market their jewelry products and were approached by Macy's but very little of the money would have actually gone to the women who made it, so they did not go through with the deal. Debbie, from our group, bought a pair of the beaded sandals that they make and is hoping to see if she can talk with someone from Nordstrom's or another retailer. I would love to see the jewelry and some of the textiles we've seen be sent to the US to support the women here. I had an outfit made while we were in Kibungo and have bought several pieces of fabric to take home. The women wrap the fabric around them and it's used for all types of purposes. The colors are beautiful and so brilliant.

Yesterday, we drove with a driver and translator from MWEDO to Longido. It is a rural area where the majority of people are Maasai. We visited the hospital yesterday and then drove out to one of the rural healthposts. On our way back through the bush, we saw giraffes, which was really cool!

This morning, we visited a boma where a Maasai family lives. This was the first time that I have seen so many flies all over the people. They show commercials in the US with African children with flies on them, but I had never actually seen them until today. The children were very cute and they warmed up to us after we had been there for awhile. There were goats, dogs, and cows around too, including baby goats who kept going under our car. Luckily, we have Luca and Julius who have been helping us translate.

After that, we went to the pavillion where the women sell their jewelry. It was fun and everything is so colorful. There were women there of all ages. We asked one lady how old she was, as she was by far the oldest, and she said that she didn't know. After we purchased jewelry, and half of our group went to order lunch, Brad, Bob, and I stayed to talk to the women. We asked them about access to healthcare, their top concerns, etc. They spoke to us at length about the difficulties they face, primarily being able to pay 1,500 shillings (almost $1.50) to visit the doctor and get medicines. There are also many issues with maternity care. Many women who attempt to go to the hospital while in labor die on their way there because it is so far. Some women might have to walk 20-30 kilometers to the hospital while in labor. The children are prone to pneumonia, malaria, and many skin and eye problems. After we were finished with our meeting, the ladies sang and danced for us. All of the women participated and even put on more necklaces and jewelry before the song began. We got some or all of it on video, but that will never capture actually being here.