I HEART RWANDA
A few years ago, Scott and I decided we would offer a trip, anywhere in the world, to each of our kids for their graduation gift. We were looking forward to spending this special time with each child before they leave home for college. When asked, Kennedy said she wanted to go to Rwanda and work with the orphans from the genocide. While a noble thought, Scott and I both just looked at her in unbelief and said there was no way we were going to take her to an unstable country where just under 18 years ago a million people were killed in 100 days. During the last year, Scott discovered that a friend and fellow surgeon went to Rwanda on a mission trip and had an incredible experience. After a little more investigating, we felt comfortable and confident that we would not only be safe in Rwanda, but have our own amazing experience as well. So Kennedy got to go on the senior trip she had hoped for, and it turned out to be an experience of a lifetime.
Our mission trip was coordinated through a Nazarene church here that has a connection with a Nazarene pastor in Rwanda. The Rwandan pastor, Simon, is an amazing man that is fully committed to bettering his country. He began the Ndendgera Foundation in hopes of building up a self-sufficient community in Rwanda. In just a few short years, the foundation has built a technical school, a medical clinic, housed 850 orphans and purchased and planted several acres of agriculture. Just days after our return home, they hit water for the new clean
water well that they were digging and this fall they will complete a tilapia fish farm. Our goal was to put together a small medical team that could train doctors there in abdominal surgeries and set up the first "see and treat" clinic for cervial screening. Right now the number one killer of women in Rwanda is cervical cancer. In the entire country, there are no medical specialists, meaning there is not even one pathologist in Rwanda. What this means is that there is no preventative screening for cervical cancer nor is there any treatment, such as chemotherapy or radiation. Scott was able to put a team together consisting of an ER doctor, a nurse, his physician assistant, and a child pychologist. That left two very eager, but non-medical people, to figure out how to help! Kennedy and I decided we would focus our efforts towards the orphans and under-privileged of the community.
Donations and supplies came in from everywhere for our trip! I was overwhelmed with the love and support when I saw how quickly my living room filled up with medical supplies to take on our journey. The team all met at my house to open boxes of toothpaste, toothbrushes, medicines, medical and surgical equipment. Then next job was to fit as much of it as we could in the 14 allotted suitcases.
The journey to Rwanda takes about 36 hours. Most flights stop in Brussels and we took advantage of that, on both legs of our flights, to break up the long flight. On our way over to Rwanda, the entire team took a 24 hour layover in Brussels to see some sights and get a good nights sleep in a hotel. And for anyone that has ever traveled with Scott, (aka "Sergeant"), you know that he doesn't know how to rest on vacation! His idea of "resting in Brussels" was to hit the streets for a 4 hour bike tour of the city. For some reason, none of our team was excited about his idea of biking 4 hours after flying all night for 17 hours! But Kennedy and I didn't have the heart to rain on his parade so we joined him. It was actually a good idea because it kept us up, which helped us acclimate to the time change and it was quite enjoyable.
This is the only photo I have of all 7 of the team together. What a wonderful group of people they are - we will always feel a special love and bond for each one of them.
We felt like we got a good feel for the city on our bike tour. Throughout the day we saw many things including the Grand Place, the European Union, the Grand Palace, the Triumphal Arch, rubbed Everard 't Serclaes for luck and Kennedy's personal favorite, the "manneken pis" (a peeing statue that wears a different outfit everyday).
We also toured St. Michaels cathedral (where all the noblities are married) and finished off our tour of Brussels properly with lots of Belgium chocolate and twice-fried french fries!
I had learned that Rwanda was nicknamed the "land of a thousand hills" and that it was a plush paradise, but I was still unprepared for how beautiful it was. Pastor Simon put us up at Peaceland Hotel, one of the nicest hotels in Gisenyi. We had a great view of beautiful Lake Kivu from our room and enjoyed that same view every morning from our rooftop restaurant at breakfast.
These are some photos of the clinic and school in the Ndendgera Foundation. That is one of Rwanda's many volcanoes behind the clinic. This also shows the waiting room, an exam room, and the women's health room that became the heart of our "see and treat" clinic. To the left of the bed, is the cryo machine. This is what we took down with us for the doctor and nurse of the clinic to use to see and treat pre-cancerous cells. It was by no small miracle that we got this machine there and working. The cryo machine works off a tank of CO2 gas. Obviously, we could not take several of these tanks on the airplane with us! So tanks of this gas were purchased from the Coca-cola company in Rwanda. That left us with only one major problem - their tanks of gas would not fit the attachments to our cryo machine. Fate would have it that just weeks before leaving for Rwanda, Scott heard a lecture from a doctor that has been working in Africa for years. This doctor not only knew of the problems Scott was having, but could give him several names of people throughout Africa that could make him a new valve to attach to their gas tanks. This man met Scott after we arrived, at the airport at midnight, and worked all night to have a new valve for us to use the next day!
Scott and his physician's assistant, Caroline Fung, would watch over Dr. Pascal as he learned how to detect pre-cancerous cells and treat them with the new cryo machine. Scott said the true success in this trip was that the local medical team learned to treat cervical cancer so the work will continue there long after we are gone.
The technical school is located behind the clinic. The school has a sewing school, craft school (they make cards and jewelry) and a mechanics program. The purpose behind this school of course is to train these kids in a skill that will allow them to provide for their families. Just a few weeks after our visit, the school was able to add one more trade to their list...computers! Thanks to a very generous donation from one of Scott's patients and her mother, we were able to buy several computers, equipment and a generator to start up a computer lab. A teacher has also been hired on and now the school is ready to add computer training to their list of classes!
We were also lucky enough to take a walk through the 5 acres of land that the foundation uses for their crops. When the foundation first began, they were bringing in food supplies to distribute among the needy families. However, Pastor Simon soon wisely realized that this process was not helping this people become self-sufficient. Within a short time, he had convinced the government to give him this land so he could teach them to plant and grow their own food.
Scott spent the first few days in surgery at the hospital with another local doctor. Due to the adundance of HIV in Africa, they are extremely careful with their surgical gear. Scott wore rubber boots up to his knees, a heavy leather apron over his scrubs and a jacket over that - all of that in a building without any air conditioning! He said he had to change his face mask about every hour because the flimpsy material could not hold up to his dripping sweat! We teased him that he looked more like a butcher than a doctor, not exactly comforting when you know he is about to cut on you!
The patients in the bottom left picture are waiting for their surgeries while holding their own I.V. The picture on the right shows the recovery room - and we complain if we have a semi-private room! After his first few days at the hopsital, Scott finally joined us over at the clinic.
We spent a good part of our first day in clinic unloading all the supplies we had brought with us. But it wasn't long before the clinic was open to see patients. The national radio had been announcing our arrival and women came from all over to see the "white doctor". The focus on the clinic that week was women's health but we did see all sorts of complaints. One thing all the women we saw had in common was complaints of headaches, neck and back pain. After seeing how they carried everything on their heads that was no surprise. One of my favorite moments from the week was on our last day of clinic. Word got out that it was our last day at the clinic and women lined up all day long to be seen. We were so busy that Scott had to do primary care and I had to do vitals and patient history - we were both out of our comfort zone! Well, while seeing a lady complaining of neck and back pain, I over hear Scott ask her if she ever lifts heavy loads. I couldn't keep it in and began laughing out loud to the point that I interrupted their appointment. We decided then that Scott had spent too much time in the hospital and clinic and needed to get out amongst the people more!
Speaking of the people...they are just every bit as beautiful as their country. Kennedy and I spent most of our time outside of the clinic with the children. There are so many children around the clinic grounds that they had to put up a rope to set boundaries of where and where not the children could roam. As soon as we would drive up to the clinic or walk out of the clinic, the streets would change from about 4 kids to 80 kids. Once they saw you, they came out of the woodwork yelling "muzungo, muzungo" which means "white person". Kennedy spent more time than anybody outside with the kids. She taught them songs, games, read to them, blew bubbles for them and just loved on them. Her favorite moment was when the children started chanting "ken-ne-dy, Ken-ne-dy" when they saw her instead of the generic call of muzungo. They touched a special place in her heart and saying good-bye to them was the hardest thing she has had to do.
Kennedy spent many hours reading books to the kids. Several times the adults would even stop and listen. English is now the official language of Rwanda but only a few can speak it. Children that are in school are learning it as it is the spoken language at school but young children and the older generation only speak Kinyarwanda or French. Many of the older school children liked to read along with Kennedy to practice their English.
It was easy to tell the children apart because they would wear the same clothes everyday. The children spent sun up until sun down playing in the dirt streets, leaving them just filthy. We were shocked by how dirty the children were. Pastor Simon told me that the children were bathed every night and clothes washed often but it was a losing battle in how and where the children played and worked. Their clothes were full of holes and just thread-bare. Kennedy and I took sewing supplies to mend their clothes. We could have sewed all day, every day while we were there and still had much work left to do. Poor Kennedy, this was her first attempt at sewing. Even as desperate as some of those kids were to have their holes mended, they were not fully satisfied with Kennedy's work! A few times some of the kids would come up to me and show me where Kennedy had sewn and then rip it open again so I would fix it. After a few times of that, Kennedy was done sewing and went back to playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" and "Hokey Pokey" with the kids for good.
While Kennedy didn't feel very confident in her sewing skills, she was more than happy to show off her dancing skills. The pastor has a youth group that practices several times a week and they perform in church on Sundays. The group of kids consists of about 12-15 teenagers that just love to dance and show their praise through song and dance. They were very excited to have Kennedy show them some hip hop moves. Kennedy felt a little nervous and intimidated at first, but after a few minutes with them, basking in their compliments, she was in heaven. She taught them some of Michael Jackson's Thriller and some hip hop but their favorite was country line dancing! The begged for her to come back to teach them every day but she was only able to go back one more time.
Kennedy and I also raised money to buy sewing machines for the school and sewing graduates. They held the school graduation ceremonies while we were there and we were invited to sit on the stand with the Mayor and Governor. We were also able to participate in passing out the diplomas. We were able to buy 5 sewing machines, two were given to the two sewing graduates and the other 3 will allow more students to enroll next semester.
Kennedy raised money at school to buy new shoes for the children in the primary schools. These were also passed out at the graduation along with school supplies for the next year. The kids all looked so cute in their matching t-shirts donated from an elementary school in Mississippi. The photo below is a Before and After photo with their shoes. Many children did not even have shoes, and those that did, were in need of new ones.
Another project Kennedy and I chose to get involved with was raising money to buy goats. In Rwanda, only those with livestock have value in the community. A woman without an animal is shamed and is unable to marry. We were able to buy over 40 goats for these women! Pastor Simon was worried that many might sell the goat to feed their families so he had them all sign a contract stating that they would keep the goat and then give one of it's offspring back to the foundation. This way, Pastor Simon has new goats to continue to distribute each year. It was such a special moment when I saw all these women lined up with their goats and Pastor Simon learned over to me and said, "Now, these women have value in the community".
The last thing we raised money for was to buy pigs. The pigs were distributed to both men and women and they were under the same contract as the women receiving the goats. This was particularly fun to watch as the pigs squealed and squealed when they were chosen and carried off.
We just so happened to be in Rwanda during the Genocide Memorial week. The memorial lasts 7 days with everything being closed on the first and last days of the week and open only half a day the other days of this week. After all the pain this country has gone through, this is the only time that it is openly acknowledged. It is currently against the law to ask or discuss to which tribe someone belongs. Everyone in this country was effected in some way by the genocide but it is rarely discussed. Their pain is surpressed and ignored...except this one week. Each community has a gathering in a public field where people can stand in front of others and talk about their personal experiences. We were advised to lie low on the first day of the memorial week. We were told that if anything crazy ever happened in Rwanda, it was usually on this day due to emotions running high. So we slept in that day and then Pastor Simon took us on a drive to see the Congo borders and for a relaxing afternoon on the beach of Lake Kivu. We had a wonderful afternoon of visiting, relaxing and teaching Simon's kids American games such as wheelbarrow and three-legged races!
We were excited for Scott to finish up his week at the clinic so he could come outside and meet some of the kids that had stolen our hearts. As soon as he walked out of the clinic and crossed that rope barrier, the kids swarmed him and called out, "Papa Kennedy!" To show respect, the children here do not call any adults by their first name. And rather than be so formal as to call them Mr. or Mrs., they call them Mama or Papa and then add the name of your child. So I was Mama Kennedy while there and Scott was either Dr. Scott or Papa Kennedy.
Before saying our final good-byes at the Clinic and to the children of the foundation, Scott decided he would pass out candy to all the kids. Kennedy just shook her head at his naivety. Little did he know, you cannot just walk out there with something to hand out. First of all, his candy bag would have disappeared within the first 5 seconds and second of all, he would have no way of knowing who got 15 pieces of candy and who got none. He walked outside the clinic with his bag of candy and regardless of the rope, every child within sight was in front of him at the clinic. He tried so hard to get the kids to listen to him and make a single-file line. But it was just chaos! With the help of Mama Dina (Simon's wife), we got the kids all lined up. The were told they would get one candy and then they had to exit the clinic grounds. Even then, it didn't really work. We later saw some of the older boys with piles of candy hidden in their shirts that had been stolen from the younger kids.
After one week at the clinic and with the kids, it was time to say good-bye. It was very emotional, especially for Kennedy to hear the kids yelling her name as we drove away. She tried to hold it together but finally broke down in tears as she waved her final good-byes to the kids on the streets.
With just two days left in Rwanda, it was time to view it as a tourist. The main tourist attraction in Rwanda is the mountain gorillas. We went to the Vurunga volcanoes and climbed Mt. Karrisimbi to view the largest of the gorilla families, the Susa. We drove up as high as we could and then hiked up about 2 1/2 more hours until we found the gorillas. We had a tracker and two armed guards with us. It was quite the experience to turn that first corner and see a huge gorilla sitting there staring at you with no glass barrier between you. The Susa family has three silverbacks in the familiy and we saw all 3 of them, along with many blackbacks and babies. They are beautiful yet terrifying looking creatures. They are huge yet so graceful and they are so powerful yet so docile. I never once felt scared or threatened. We were able to get within about 7 feet of the gorillas and once a baby even went right by us on it's path down the mountain. This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that I feel so lucky to have experienced.
On our way back from gorilla trekking, we stopped by Rosamond Carr's home and orphanage. She is the author of a book titled Land of a Thousand Hills that many in our group read. She is an American that went to Rwanda as a newly married young lady and lived out the rest of her life there. She was there during all the conflicts, a good friend to Dian Fossey and began an orphanage after the genocide of 1994. While she passed away a few years ago, the orphanage is still being run by her foundation. You can see from the beauty of her home and gardens why she never wanted to leave Rwanda.
Our last Sunday there, we were able to attend church with Pastor Simon. Throughout the week, Scott was able to explain to him that he too carried a responsibility for his church congregation as a Bishop. They had many wonderful discussions about religion throughout the week and Simon had many questions about our beliefs. Scott was able to share a lot about our church and the Book of Mormon with both Simon and his assistant pastor. Both of them wanted to have a Book of Mormon and in addition, Simon asked if Scott would speak to his congregation and tell them about our church. Even with all the wonderful things I had experienced up to this point on the trip, this was the highlight for me. Scott told them about the Book of Mormon and shared 2 Nephi 25:26 "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
Scott then went on to tell them how despite our different religions, different countries, different cultures, different colors...that we are brothers and sisters and how much we loved them.
This is Everest (above) and Simon (below) with the Books of Mormon. What wonderful people and a wonderful blessing for them to become a part of our lives. We loved sharing what is dearest to us with them and will treasure forever what we learned from them.
And no trip to Africa is complete without a safari! After the gorilla trekking, we were more than happy to sit in the car all day as we drove around looking for animals. We saw everything we could see on a daytime safari except for the elephants. I think Pastor Simon was relieved we didn't come across any elephants since those are really the only animals that can still hurt you while still inside your car!
After all week of driving on those awful bumpy dirt roads, I wasn't surprised when we ended up with our first flat tire at the end of our safari!
Our last day in Rwanda was an emtional one spent in Kigali, the capital. We began our day by eating breakfast at a hotel where the original owners were good friends of Simon and were also all killed during the genocide. Then we went to visit Hotel Des Mille Collines (aka Hotel Rwanda) where Paul Rusesabagina saved hundreds of lives by hiding them in his hotel. We ate lunch by the poolside there that played such an important role in saving all those lives.
Then our last stop was at the Genocide Memorial and Museum. The museum was depressing and disturbing but so well done. It did a great job of explaining how this country got to the point they did and how something like this could happen. It showed how this wasn't the first time it happend in history, nor the last. It was hard to see so many local families there, especially this week, paying tribute to victims that are now buried there. As mass graves continue to be discovered around Rwanda, the bodies are being moved and reburied here at the memorial.
Simon and his wife, Caritas, had one last gift for us. Caritas went into Congo and had a traditional dress made personally for each one of us. After our fashion show, it was time to say good-bye. It was hard to believe we had only known each other for two weeks. Hearts come together very easily when they serve along side one another. Our time in Rwanda had to come to an end but hopefully the work we started will continue. The three of us were headed back to Belgium for a few days while the rest of our group was headed back home.
Belgium was a sight for poor eyes (and stomaches) after 2 weeks without any chocolate in
Rwanda. Not like we needed any chocolate after our 2 week carbo-loading binge, but we certainly felt like we deserved it!
This time around we stayed in more of a residential area in a bed and breakfast. This is the street our bed and breakfast was on. It felt more like a hotel than and B&B but was very nice just the same. Kennedy was in heaven - she felt like she was living in an IKEA showroom.
The Atomium was built for the 1958 World Fair and was Belgium's answer to France's Eiffel Tower...or so they thought. Personally, I had never even heard of it, but it was pretty cool. It is one giant iron molecule connected with escalators so tourists can ride to the top for a view of the city.
We chose not to go to the top of the Atomium but to go next door to Mini-Europe. We really struggled over whether to go to this or not because, well, it just sounded so cheesey! Mini-Europe takes you through all the countries of the European Union with scaled models from major cities. I was really thinking we had made a big mistake when we were greeted by a giant orange turtle just past the entrance gate. But after we ditched the orange turtle, we quite enjoyed ourselves! It was fun for Scott and me to see so many icons from around the world that we have seen in real life. And Kennedy and I had a blast trying to take funny pictures of us as giants stategically placed in famous places around Europe.
We used our Bed and Breakfast in Brussels as a home base and spent our last two days taking the train out for some day trips. Our first stop was to Bruges. It was about and hour and 15 minute train ride for Brussels. While in Bruges, we visited several churches, the most famous ones included Church of our Lady and Basilica of the Holy Blood. Church of our Lady has one of the few Michelangelo sculptures found outside of Italy - it is called Madonna and Child. The Basilica is famous for it's relic of the blood of Christ. Tradition has it that the blood was brought here about 1150 after the Second Crusade. Apparently they only open the doors to the relic on certain days where the vial can be seen - we weren't there on one of those days!
We were missing those warm, humid days of Rwanda. Not only was it much colder here in Brussels, but we pretty much left all our clothes with the mission in Rwanda. So our favorite treat each day was Belgium hot cocoa...on a stick! This was the best hot chocolate EVER! It is made by adding a small, gourmet chocolate square, that is on a stick, into a cup of hot milk and stirring until the chocolate is all melted.
We were told one of the best ways to see Bruges was by boat. Bruges is a quaint little town that has several water-ways similar to Venice.
It was a very nice and relaxing way to see the city. We saw the old hospital, several churches, bridges, lots of swans and many homes. I thought it was interesting that many of the homes had covered up some of their windows with bricks. I guess there used to be a window tax - each family was taxed according to how many windows they had in their home. So of course to avoid paying so much, most people would cover up the windows they felt they could do without.
After our boat tour, we had some time to kill until the big event we had all been waiting for...our hot air balloon ride! So Scott took us on one of his famous "short-cuts" around town and we ended up lost. We finally just gave up and called the balloon company, told them where we were and asked them to come pick us up! While waiting, Kennedy spent most her time dancing in the streets!
The hot air balloon ride did not disappoint! It was quite the process to take off. The pilot has several launch sites around town but it all depends on the weather and wind as to which place would be best. We drove out of town where the pilot stopped the car and set off a few helium balloons to see how the wind was carrying them. The goal of course for the balloon ride is to have you fly right over the heart of Bruges where you can see the grand market place and all the sights we just visited during the day. Scott should had been on the payroll rather than paying them for as much work as they had him do. The first of his jobs was to help hold the balloon while they filled it with hot air before taking off. We were paired with a group of 3 college students from London who were hitch-hiking for charity across Europe. We were a little worried about Scott at first. He held it together pretty well in front of us but afterwards he came clean about his "almost panic-attack" just after taking off! It took him a minute to realize that if he didn't look down, he was fine. Well, we did end up flying right over the heart of the city and had a fabulous experience. After flying over the city, we headed out to the farmlands. There the pilot would fly low enough we would almost touch ground and then just before the next set of trees, he would pull us back up high again.
The real tricky part to ballooning is landing - not so much how to land, but where to land. Once up in the air, the only thing the pilot can control is height. So when it is time to land, they just have to pick a field and land in it. Most the time the farmers are friendly and don't care if they land on the property, as long as they don't land in any crops. When it was time for us to land, we started to come down in a farmers field of grass. The farmer came running out of his barn when he saw us. Our pilot yelled down asking if we could land and it sounded like the farmer said that would be fine. Well, once we were down, we soon realized the farmer had said no and was not a happy camper - I mean farmer. In addition, he wouldn't let our chaser car pull up to the balloon to pack it back up. Meaning we had to carry everything out of the field to the car. So, once again, Scott earned his keep by hauling gas tanks galore out of the field while we all carried the balloon and basket to the truck. This is our pilot talking to the farmer (the dude in the fancy farmer overalls)..we decided he didn't get off the farm enough!
Our last day was spent in Ghent, a town similar to Bruges, but only bigger. Our first stop was Gravensteen Castle. The castle was built in 1180 by count Philip of Alsace. It served as the seat of the Counts of Flanders until the 14th century. Today it stands mostly as a museum of various torture devices including an authentic guillotine that was used in Ghent.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around town, including the main square and several cathedrals. Kennedy's main goal was just to avoid any museums. But when left with a few hours before our dinner reservation, she had the choice of a surrealism museum or Museum Dr. Guislain (a functioning pyschiatric hospital/museum). Since she is taking a pyschology class in school right now she opted for the Museum Guislain. That choice will haunt her for the rest of her life...literally.
So this museum/functioning hospital/freaking spooky haunted house was so bizarre. Built in 1857, it is Belgiums oldest psychiatric hospital but I still claim it is the best ever haunted mansion I have ever been to. The museum was not layed out very well and at times I wasn't sure if we were still in the museum section or the actual pysch hospital. There was dim lighting, strange background music, photos and film footage with freaks of nature, unintentional flickering lights, inappropriately placed manikins and medieval looking therapy equipment. Kennedy and I felt emotionally unbalanced by the time we got out of there.
Luckily for us, the dinner was worth the wait. It is so much easier to maintain mental stability on a stomach full of all you can eat world-class ribs. Then it was back to the train station and Brussels for our last night before heading home. It just so happened to be a long holiday weekend of some sort for all the students and many of them were traveling as well. We were amazed at the train station parking lot. Every inch of it was covered with bicycles. Such a common sight in Europe. Probably why we don't see as many obese Europeans. Not like those Americans that dine at those all-you-can-eat buffets then take a train home!
Well, by train, hot air balloon or airplane, I was ready to get home and see my other kids.
17 days is a long time to be away from home, family and a comfortable life. But I wouldn't have missed this experience for anything. I am so proud of Kennedy for choosing to spend her Senior trip doing something that counts. I am so proud of Scott for finding the extra time to put together a medical team and equipment to start a see and treat clinic in Rwanda. I am so proud of friends that so generously donated money and supplies to change so many lives so far away.
We went down there hoping to change some lives and came back being changed. It amazes me how quickly you can come to love someone when you are serving them. Rwanda will always be a special part of our lives. As was written on the flowers at the memorial graveside, "we will never forget you".
Comments
Lisa Presley
You have such a wonderful family! Kennedy,I love You! You are truly one of Heavenly Fathers Choicest Spirits.Your beauty starts from within and Just radiates around you and where ever you go.I love to watch you dance...You feel the Music!
Heidi and Scott...You are very lucky to have this angel in your family....And you have nurtured and guided her and helped her reach her potential! I love your family...
Well Cass..looking forward to your trip in two years.
Mary
So interesting to see all that had to take place with the surgeries and getting the supplies you needed. This story needs to be shared many times!
P.S. Did you use picnik for your collages?