Hello internet! I am back. I apologize for not posting recently! These past couple of days have
been very hectic for me. Last week was the final week where we will all see
each other until the end of July. I wanted to spend my time talking to them
before we all parted ways. We also had a very busy schedule the week as well.
On Thursday, we had our final hospital lab. My partner and I started off with
looking at the Doppler probes used to monitor fetal heart rate. I had to smear
gel on the probe in order to get an accurate reading. I related to expecting
mothers for a bit when they complain about how cold the gel was! I got very
excited when I was able to hear my heartbeat. We weren’t able to fix the probes
because we would have ended up destroying the casing. My partner and I decided
to help another group with an infant incubator. We were told that the fan was
not working so we decided to open up the incubator. Upon opening, we found a
dead rat inside! We quickly took it out and cleaned out the fan. After cleaning
out the fan, it was time for our lunch break. Everyone went to Meze Fresh,
which is the Chipotle of Rwanda. It is to die for! After lunch, we headed back
to the hospital. My partner and I ended up fixing a wheelchair and a patient
bed. We were so happy to be able to fix so many pieces of equipment in one day.
Me trying to find my heartbeat with the Doppler probe...The gel was really cold!
Petek and I not practicing safety precautions on the wheelchair we made!
Catching some rays on the fixed patient bed.
Selfies with the rat hiding in the infant incubator.
For our last Kinyarwanda class on Friday, our teacher,
Francis, took all of us out to a local market so we can bargain in Kinyarwanda.
We put our skills to the test. I was able to buy 2 mangoes for 600 francs (less than $1 USD) with
my roommate! We were very excited! We ended up giving the mangoes to our homestay
family as a little thank you gift. They all were very happy to know that we
bought the fruit in Kinyarwanda! We ended up sharing the fruit after dinner. The
mangoes were the best mangoes I’ve ever eaten. They were a sweet way to end the
week!
On Saturday, it was Umuganda, which is a community service
day that happens once a month in Rwanda. My homestay dad took my roommates and
me to the neighborhood behind IPRC to see an administrative building being
built. He told us that there was no government funding for the building and it
is all community service. I was surprised to see so many people from the
neighborhood coming together to help with the construction work. After
Umuganda, the group met up to go to Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village to teach the
students there how to build an optical heart rate monitor. At the village, there
were over 1,000 students, all coming from rough backgrounds. The village was
originally built for kids who are “vulnerable.” Originally, this was meant for
children who suffered from the genocide. Now, it is open to children who need
the most help ranging from financial issues to domestic problems. When I went
there I was so amazed by all the students there. They were all so driven and
such fast learners. My partner and I taught them how to solder that day. After
10 minutes, they were all experts! The students I worked with also talked to me
about how they all wanted to be engineers. They further explained how they
wanted to “be the change” and become empowered women in a male-dominated field.
They also talked about how they wanted to help Rwanda grow by serving the
community. It was very refreshing to see these students being motivated to work
hard. It made me want to work harder so I can be a better role model for them.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds for such bright individuals!
With the students from Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village and a BMET student from IPRC.
Sunday was our final day in Kigali. Before moving out, I
gifted the homestay kids some toys to play with. My two roommates also gifted them
candy and games as well. Both of the girls were so happy to get the presents!
One of my roommates gifted the father a towel with “Texas” embroidered into it.
After taking many pictures, we made our way to the Incubation Center, where we
would all be sent off to our cities. It was a very bittersweet moment for me. I
was excited to go off to Byumba to finally fix medical equipment but also very
sad to know that everyone will be separated. However, I know that we will all
see each other over the weekends! After all of our goodbye hugs, Petek and I
were off to Byumba!
Our first day of work was a little bit rough. Petek did not
feel too well and I wasn’t feeling like my peppy self. We also were not able to
fix any equipment on the first day. We left the hospital feeling bummed out.
After our first day, we searched up a bunch of manuals and emailed plenty of
manufacturing companies to help us out. Tuesday was a lot better for us. We had
a big breakfast and walked into the hospital feeling more motivated. We quickly
sat down to look at the oxygen concentrators and infant warmer that stumped us
yesterday. We also picked up a broken microscope from the laboratory. By the
end of the day, we were able to fix the infant warmer and locate the problem
with the microscope and the oxygen concentrator. Both of us felt so accomplished!
The feeling of finally fixing equipment makes me feel so excited for what else
I can do.
Thumbs up for our first fix! :)
The beautiful Byumba sunset.
No comments:
Post a Comment