Hands Around The World back in Rwanda

We arrived back in Kamembe on last Friday to start our 2018 Rwanda project to a tremendous welcome from old friends and new. Fulgence, Georgine, Japhet, Callixte and Jean were there together with Father Diogene and other priests from Mibilizi.

We nearly didn’t make it as our flight from Jersey was delayed by fog and we only just managed to get to the Rwandair check-in desk with ten minutes to spare. Everything else went smoothly and Eric was waiting for us at Kigali airport to guide us down to the bus station.

Eric is the sixth member of our volunteer team. We first met him in 2010 when he was a student teacher in Muko School. He now works in Kigali and we were delighted when he asked to join us for our project. The other members of our team are: Michelle and Steve, who were on the Jersey Overseas Aid team in Niamata, Rwanda, last year; Bailee, who joined us from the Jersey Apprentice Scheme; and the old Bugarama hands, Dennis and Mike.

This year we are spending the first week of our visit in Mibilizi Hospital which is in the hills between Kamembe and Bugarama. This is a trial run for a possible future longer project at the request of Simon Mbarushimana. He believes that the hospital is in need of the ‘Dennis treatment’, that is the maintenance programme which has been so successful in Muko School for the past eight years.

On a preliminary visit in September Dennis met the management at the hospital including Theogene, the maintenance manager, and they selected the main central corridor as a suitable starting point. Working in a busy hospital is very different from the school settings we are used to. At present we are not taking on any extra local labour, apart from Vianny, the carpenter – that will come later when we have a feel for the work here.

While the general environment of the hospital looks in good condition, with clean and bright wards and well-tended gardens, the ceilings are in a sorry state. Paint is peeling away throughout the hospital and there are numerous damp patches where  the heavy rains have found holes through the rivets in the roof. Many panels need replacing and Vianny set about these as we followed scrapping away at the loose paint.

 

The problems stem from lack of good materials and lack of preparation. The ceiling tiles are made from untreated plywood. We’ve not been able to find primer locally so our replacement tiles and painting are merely repeating the cycle. We think it is essential, if we are going to come back here in the future, to do things better. We have asked Theogene to make an estimate for completely replacing the ceiling and we will look for primer in Kigali. It would take more than one more project visit to get round the whole hospital but we feel strongly that this is the way to make more than just a short term, cosmetic improvement.

Our hosts here in Mibilizi have been very welcoming and we have enjoyed our short stay here. Father Hyacinth has gone out of his way to look after us. He made arrangements for a surprise party for Dennis’ birthday, including a cake with 71 candles. We were joined by all the priests from the Parish, as well as Georgine, Japhet and Epiphany from Bugarama, never ones to miss a good party.

Now, on Saturday we are heading off to Bugarama, where we will be working at two schools, Muko and Kibangira. Our departure is delayed as this is the last Saurday of the month and everyone here does ‘Umuganda’, national community projects until noon. This can include cleaning the environment, planting trees, or, as in the case of the local parish here, building a home for a poor family. Travel is prohibited for the time being while everyone gets on with the work.