back in Halifax

The weary travelers return to Halifax

After 41 hours of travel, Genevieve and I finally made it home to Halifax.  We are glad to be back but already thinking about when we can return to Rwanda again.  As you can tell from the blog, our experience was amazing.  We were so touched by the kindness of the people we met.  Our teaching felt valued but we also feel there is so much more to do.  It is wonderful the next volunteer for the CASIEF program in February will also be from Dalhousie (Dr. Tom Coonan).

This will be the last blog entry.  Thank you to everyone who followed our journey and for you kind comments.

May our efforts help benefit the people of Rwanda.

All best wishes,

Patty

No Peace Without Mercy

I had this outfit made at a local market. Do I look African?

Both Patty and I have spent the last 3 weeks admiring the beautiful fabrics and clothes worn by the Rwandan women. Patty has been determined to aquire her own special outfit and today was the day! Earlier in the week we visited the local open-air market and Patty had a wonderful time selecting the cloth and being measured for an outfit. We weren't quite sure how much would be lost in translation, so the result was going to be a mystery. Today we returned for the finished product. What do you think? The women and children immensely enjoyed the spectacle of Patty dressed in her new clothes complete with a Rwandan head-dress. In the spirit of the moment, I too selected some cloth, was measured and will have an outfit of my own. I'm not yet convinced of the head-dress, however.

In the last 2 days, we had the opportunity of meeting Terry. Terry was our driver to Butare and during the course of our travels he shared some of his life with us. Unfortunately, Terry's father, brother, uncle and aunt were killed in the Genocide of 1994. He was 15 at the time. We had been wanting to visit one of the Genocide memorials and he generously offered to accompany us there. We were concerned that it might be a difficult experience for him, but to our surprise he replied that it is "like visiting his family" and would be pleased to take us there.

So today, Terry, Patty and I drove to a small town just outside of Kigali called Nyamata. Nyamata historically has had a large percentage of Tutsi residents. We have since learned that it has also been the site for previous persecutions of the Tutsi people prior to the 1994 Genocide. The memorial in Nyamata is in fact a church. During our drive, Terry told us that after his family was killed he joined the army even though he was just a teenager. His first job was cleaning the streets. He recalls removing the bodies of the victims and attempting to protect them from the dogs that had begun to eat them. He recalls feeling intense hatred towards those that performed such atrocities, but was governed by the edict from Paul Kagame, the current president, that they were not to retaliate, to kill, to destroy homes, or to loot. Even today, he knows many of the individuals who participated in the killings.

Upon arriving we were introduced to 2 very nice young men at the reception. Both appeared to be in their late 20's.

Steven, our guide, spoke very good English and described in detail, the events of 1994. The experience was quite overwhelming for both Patty and me. The church itself is not very large, yet 10,000 people were crammed into the building. Initially, they sought refuge from the Sisters and Brothers there. However, once inside, the militia barricaded the doors. Three days later, those that weren't killed because of the conditions, were bombarded by grenades or killed individually. The second young man, Charles, is one of seven survivors of the original 10,000. He was 9 at the time. He remembers the events.

While inside the church, Steven graciously shared his experiences of the Genocide with us. He was 10 years old at the time and the fourth child of 5. His mother and father were both teachers. During the genocide, his family was separated from each other. He discovered later that his mother, father, 2 olders and his older brother were killed. He was ultimately placed in an orphanage. It was subsequently discovered that his younger sister, who was only four at the time, had escaped with his Grandmother. They were reunited some time later. He described their reunion as the "happiest moment of (his) life".

Incredibly, soon after they were reunited, a man arrived at their door. He confessed to having participated in the killing of Steven's family and asked for forgiveness. He also said that he knew where his family was buried and could take Steven to find them. A few days later, they went to a local church where the congregation was praying. The man pointed to 15 of the parishioners and implicated them in the killings. He then proceeded to summon them from the congregation and to lead them, as a group, to retrieve the bodies of Steven's family. In a nearby building, in the latrine, they exhumed 45 bodies, including Steven's parents.

Time and again, we are struck by the willingness of the Rwandan people to forgive. In fact, Steven himself said that, "there will never be peace without mercy".

Steven is currently supporting his grandmother and his younger sister. He has withdrawn from his studies to work as a street cleaner so that his sister can complete high school.

Both Patty and I felt very honoured that Terry and Steven were willing to share their lives and stories with us, especially because they have been so traumatic.

Genevieve

back from Butare

We returned last night from our final stay in Butare, where we teach every two weeks. Butare is about three hours south west of Kigali and is a much quieter town where the National University of Rwanda is located. The trip there and back is an opportunity to see the beautiful Rwandan countryside and yesterday afternoon it was at its best. The sun was shining on the terraced hills, rice fields and banana groves making everything a brilliant green. The houses are all brick, stone or clay and reddish brown. And everywhere, along the road, are people - women with bright yellow dresses, a baby on the back and a huge load of potatoes on her head; men cycling with just about anything you can name (yes, we've seen two mattresses on the back of a bike, a dresser, a dozen stacked chairs and, of course, a family); children as young as 4 or 5 with heavy jugs of water. No one is Rwanda is obese! Still, they appear to be healthy and reasonably well nourished. In the country the way of life cannot have changed much.

As a backdrop to this landscape there are the hills that fad in layers into the distance. The country is absolutely beautiful.

In Butare our time was well spent with teaching two of the first year residents. There are only nine residents in Rwanda and they are all our friends! They are bright, hard working people who struggle to do their best in horrific circumstances. They are without the most basic equipment - oxygen saturation monitors are hard to find, carbon dioxide monitors are nonexistant and even a blood pressure cuff may not be available. The anesthesia machines often us a working bit of one with a working bit of another. The residents know they need better equipment but still have to do their best in this situation.

We continue to find that people are very receptive and encouraging with whatever we suggest. It is so easy to set up meetings and there is wonderful receptivity and communication. It feels as though Rwanda is very open and has few obstacles. It is the opposite of all the burocracy and red tape we experience in North America. We had dinner with an brilliant Ugandan surgeon, Dr. Patrick, who is now chief of surgery and acting dean of post-graduate education at NUR ( National University of Rwanda). Dr. Patrick has experience with partnerships between universities in Canada and Africa. He helped set up one between McMaster and the university in Mbarara, Uganda. We told him we would be very keen to see something develop between Dalhousie and NUR. We also spent an hour with the Dean of Medicine at NUR, Dr. Herbert. He is an insightful man and was very encouraging.

Genevieve and I have found our thinking has shifted in the past few days. Instead of thinking we have ample time in Rwanda, we now realize we are in the home stretch. We leave on November 28. We both feel strongly that we need and want to come back. It seems we have barely begun.

Our driver to and from Butare, Terry, is a wonderful young man who was only 15 when he lost his father, aunt, uncle and brothers in the genocide. I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart when we drove by the graveyard where they are all buried. Everyday there are reminders of this tragedy and we have found people to be very open in discussing it. Today Terry is going to take us to one of the genocide memorials.

We are still shocked that this devastating event could have happened in a country where we find the people to be so warm and gentle.

Love, Patty

children

We live in a rather posh embassy neighbourhood but if you go a few hundred metres down our street the other direction there is an old neighbourhood of narrow alleys, dirt roads, mud houses with corrugated metal doors. It is completely off the tourist path. The children all smile and wave. They may call "muzungu" (white person) and laugh. Sometimes we get "bon jour, comment ca va?" other times "hello, what is your name?" in English. Yesterday some children came and held our hands and walked with us. Fortunately, we had some bananas, which they were very happy to receive as one little girl told us she was hungry. Some boys were playing soccer with garbage bags tied together.

I'm sure we will always remember the beautiful children of Rwanda who are so cheerful and friendly and have so very little.

Love to all,

Patty

Can we bring one home?

At long last we got to visit the gorillas! We visited the Susa group, which are gorillas that are descended from the ones Dian Fossey studied. The hike to see them is the longest, but so worthwhile. We were with about 25 gorillas and so close we could have touched them, if we had been allowed. It was absolutely thrilling to be with them and watch them play fighting, eating, moving slowly through the forest and caring for their young.

The group now has 41 members and is the largest gorilla group accessible to tourists. It is also the second largest family of gorillas in the world second only to a remote group of 65 members, considered to be the "research" group.

We saw gorilla twins, the only ones known to have survived. They are now four years old. They did survive because a young male, Sandy, became the mother's helper and always cared for one of the twins. The mother let Sandy care for the female and she kept the male. Of course, Sandy knew to bring the baby for feeding.

We heard that a gorilla group has moved from the Congo side because they are aware of the danger. Unfortunately, as of October 26, the Virunga Park Headquarters in the Congo, was overtaken by the rebel faction. The rangers, approximately 50, had to flee. Now the gorillas have no protection and are at the mercy of poaching as are many of the other animal groups including elephants.

The young baby in the picture is two years old. We saw three silverback males and one that will be a silverback next year. We saw many mothers. The number one male has 11 wives! He occasionally shares with the number 3 since number 3 helps him fight aggressors. Both number 1 and one of the females, Poppy, were alive when Dian Fossey was with the group.

After an absolutely fabulous experience with the gorillas we returned to our hotel and spent a wonderful evening with some fellow travelers; Edwin from England, his girlfriend, Melonie, from Australia, and Marleyse from the US. All 3 are extremely accomplished travelers! Marleyse has spent the last 11 months touring the world...solo!! She had the good fortune of winning a scholarship which mandated she not work!! and only travel (by herself) for 9 months minimum. To date she has been to 19 countries on 3 continents. Edwin, 34 years old, has now visited 60 countries!! on all continents. Melonie, 31 years old has visited 50 countries!! We felt somewhat humbled by their worldly experience.

Bon Soir, Patty and Gen

a vision for 2050

This was Rwandan dancing at a dinner we had during the conference on medical education in Rwanda. The conference has been excellent. We met some fabulous people who are doing interesting work in many areas to improve health care and medical education in Rwanda. There were representatives of organizations from USA, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, Ethiopia, and, of course, Dr Jeanne (chief of anesthesia) and I presented on the CASIEF project. CASIEF is the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Internation Education Fund and it is through CASIEF that Genevieve and I are in Rwanda.

We met people who have spent decades in Africa and expressed opinions that Rwanda is one of the few countries in Africa where you can make a difference. Part of that must be because of the incredible openness we have found in the people. There is also a huge sense of goodwill and a desire for partnerships. Rwanda has a long term vision for development, which is quite comprehensive. There are goals for 2020 and 2050!

There are always signs of people's warmth: the residents all shaking each others hands before teaching rounds, the triple kiss, greetings and smiles on the streets.

We are heading to Virunga to see the gorillas this weekend and we'll be back on Sunday.

Patty

It's a small world

On the plane here we sat next to a lovely man who was accompanying a group of Rwandan senoir high school students returning from a math competition in Bangkok, of all places. He is the director of primary studies and teaches Math 10. We ended up talking the majority of the trip and he invited Patty and I to visit his school.

Yesterday, we had opportunity to visit with him and to see the school. It turns out that it a beautiful private school called Green Hills Academy. It is in Kigali. It has nursery school to secondary. It is situated on an amazing piece of land and landscaped beautifully.

We subsequently discovered that it teaches the International Baccalaureate curriculum and is the least expensive IB school in the world.

We also had the opportunity to meet with the Headmaster, Ron Wallace Again, I am reminded of the fact that we live in an incredibly small world. When we told him that we were from Canada, he appeared interested and inquired "where". When we said, "Halifax", he said that his mother lives in a nursing home there. Furthermore, he is originally from New Brunswick. He came to Kigali in September following retirement from his job as the superintendent of the Southern Alberta Catholic School Board. It gets better...he mentioned that a couple he knows will be coming to Kigali this winter. She is a nurse and he is a new doctor. I immediately thought of a friend of ours who is an Obstetrical nurse, recently married to a young doctor who has just finished his studies at Dalhousie University. I burst out, "Cathleen Connell?"

And it is!! Cathleen's father had, unfortunately, passed away this summer. As it happens, her father was this man's best friend. So, in the center of Africa, we have a Maritime connection!

Bon Soir!

PS. This is my first blog!

Genevieve