Finally, a blog post from Mat!!!!

Oh, hey!  I didn’t see you there. Please come in. Welcome to my blog post. Firstly, Patty has taught me a lot over the first week I have been there. Not so much about how to survive in Rwanda (that’s pretty easy->Serena Hotel)  Her teaching has been about communication. Let me give you an example (completely hypothetical of course), there is this concept called “graded assertiveness’. This is a kind of education jargon.  It was hard for me to understand this at first; but, it goes something like this:

On the plane here

Patty:  “ Mat maybe you could think about blogging”

Mat: “Haha yeah maybe”

At the apartment on the first night

Patty: “ Mat you should really think about blogging it’s a great way to keep in touch with friends”

Mat:  “ I generally prefer to use email and text!”

At the Serena hotel at the end of the first week

Patty: “Mat take your computer out and blog”

Mat: “ yes mom”

And here we are. 

Rwanda has DEVELOPED since I was last here in 2008. There are large parts of the city I barely recognize. Many more roads are paved and there is construction everywhere.

We went to the military hospital today and the renovations are impressive! I particularly like the pediatric wards. Bright green walls with murals of my child hood favorites. Mickey and Minnie, Tintin and the best is 2 kids playing video games. I was particularly happy to see that Barney and Dora were excluded-both way overrated. The glaring omission was of course the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No peds center is perfect. At the IWK we have a giant T-Rex with sharp teeth chasing a butterfly. Oh and a bee with an enormous stinger.   

Anyway, sometimes it seems the change of pace is slow, but it is happening. I believe change is easier to see when there are large gaps in time before returning.  I can only imagine what Rwanda will look like in another 6 years.

I hope it will not be so long before my next visit!

First blog entry of my life complete. 

A C-arm in the ER

Neonatal ICU

Pediatric ward

Jeanne, Willy, Christian and Jerome -pain management planning 

full of activity

The sim centre was a hive of activity this afternoon.  Mat and I were teaching communication skills to a group of 21 anesthesia tech students and in the other room Willy, Christian and Theoneste were running the Essential Surgical Skills Course.  There must have been 40 learners in the building.  I cannot express the thrill of seeing my three anesthesia colleagues teaching and seeing the centre so well used.  Mat and I had the tech students running a couple of emergency scenarios by the end of the session.  Angelique, the centre coordinator, couldn’t be better. 

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Angelique and Mat

Serena at night

first day of teaching

Mat, Christian and I had a wonderful day of teaching and learning with the residents.  As other people have commented, the second year group is very strong.  It was a pleasure to get to know them better.  We spent the morning in the classroom, having a lively discussion of respiratory physiology and management of bronchospasm.  Christian has recently trained in Scotland as a simulation instructor and he was able to put that to use this afternoon in the sim centre leading a case.  It made our discussion much richer to be able to run a simulated scenario then to debrief on the scenario and key messages.

We've had a workout and are heading to the Khana Khazana for dinner tonight.

The Rwandans are all complaining it is too hot but we are happy campers.

arm wrestling

Mat and I worked on our talks this morning and got some exercise at the Serena Hotel.  Mid-afternoon we headed over to Gisimba Orphanage to visit the two children Alex and I are sponsoring.  Mat is a natural with kids, rather like Alex.  In no time he had the kids upside down and arm wrestling.  Then they headed out to the field for some vigorous soccer.  Brune and I watched from the side.

Sender has joined us and tonight we are cooking dinner for Steven.

Mat, Karim and Brune

Karim winning the challenge

you are welcome

It was lovely to climb down to the tarmac last night at Kigali airport and immediately to feel the warm air and to smell that faint hint of eucalyptus charcoal in the air.  We arrived on time, having had a very smooth period of travel.  Emmy was there to greet us, with his joyous smile.  A great surprise was that Emmy's girlfriend, Mary, came too.  She kindly brought me a bouquet of flowers.  It was hard not to feel badly about her being up at 2 AM knowing she has to be at work at 7 AM this morning.

The apartment is in great shape.  It looks like Janice, Ruth and André have made some good contributions.  There is finally a table in the kitchen!  Christophe came this morning and was very happy to hear all the good wishes sent to him.  He showed me his grades at university and promises to keep working hard.

Mat and I headed to the market to stock up on passion fruit, mangos, pineapples, avocados, and that yummy local cheese.  Then we've spent the rest of the day getting operational - cell phones working, Serena Hotel membership.  We are tired but thrilled to be here.  It is quite a luxury to have two days to rest before jumping into teaching on Monday.

Mat thinks I know everyone in Rwanda.  Even the Serena staff are welcoming me back to my second home.  I am smiling and feeling my coronary arteries open up.  Very happy indeed.

xo
Patty

breakfast on Turkish

Good morning.  I'm just waking up on Turkish airlines, where they have on board wifi:-)  Toronto airport was smooth sailing last night and no glitches so far.  I just wanted to reassure everyone that Mat and I are well.  After a few hours in Istanbul, there will be one more long flight then...Rwanda.

heading back

In a few hours Brian will drive Mat, a Dal anesthesia resident, and me to the airport to begin the long journey to Rwanda.  This will be Mat's 2nd visit to Rwanda and my 7th.  I had not intended to keep a blog, thinking there was little I could say that would be new, but I realize that each time is fresh and sometimes sharing these experiences is inspiring to people.  So I will do my best.

The last few days have been rather inauspicious.  Brian and I got bad colds and a polar vortex descended on North America bringing a deep freeze (who's ever heard of a polar vortex anyway?).  Operations at Toronto airport, through which we are scheduled to fly later today, ground to halt a few days ago, creating a mass of chaos and suffering.  People waited hours, even days, in horrendous circumstances.  Flights are moving again but with many delays and some cancellations.  We could be in for a rough journey...

Mat and I will be teaching Respiratory System to the anesthesia residents.  With the sim centre is up and running, we can make things more lively.  I will be following up on many other activities – arranging a third SAFE Course, helping to set up pain management programs at two of the hospitals, ensuring sustainable funding for the sim centre, and helping to fulfill the anesthesia department's strategic plan.

As always, I look forward to the people.  Emmy, our friend, guide, fixer, translator, cultural interpreter and driver extraordinaire, promises to greet us at the Kigali airport.  Christophe will be taking care of the apartment; it will be lovely to see his warm smiles.  Steven, my friend who has worked his way from street cleaner to translator to law student, will be graduating law school in June.  He is applying for a scholarship to study conflict resolution at Notre Dame University.  Then there are all the anesthesia staff, residents, technicians that I have known for years.

We are scheduled to arrive in Kigali around 2 AM on Saturday morning.  It will take us a while to get internet and for my brain to clear enough to post.  Thank you so much to my family, friends, and colleagues for great support and all your good wishes.

This is what we are leaving behind:

View from our condo during the last snowstorm