January

So I haven't blogged for so long. I'm very sorry about that. This blog was supposed to be something I could look back on as a kind of record of my travels in Africa, as well as keeping people back home up-to-date with what I'm getting up to. But it turned into a kind of chore for me, as recently I have been up against a few problems, both personally and with work. However, since it's nearly February, I thought I'd log back on and  post a little update from my little house in Butare...

Today, I went to LLCCM and helped them cook their famous (well famous to Miri, Libby and I) lunch. I wanted to know exactly how they cook their rice, beans and tea so I can try and recreate it at home. Sorry for the lack of photos (they are on Miri's camera and she is at dance class) but I will post them tomorrow! It was great to cook alongside Francois, one of the LLCCM members, and see exactly how Rwandans cook 3kg of beans and 2.5kg of rice on wood fires perfectly.

A couple of weeks ago, both my patience and my strength was tested when Miri and I had to take a 5-year old boy, Fabrice, to hospital with severe eye infections. Miri had called me in a panic asking what she should do for this child, who had turned up at LLCCM with swollen and bleeding eyes, unable to see. After a rapid journey by motorbike to LLCCM, we first took the child to the Rukira health-centre, where he was referred, after a long wait, to the District Hospital in Butare. Along with Francois and Fabrice's mother, we took bicycles to the hospital and commenced our wait...of six hours. On the coldest day in Rwanda. After much stress, unexplained payments and a queue that did not in any way resemble a queue, we managed to get some medicine. Luckily Hyacinthe was on hand at this point to explain to Fabrice's mother how to use the medicine.
Paying for someone else's medical care is a bit of a contentious issue. If Miri and I had not paid for every single step of the process, Fabrice would not have received a diagnosis or medicine, and he would have probably gone blind. However, in the small village that he lives in, everyone will now know of the two white girls who paid for his treatment, and may resent the fact that Fabrice received this attention, or resent the fact that we, truthfully, cannot help everyone.
In the wider scheme of things, Fabrice's situation really brings home grassroots development issues. Fabrice's mother and father both suffer from mental health-related problems. They cannot work and they cannot afford health insurance. So their right to good health-care and well-equipped hospitals cannot be realised. If their basic need, simply of an income, cannot be achieved, then top-down level policies cannot benefit them in the slightest. Relatively speaking, it is expensive to go to hospital if you cannot afford insurance. And therefore, children like Fabrice do not get opportunities to get treated for potentially life-changing illnesses.
Luckily Fabrice was much better within a week. He was a completely different child, running around, playing with us and generally acting like a 5-year boy again. After our extremely stressful day at the hospital, it was such a relief to see him happy and healthier.

This is such a lengthy post. Unfortunately I can't upload any photos as I can't find my camera lead... Tomorrow I will post some pictures, get back to my normal blogging pattern, and give you an update on the Strategy Development Day we held for RVCP last weekend!

ALSO: today I held a day old baby goat. Arguably the best thing that's happened in Rwanda so far!