Fingers Crossed. . .
Robert here, this came in last night:
"Heading to the airport shortly. Fingers crossed no glitches. . ."
After a 24 hour flight delay (due to a bird apparently being sucked into one of the plane's engines in Brussels. . .) Helen's departure from Burundi appears to be back on track. At last report she was scheduled to depart Bujumbura at 9:00 PM Monday.
She hopes to be in NYC Tuesday afternoon by way of Nairobi and Brussels. After a night in New York, where she'll be giving talk to the TB Alliance on Wednesday, Helen then heads straight to the airport to fly to LAX (where she'll meet up with our friend Becky who is coming to Australia for the first time) and then on to Sydney and finally touch down in Cairns Friday afternoon, where I'll scoop her up and bring her up the Gillies and finally have her home here on the Tablelands for a little while.
I figure she'll either jump straight into the lake or drop into bed. . . We'll keep you posted.
Cheers, Robert
Updated 3:30PM, Tues. Nov. 3, EST:
Just got a call from Helen who was in New York City, looking forward to a hot shower. . . She'll be writing a posting and sending some photos for the blog soon.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Home visit. . .
I have been reading Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn’s recently published “Half the Sky” about the tragic plight of women throughout many countries in the world and some of their stories of overcoming oppression. It makes me think of so many of the amazing women I have met on my travels in Kashmir, East Timor, Tuvalu, Sierra Leone and now Burundi. (I also think of the men with whom I have worked who work hard for women’s rights too). I am only 21% of the way through the book (the Kindle notes the percentage read at the bottom of the “page”) and I am devouring it. Despite the tragic tales, it is very inspiring.
I was thrilled that they cited my friend Dara Cohen’s research. She and I met in Dili, East Timor in February 2008 and met again in the Dili airport as we were both departing on the day of the double assassination attempts on the President and Prime Minister. Dara is the person who told me about the West Africa Fistula Foundation too…the dots start connecting.
Today I accompanied Melino on a home visit to his mother (with multiple medical issues) at his childhood home farm. We were also delivering two elderly patients home. We drove down the rough road from Kigutu to the paved road, drove south on the paved road for about 15 minutes and then took another road back up into the mountains to Vyanda (the town I walked to three weeks ago with Tolstoy). As soon as we pulled into Vyanda’s town center, which had throngs of people out for the local markets and church services, the vehicle was mobbed with well wishers. Melino is obviously a well loved and respected member of this community.
The air was cool and the hills/mountains had a verdant hue. The eucalyptus trees were plentiful. I had to blink to realize I was in Burundi and not on the Tablelands of Far North Queensland.
Melino’s Mum, Candide, is a very hard working farm woman in her mid 70’s. She has had nine children and was widowed in 1994. Despite not reading or writing well herself, she has ensured that all her children have been educated. All are successful in their fields… a doctor, a professor, a civil engineer, business owners, all of them major contributors to Burundi’s positive future.
It is frustrating not to be able to speak Kirundi with her, as I know that her life must have incredible depth and that she has many stories. For example, Melino told me a little about her hiding from the rebels in the war. Meeting her was inspiring and humbling; her “simple” life as a mother in the mountains of Burundi has made a huge difference to this struggling country and its people. It was an honor to meet such an amazing woman.
Tomorrow we will begin a three day vaccination programme for under five year olds. I imagine that we will have a tsunami of patients.
Helen
Barack Obama Shop
Cow paddock fence with bananas at Melino's home
Helen with cow
Melino and Mum
Melino with calf
On the road blood pressure check
Woman with bar of soap on her head
I have been reading Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn’s recently published “Half the Sky” about the tragic plight of women throughout many countries in the world and some of their stories of overcoming oppression. It makes me think of so many of the amazing women I have met on my travels in Kashmir, East Timor, Tuvalu, Sierra Leone and now Burundi. (I also think of the men with whom I have worked who work hard for women’s rights too). I am only 21% of the way through the book (the Kindle notes the percentage read at the bottom of the “page”) and I am devouring it. Despite the tragic tales, it is very inspiring.
I was thrilled that they cited my friend Dara Cohen’s research. She and I met in Dili, East Timor in February 2008 and met again in the Dili airport as we were both departing on the day of the double assassination attempts on the President and Prime Minister. Dara is the person who told me about the West Africa Fistula Foundation too…the dots start connecting.
Today I accompanied Melino on a home visit to his mother (with multiple medical issues) at his childhood home farm. We were also delivering two elderly patients home. We drove down the rough road from Kigutu to the paved road, drove south on the paved road for about 15 minutes and then took another road back up into the mountains to Vyanda (the town I walked to three weeks ago with Tolstoy). As soon as we pulled into Vyanda’s town center, which had throngs of people out for the local markets and church services, the vehicle was mobbed with well wishers. Melino is obviously a well loved and respected member of this community.
The air was cool and the hills/mountains had a verdant hue. The eucalyptus trees were plentiful. I had to blink to realize I was in Burundi and not on the Tablelands of Far North Queensland.
Melino’s Mum, Candide, is a very hard working farm woman in her mid 70’s. She has had nine children and was widowed in 1994. Despite not reading or writing well herself, she has ensured that all her children have been educated. All are successful in their fields… a doctor, a professor, a civil engineer, business owners, all of them major contributors to Burundi’s positive future.
It is frustrating not to be able to speak Kirundi with her, as I know that her life must have incredible depth and that she has many stories. For example, Melino told me a little about her hiding from the rebels in the war. Meeting her was inspiring and humbling; her “simple” life as a mother in the mountains of Burundi has made a huge difference to this struggling country and its people. It was an honor to meet such an amazing woman.
Tomorrow we will begin a three day vaccination programme for under five year olds. I imagine that we will have a tsunami of patients.
Helen
Barack Obama Shop
Cow paddock fence with bananas at Melino's home
Helen with cow
Melino and Mum
Melino with calf
On the road blood pressure check
Woman with bar of soap on her headSaturday, October 24, 2009
Seven more sleeps in Kigutu. . .
It’s hard to believe that I only have a week before I depart Kigutu.
Today Tolstoy and I set off for another exhausting (yet paradoxically revitalizing) trek. We did a 5 hour circumnavigation of the valleys and hills to the south of Village Health Works. Up and down, up and down. (Feels like I walked the “Goat Track” on Castle Hill in Townsville about 6 times!). My respect and awe for the local residents continues to grow. The distances they travel regularly on foot with heavy loads are very impressive.
We were comparatively off the beaten path this time (the last walk was on a very well travelled route). It’s very humbling to see young children sprinting up steep tracks with heavy bundles on their heads, as well as firewood and buckets of water. Seeing two very young children heading off hand in hand to fetch hot coals from a neighbour in a metal pot was especially poignant. Tolstoy explains that they carry the pot back wrapped in banana leaves to prevent burns; the family is too poor to buy matches.
We passed by a local church in which about 15 teenagers (predominantly girls) were gathered for Bible study. The pastor invited us in to talk and I urged them to come to Kigutu for care and did a bit of health promotion too. Once again I am spurred on to try and get solar cooking happening here, as well as rain catchment.
These people would benefit very much from harnessing the sun and the water. (www.she-inc.org and www.savetherain.org are two organisations that I want to follow up with, post departure). As Tolstoy proclaims, there is enough work here for a lifetime! These ‘mountains beyond mountains' community outreach treks have been so informative and memorable. Once again, everyone we passed on the track was amazed to see a muzungu on foot.
It has been wonderful to have a chance to work/learn with/from Melino since his return from the ultrasonography training in Rwanda. He has been able to diagnose renal failure; a renal cyst; and, sadly, severe tricuspid valve regurgitation with heart enlargement and probable pulmonary stenosis in the 8 year old girl from Tanzania. Our fears about her grave cardiac condition were confirmed.
Late Tuesday afternoon, eight hours after Melino’s examination, the little girl suddenly went into cardiopulmonary failure. As Hilarie and Sincerite were getting the oxygen set up and tending to her, I checked her vital signs…respirations (40) and heart rate (140), then the blood pressure…nothing … I checked her heart again and heard nothing, then watched her take one last breath. This all happened in about 2 minutes. Her poor little heart just gave up. Somehow it was a bit easier for me to deal with this tragedy knowing that her heart was in such bad shape and that there was really nothing much to be done for her, except major cardiac surgery. Nevertheless, it was very sad and very intense to watch her take that last, long breath.
When informed, the poor parents were devastated, but unlike my experience with grief stricken Sierra Leonians who collapse in a heap and pound the ground and wail, the people here appear to contain their grief (relatively) and weep silently.
The scenario of the post-death was complicated as the family is Muslim and they were also a long way from home. Muslims require burial within 24 hours of death and also must be in the midst of other Muslims. There are no Muslims in Kigutu, but there are Muslim communities in nearby Mugara and Rumonge (within an hour). The parents were able to make a connection there and carry her body down the mountain for burial with their help.
We continue to see some remarkable pathology here (see the close up of the eye) and the goiter is one of the most impressive I have seen.
The Community Center is progressing well. The women from the community who come regularly on Fridays have done much digging and brick carrying near the site. It will be amazing to see it all completed and in use when I return in January.
The pink sunset was remarkable tonight, especially with the drumming practice as background audio. Now the crickets are thrumming and the crescent moon shines bright.
Tomorrow I will go to Vyanda (by vehicle) with Melino for some home visits and I expect I will have another extraordinary day.
Helen
Helen on the trail
Misty mountains
Children hauling loads uphill
Boy who gave us shortcut directions
Children off to collect hot coals
Young girl hauling firewood
Mountainside farming
Patient arriving at clinic by stretcher
Melino doing ultrasound
Local woman with goiter
Distended eye
Churchgoing women
Kigutu women working on Community Centre
Community women working in the gardens
It’s hard to believe that I only have a week before I depart Kigutu.
Today Tolstoy and I set off for another exhausting (yet paradoxically revitalizing) trek. We did a 5 hour circumnavigation of the valleys and hills to the south of Village Health Works. Up and down, up and down. (Feels like I walked the “Goat Track” on Castle Hill in Townsville about 6 times!). My respect and awe for the local residents continues to grow. The distances they travel regularly on foot with heavy loads are very impressive.
We were comparatively off the beaten path this time (the last walk was on a very well travelled route). It’s very humbling to see young children sprinting up steep tracks with heavy bundles on their heads, as well as firewood and buckets of water. Seeing two very young children heading off hand in hand to fetch hot coals from a neighbour in a metal pot was especially poignant. Tolstoy explains that they carry the pot back wrapped in banana leaves to prevent burns; the family is too poor to buy matches.
We passed by a local church in which about 15 teenagers (predominantly girls) were gathered for Bible study. The pastor invited us in to talk and I urged them to come to Kigutu for care and did a bit of health promotion too. Once again I am spurred on to try and get solar cooking happening here, as well as rain catchment.
These people would benefit very much from harnessing the sun and the water. (www.she-inc.org and www.savetherain.org are two organisations that I want to follow up with, post departure). As Tolstoy proclaims, there is enough work here for a lifetime! These ‘mountains beyond mountains' community outreach treks have been so informative and memorable. Once again, everyone we passed on the track was amazed to see a muzungu on foot.
It has been wonderful to have a chance to work/learn with/from Melino since his return from the ultrasonography training in Rwanda. He has been able to diagnose renal failure; a renal cyst; and, sadly, severe tricuspid valve regurgitation with heart enlargement and probable pulmonary stenosis in the 8 year old girl from Tanzania. Our fears about her grave cardiac condition were confirmed.
Late Tuesday afternoon, eight hours after Melino’s examination, the little girl suddenly went into cardiopulmonary failure. As Hilarie and Sincerite were getting the oxygen set up and tending to her, I checked her vital signs…respirations (40) and heart rate (140), then the blood pressure…nothing … I checked her heart again and heard nothing, then watched her take one last breath. This all happened in about 2 minutes. Her poor little heart just gave up. Somehow it was a bit easier for me to deal with this tragedy knowing that her heart was in such bad shape and that there was really nothing much to be done for her, except major cardiac surgery. Nevertheless, it was very sad and very intense to watch her take that last, long breath.
When informed, the poor parents were devastated, but unlike my experience with grief stricken Sierra Leonians who collapse in a heap and pound the ground and wail, the people here appear to contain their grief (relatively) and weep silently.
The scenario of the post-death was complicated as the family is Muslim and they were also a long way from home. Muslims require burial within 24 hours of death and also must be in the midst of other Muslims. There are no Muslims in Kigutu, but there are Muslim communities in nearby Mugara and Rumonge (within an hour). The parents were able to make a connection there and carry her body down the mountain for burial with their help.
We continue to see some remarkable pathology here (see the close up of the eye) and the goiter is one of the most impressive I have seen.
The Community Center is progressing well. The women from the community who come regularly on Fridays have done much digging and brick carrying near the site. It will be amazing to see it all completed and in use when I return in January.
The pink sunset was remarkable tonight, especially with the drumming practice as background audio. Now the crickets are thrumming and the crescent moon shines bright.
Tomorrow I will go to Vyanda (by vehicle) with Melino for some home visits and I expect I will have another extraordinary day.
Helen
Helen on the trail
Misty mountains
Children hauling loads uphill
Boy who gave us shortcut directions
Children off to collect hot coals
Young girl hauling firewood
Mountainside farming
Patient arriving at clinic by stretcher
Melino doing ultrasound
Local woman with goiter
Distended eye
Churchgoing women
Kigutu women working on Community Centre
Community women working in the gardens
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