5 May
Today was a typical Friday, except we had fewer residents at the hospital as the rest were in Kigali attending a research course taught by a good friend of mine, Peter Cartledge. Rounds started at a decent time in Ward A, the acute care wing in Pediatircs. It was me, the resident, a clinical medicine student (Rwandan version of a Physician's Assistant,) and a visiting student from Scotland.
Our 5th patient had been with us for a few weeks with complications from Rhuematic Heart Disease. This was her first hospitalization for this condition, and she was fairly sick when she came in: breathing very fast, low oxygen saturations, very swollen face and legs, and abdominal pain from extra fluid in her liver and abdomen, all signs of heart failure. This all happened due to previous infections with Group A Streptococcus, which cause Strep throat. The body creates antibodies against this bacteria, which in some cases can also damage the heart valves, causing heart failure. During the course of her hositalization, we put her on the usual medications to decrease the swelling and to support her heart to work more effectively, supported her nutrition with healthy food from the garden project at the hospital (www.kuzamuraubuzima.rw), and slowly weaned her off the oxygen. Over the course of the 2 weeks, she markedly improved.
Today, she was smiling, happy, and looked like a different child. Her vital signs were all normal, she no longer had the edema, and her liver was almost back to normal (it usually takes a while for all of the excess fluid in the liver to go away.) Both Mom and daughter were ready to go home. After the resdient finished his presentation of this girl to me and the team, I gave her a fist bump, which she returned with a huge smile on her face, and I said "Absolutely!" I turned to the team and said, "This is exactly why I went into medicine! To see a child come in sick, to give her the best treatment we have, and to see her smile and be able to go home healthy; this is why I do what I do."
She does face an uphill battle. She has to receive a monthly Penicillin injection to help prevent future infection causing more damage to her heart. She has to eat well. She has to make regular visits to the clinic here to make sure her heart is healthy. And eventually, she will need a heart valve replacement. But I feel confident that she and her Mom, with good guidance from us, will do what is needed to keep her healthy.
A big problem remains for her and the rest of the developing world: this is a disease of poverty. We have this same bacteria in the US, causing the same strep throat and skin rashes as here, but the poor and disenfranchised of the developing world suffer from this condition; few if any cases occur in the developed world any more. We can and must do more. On my side, I am creating a database of children with Rheuamtic Heart Disease at the public hospitals here in Rwanda, and in the future hope to find a way to help with diagnosis and treatment of Strep Throat and skin rashes here at the health cente level, so we can prevent this from developing in the first place. Again, this is why I do what I do: To help those in need, and to find ways to prevent it from happening again.
Until next time,
Love life, Find meaning, Be happy,
Craiger
Friday, May 5, 2017
Rainy season is in ful swing, but nor for long
4 May
It is about 530 AM as I am writing this. There is a downpour outside, which makes a very unique, loud sound on a metal roof. It was particularly loud this AM, hence the early AM wake up call. We are in the middle of the Big Rainy season, which usually lasts from March-May. The other, shorter one is from October - mid-December. This is the perfect time for the farmers to grow their crops. At the same time, there is much poverty, as they have nothing to harvest and to sell now. It is just another example of the many dualities that exist here in Rwanda.
Rain for me has always been meditative. The sound of millions of drops create a symphony of sorts, which evokes a constant din in the background. I somehow relax when I hear it; sometimes too much as it makes me want to sleep... What about you, how does rain make you feel?
The rain is less and less now, more light is coming, and the birds are chirping, which means another day is upon us here in this amazing country. I want to stay in bed longer, and listen to the rain, but it is time to start this day. I have a fresh batch of Iced coffee waiting for me and a crazy dog to walk.
Until next time,
Love life, Find meaning, Be happy,
Craiger
It is about 530 AM as I am writing this. There is a downpour outside, which makes a very unique, loud sound on a metal roof. It was particularly loud this AM, hence the early AM wake up call. We are in the middle of the Big Rainy season, which usually lasts from March-May. The other, shorter one is from October - mid-December. This is the perfect time for the farmers to grow their crops. At the same time, there is much poverty, as they have nothing to harvest and to sell now. It is just another example of the many dualities that exist here in Rwanda.
Rain for me has always been meditative. The sound of millions of drops create a symphony of sorts, which evokes a constant din in the background. I somehow relax when I hear it; sometimes too much as it makes me want to sleep... What about you, how does rain make you feel?
The rain is less and less now, more light is coming, and the birds are chirping, which means another day is upon us here in this amazing country. I want to stay in bed longer, and listen to the rain, but it is time to start this day. I have a fresh batch of Iced coffee waiting for me and a crazy dog to walk.
Until next time,
Love life, Find meaning, Be happy,
Craiger
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Tennis in the African Bush
OK, I don't really live in the Bush, but it sounds better, no?
In March 2016, a friend of mine asked me to play tennis. He said there was a small clay court near our homes, and he had an extra racket. Mind you, I think I had played tennis 2x since I last kind of played JV tennis in HS at Gilmour Academy. By kind of I mean I was 3rd String Doubles on a team that really only needed 2 Doubles teams... It was a rough go at first. At the end, he gave me the phone number for his tennis coach, Jean Paul. It was about $6 per lesson and $1 for the ball boy (yes, I said it, ball boy; the idea of a mzungu picking up his or her own balls is I guess ludicrous...) I jumped at the chance, and started the next week.
Jean Paul played in undergraduate at the University of Rwanda, and has played matches in Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda. He mostly works as a guard and coach now, and plays matches on occasion. He is in his early 30s, and a likeable guy. He does push me, which is what I need. His English is always improving, but sometimes I have no idea what he says. We play mini-matches sometimes, and he kills me every time. I do win a full point occasionally, but honestly I think he lets me win...
It has been a fun ride since then. I usually play once a week, usually on a Wednesday afternoon around 5 pm, after a long day. I am nearly always late by 5-10 minutes, as it is Wacky Wednesday here (See previous posts on Wednesdays in Rwanda.) The court is nestled in the neighborhood of Taba, where I live, about a 8 min walk from my house. There are vegetables growing everywhere, cows crazing nearby, and curious Rwandans always looking on at the mzungus playing... It is a clay-ish court, so playing in the rainy season can be problematic. There is nothing like playing at the end of the day until you can barely see anymore, with a beautiful view of the valley below, the nearly endless sky, and the frustrations that come with playing with a coach that is kicking your ass!
I also play with a coach in Kigali occasionally at the Cercle du Sportif, right in the heart of the town. A really cool spot. That coach really kicks my ass. More on the awesomeness of Cercle du Sportif in another post.
So, believe it or not, Tennis is a popular sport among the higher class Rwandans (I mean, the Craiger is soooo high class, right?...... haha) President Kagame plays, and has a court on his compound. It is a remnant from the colonial days, and has stuck. I do feel weird sometimes playing a game for the rich, as I don't identify myself with that crew or that lifestyle. But I do get that satisfaction of hitting a ball hard and fast over the net, landing just right. And having a good volley with the opposing player is also a great feeling! It makes things right, somehow...
In the meantime, I will continue to trudge along with tennis when I can. Who knows, perhaps you will see me one day playing in an amateur Masters (read: old man) tournament on ESPN 8, and the announcer will remark how I got my tennis restart on a clay court mixed in with the cows and the corn and the chickens in a small town in Rwanda just as I make the winning shot... OK, give me a break; a guy can dream, can't he?
Until next time,
Love life, Find meaning, Be Happy,
Craiger
In March 2016, a friend of mine asked me to play tennis. He said there was a small clay court near our homes, and he had an extra racket. Mind you, I think I had played tennis 2x since I last kind of played JV tennis in HS at Gilmour Academy. By kind of I mean I was 3rd String Doubles on a team that really only needed 2 Doubles teams... It was a rough go at first. At the end, he gave me the phone number for his tennis coach, Jean Paul. It was about $6 per lesson and $1 for the ball boy (yes, I said it, ball boy; the idea of a mzungu picking up his or her own balls is I guess ludicrous...) I jumped at the chance, and started the next week.
Jean Paul played in undergraduate at the University of Rwanda, and has played matches in Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda. He mostly works as a guard and coach now, and plays matches on occasion. He is in his early 30s, and a likeable guy. He does push me, which is what I need. His English is always improving, but sometimes I have no idea what he says. We play mini-matches sometimes, and he kills me every time. I do win a full point occasionally, but honestly I think he lets me win...
It has been a fun ride since then. I usually play once a week, usually on a Wednesday afternoon around 5 pm, after a long day. I am nearly always late by 5-10 minutes, as it is Wacky Wednesday here (See previous posts on Wednesdays in Rwanda.) The court is nestled in the neighborhood of Taba, where I live, about a 8 min walk from my house. There are vegetables growing everywhere, cows crazing nearby, and curious Rwandans always looking on at the mzungus playing... It is a clay-ish court, so playing in the rainy season can be problematic. There is nothing like playing at the end of the day until you can barely see anymore, with a beautiful view of the valley below, the nearly endless sky, and the frustrations that come with playing with a coach that is kicking your ass!
I also play with a coach in Kigali occasionally at the Cercle du Sportif, right in the heart of the town. A really cool spot. That coach really kicks my ass. More on the awesomeness of Cercle du Sportif in another post.
So, believe it or not, Tennis is a popular sport among the higher class Rwandans (I mean, the Craiger is soooo high class, right?...... haha) President Kagame plays, and has a court on his compound. It is a remnant from the colonial days, and has stuck. I do feel weird sometimes playing a game for the rich, as I don't identify myself with that crew or that lifestyle. But I do get that satisfaction of hitting a ball hard and fast over the net, landing just right. And having a good volley with the opposing player is also a great feeling! It makes things right, somehow...
In the meantime, I will continue to trudge along with tennis when I can. Who knows, perhaps you will see me one day playing in an amateur Masters (read: old man) tournament on ESPN 8, and the announcer will remark how I got my tennis restart on a clay court mixed in with the cows and the corn and the chickens in a small town in Rwanda just as I make the winning shot... OK, give me a break; a guy can dream, can't he?
Until next time,
Love life, Find meaning, Be Happy,
Craiger
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
A little incident involving my truck
2 May
So I parked my truck at the hospital today, like usual. I get
out, and wait by the side of the truck for my colleague to collect her
belongings. I glanced at the rear bed of the truck, and noticed that the
sliding screen appeared punched in (My pickup truck has a covered bed lining with sliding screens so one can sleep inside, allow ventilation, etc.) My thoughts drifted from "huh?" to
astonishment to F#$%... It was then that I realized that someone had stolen some items from the back: a
mattress, a sleeping bag, my headlamp, and my glasses case. I opened up the
back door, expecting to miraculously see those items, but they were gone….
See, I had just been at the EcoLodge I am starting near
Nyungwe Forest on Saturday night, and I slept in the back of the truck. It is
quite the perfect place to sleep, nice and cozy. And I had yet to remove the
items from the back of the truck. At least my Cleveland Browns T-shirt was
still there, along with my underwear; if they had taken the latter, then I
would have been really mad… haha.
I let out a few loud, certain not so nice 4 letter words, and as a result was on the receiving end of some
interesting looks from the Rwandans walking near me. Then, a calm settled over
me, and I realized that there was nothing I could do now to recover those
items; that it was my fault, and I need to make sure to fix the latch, and to
not leave anything in the back. And that is all I thought about it the rest of
the day. The old me from a few years ago who have been super pissed off,
yelling, ruminating on this all day. Maybe it is maturity, maybe divine
intervention, but I honestly feel OK about it. And part of me gets it: I live
in a a poor country, where I am asked for money every day. People are starving
and desperate, and will resort to stealing to make money just to eat. But it is
still the principle; I feel violated, my possessions were stolen, it is
illegal, and it is against the churches teachings (10 commandments.)
Regardless, I have learned a lesson, and I have moved on.
So, guard your stuff, watch out for each other, and just let
those small things go. You will be better for it in the end.
Until next time,
Enjoy life, Find meaning, Be happy,
Craiger
Hello again my friends.
1 May
Friends and family, my name is Craig, and I have a blog
problem. Clearly, I am slacking on my updates, and I am sure many of you have
forgotten that I exist. Pretty soon you will be calling me “That Guy Formerly
Known as Craig” (ala Prince.) So, in light of that, I have challenged myself
to Blog Once a Day for the Month of May (mostly because it rhymes!)
It is my goal to really, really update you on everything
that has been going on in the past 6 months; the triumphs, the sadness, the
amazing stories, and all things banal.
To start it off, today is International Labor Day, a public
holiday in Rwanda. When I was younger, I associated it with Communist countries.
In fact, it has its roots among late 19th Century laborers in the USA who wanted a public holiday in September. This eventually happened, and the USA
celebrates Labor Day the First Monday of September. May 1 became International Workers
Day around the same time, and was celelbrated in many European countries. Over
time, it became associated with communist, socialist and anarchist groups as a
time of protest, and became known as May Day. Currently, many coutnries around
the world celebrate International Labor Day or Workers Day. In the USA, 1 May is
Loyalty Day (for real, no joke here.) Here is a full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day
For me, it was spent working around the house, cleaning up
after a visit to my new EcoLodge concept I am working on near Nyungwe Forest (Yeah,
I said it. Surprise! More to come…), finishing a pallet sofa I started months
ago, picking up my colleague Dr. Lucienne Sanchez at the bus station here in
Huye who was going to be teaching Neonatology-related topics here for the week, and
attending a pizza party with some friends. So all in all, it was a productive,
fun day!
So, I certainly hope you enjoy the upcoming blog posts.
Please, PLEASE email me or comment here. It would be great to hear from you
all.
Until next time…
Love life, Find meaning, Be Happy,
Craiger
Friday, February 17, 2017
Hello again, my friends
Hey there. How the hell are you guys? For me, I am fine...
Yes, I know, it has been a few months since I lasted posted. Things have been really busy on my side, in a very good way. I have been channelling my energy toward work and other creative outlets, and have let this blog slide as a consequence. I know this is how you are keeping track of me, making sure that I am still here. For the long delay, I apologize.
I write this post sitting on the back porch of my friend Jenny's amazing homeshare in Rwinkwavu, one of the Partner's In Health sites here in Rwanda. I have an amazing view of the huge valley, and I am at peace. As I am writing, I wonder if subconsciously, or even consciously, if I was avoiding writing on this blog for some reason. With the election, the fear and uncertainty in the US, the inauguration, and the current policies that have been instituted, I wonder if I have been in a state of denial or avoidance perhaps? I was logging on to nbcnews, npr, and cnn way too much around the election and afterwards, devouring all content, trying to make sense of it all. And, in the end, I couldn't. That saddened me, pissed me off, and I wonder if I shut off communication as a way of coping.
So, to save my sanity, I decided on 19 Jan to not consciously watch, read, or listen to any news programs, including my beloved NPR. And, I have kept my promise; it has been 1 month since I started this venture, and spiritually and mentally, I feel good. This has freed up my mind to focus on the many other projects I have going on here in Rwanda. I still hear about what is going on, albeit piecemeal over coffee or dinner with friends, but not devouring the content to the extent that I did pre-inauguration. Don't get me wrong, I am still worried about the direction of my country, and thank god that the citizens of the US are letting their voices heard. Perhaps this will be an enduring legacy of Trump's presidency: a renewed social and political activitism that we have not seen since the 1960s. From my side, I will support those ones who are fighting the good fight, in any way I can.
My friends, things are very good here in Rwanda. I will send updates on my activities, thoughts, anxieties, hopes forwith. In the meantime, I am off to Akagera with a friend of mine from the US to enjoy some wildlife, and camping!
Until next time...
Love life, Find meaning, Be happy,
Craiger
Yes, I know, it has been a few months since I lasted posted. Things have been really busy on my side, in a very good way. I have been channelling my energy toward work and other creative outlets, and have let this blog slide as a consequence. I know this is how you are keeping track of me, making sure that I am still here. For the long delay, I apologize.
I write this post sitting on the back porch of my friend Jenny's amazing homeshare in Rwinkwavu, one of the Partner's In Health sites here in Rwanda. I have an amazing view of the huge valley, and I am at peace. As I am writing, I wonder if subconsciously, or even consciously, if I was avoiding writing on this blog for some reason. With the election, the fear and uncertainty in the US, the inauguration, and the current policies that have been instituted, I wonder if I have been in a state of denial or avoidance perhaps? I was logging on to nbcnews, npr, and cnn way too much around the election and afterwards, devouring all content, trying to make sense of it all. And, in the end, I couldn't. That saddened me, pissed me off, and I wonder if I shut off communication as a way of coping.
So, to save my sanity, I decided on 19 Jan to not consciously watch, read, or listen to any news programs, including my beloved NPR. And, I have kept my promise; it has been 1 month since I started this venture, and spiritually and mentally, I feel good. This has freed up my mind to focus on the many other projects I have going on here in Rwanda. I still hear about what is going on, albeit piecemeal over coffee or dinner with friends, but not devouring the content to the extent that I did pre-inauguration. Don't get me wrong, I am still worried about the direction of my country, and thank god that the citizens of the US are letting their voices heard. Perhaps this will be an enduring legacy of Trump's presidency: a renewed social and political activitism that we have not seen since the 1960s. From my side, I will support those ones who are fighting the good fight, in any way I can.
My friends, things are very good here in Rwanda. I will send updates on my activities, thoughts, anxieties, hopes forwith. In the meantime, I am off to Akagera with a friend of mine from the US to enjoy some wildlife, and camping!
Until next time...
Love life, Find meaning, Be happy,
Craiger
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Good frustrations
(think “Good Vibrations” the song here!)
Over a Casa Dixson pizza dinner on Saturday night in Butare,
some of us were musing about our frustrations at work, living in Rwanda, etc. I
will not get into specifics, but we all have frustrations about living here.
Anyone who has lived overseas for longer than a few months (especially in a developing country) will understand
where I am coming from. With these frustrations come a desire to want to change
it somehow, and after multiple attempts at changing the system, the realization sets in that
it will either take a lot longer to change than one thought or not change at
all. And we discussed how strange it is that we get fired up over certain
frustrations over other ones. It wasn’t all serious; we even discussed kids,
politics, and Cleveland sports (sigh…)
The next day I was having coffee with one of the dinner
guests who had only spent a month here in Rwanda, and was on her way back to
the US to complete her training. She said something that has really stuck with
me: our frustrations are good. I asked her to
explain. She said that those frustrations were coming from a place of true
caring, of compassion for our work and our lives here in Rwanda. While
frustrating, we should use those “good frustrations” to find the drive and the
will to continue to do the good work that we are doing. Her observation really
put things in perspective, and I have been thinking about it ever since.
I am reminded of the Serenity Prayer, something I learned
growing up in Catholic school and that I have learned to use while here:
“God, Grant me the Serenity to Accept the Things I cannot
Change, the Courage to Change the Things I Can, and the Wisdom to Know the
Difference.”
Lesson for the day: May we all learn how to deal with frustrations,
to find solutions, and find peace in the process.
Until next time…
Love life, Find meaning, Be Happy,
Craiger
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