The group is at Yale

We've received word from the leaders that the group has arrived in New Haven, CT. All of the Global Action Public Health groups have settled into the dorms at Yale University; students are resting up in preparation for a busy day of work on their presentations tomorrow.

From Kigali to New Haven

Habari Zenu? (how are you all?),

We decided to change the language for the greeting above since we are writing from the airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The African portion of this trip is just about over, can you believe it? This trip really flew by. The growth that has occurred, mentally, scholastically, and emotionally has been truly amazing.

Since we last left you we have spent some time finishing painting the clinic in Gisiza. Thanks to the help of the artists in our group and some local painters we finished painting all of the different wards.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to visit the regional hospital in Shiyra which is located atop the 'worst road in Rwanda'. Shiyra is home to the King family. The husband and wife are both physicians, and they are raising their four children in Rwanda. In addition to housing the regional hospital, there is also a primary school, a technical school and a working biogas system in Shiyra. The work they are doing is truly inspirational and has planted yet another seed in the minds of our students about the importance of international health care.

Afterour visit with the Kings and several interns from UNC Chapel Hill, we ventured out to visit Gisenyi, a former Belgian vacation spot nestled on Lake Kivu, near the border to the Democrative Republic of the Congo. We managed to make it down to the shore to watch the magical African sunset and to eat a delicious dinner on the beach.

The next morning we packed up and headed out to Kigali. That evening we had the opportunity to meet with a team from the USAID office in the US embassy. The engaging dialogue both posed and answered questions about the motivations of foreign aid.

Yesterday was spent developing the presentation that I am sure will awe you on Tuesday at Yale! We did take a break to check out a local crafts market, so there are no excuses if your children don't bring you back any gifts.

That's all from this end. We can't wait to talk to you in person in New Haven next week. We have tried to show you the framework of this amazing adventure, but it will likely take many hours of looking at pictures and recounting the tales to understand the magnitude of this experience.

Murakoze Cyane,
Fiona and Dan

Hello from Musanze

Amakuru (how are you?)

Thanks again for joining us on our wonderful African adventure. We are writing from Musanze, formally known as Ruhengeri. It is nestled in a valley surrounded by massive volcanoes that form the boundaries of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We have been here since we last wrote and our time here has been the highlight for many.

Our time in Musanze has been divided between various events and activities. On our first full day here we had the incredible opportunity to venture to the far northwest corner of Rwanda to the “city” (I use the term lightly) of Butaro. The drive was magnificent. We ventured up a winding dirt mountain road that provided incredible vistas of a pair of lakes below. The views combined with our paddle into the lake in wooden canoes would have been worth it, but the trip was made even better because we got to meet with Anne Sosin from Partners in Health. For those who are not familiar with Partners in Health (PIH) we recommend doing a little online search as they are truly pioneers of international public health. The experience was inspiring!

The rest of the week was spent focusing on a few projects which I will briefly try to summarize;

We had the opportunity to meet with World Vision, a very large Christian organization based out of the Seattle area. The first day we met with them we hiked into the local clinics where we met with nurses and learned about their programs. We also had the opportunity to meet with three associations from the local village. One association was a group of adolescent/young adult orphans who have banded together to form a family-like network to provide support with their daily lives and struggles. We also met with two associations of people living with HIV/AIDS, which generate income from weaving and farming, respectively. On the following days we helped farm two plots of land-- one for the orphans, and one for the HIV/AIDS association. We were treated to much appreciation and singing, which made the experience well worth it.

Gisiza Clinic. When we weren’t working with World Vision we spent much of our time at a local clinic which is 6km up dusty dirt roads strewn with volcanic rocks. Here, we have focused on painting the interior of the building.

In addition, we visited Sonrise School in Musanze to hang out with students. Now one of the top schools in the area, the Sonrise School was born out of a need to educate orphans. The school provides everything for the children-- food, clothing, shelter, support, education, and family.

Just so that you don't think that this experience has been all work and no play. . . on Sunday we ventured up into Volcanoes National park to track Golden Monkeys. The forest was thick with bamboo and provided a picturesque and exiting back drop for our adventure. We have played several games of volleyball and basketball as well!

That's all for now. Tomorrow, we are headed to a rural hospital started by a classmate of Paul Farmer (founder of Partners in Health), and a day on the shores of Lake Kivu.

Take care!

Marabeho,
Fiona and Dan

Yale Information

Hello family and friends,

Yale is only two weeks away! This will be the final communication from us before the end of the program, and we hope that it will provide you with plenty of information as you prepare for your time at Yale University.

Presentations and Picnic

The final presentations will be held on Tuesday, July 28th at Sudler Recital Hall at William Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St, New Haven. Global Action students will attend all of the presentations. Please plan to arrive a few minutes early so that we can keep to our tight schedule; your child will meet you there. The presentations are each approximately one hour long and will take place the following times:

10:30 AM: Welcome
11 AM: South Africa
2 PM: Rwanda
4 PM: Malawi

Presentations will be followed by a picnic for families and the entire Global Action community at Timothy Dwight College.

We hope you will join us!

How to RSVP

If you plan to attend the presentations and picnic at Yale, please RSVP by email to putney.gaia2009@gmail.com by Friday, July 17. Please note your name, your son/daughter’s group name, and how many there will be in your party (do not include your son/daughter in that number).

Communication with Putney

All communication with Putney from July 26 to July 29 should be directed to our Yale office:
Office Line: (203) 436-1577
Cell Phone: (561) 504-6325
Email: putney.gaia2009@gmail.com

Travel to/from Yale

Each Global Action group has chartered private buses from the airport to Yale University on July 26. While at Yale, students and leaders will be housed at Timothy Dwight College, 345 Temple St. (at Grove St.), Yale University, New Haven, CT.

We hope that families can arrive to Yale in the morning of July 28 and stay in New Haven that night. There will be group presentations and a final picnic on July 28, though the programs do not end until the morning of July 29. Students should be picked up from Timothy Dwight College on July 29 between 9 a.m. and 12 noon. (Putney will provide transportation to the local airport and train station for students that are returning home on their own.)

In the information we have sent to your digital locker, you will find directions to Timothy Dwight College, a list of area hotels, and a customized map including parking information that you should bring to Yale with you. Yale has also provided us with a user-friendly online map at http://business.yale.edu/map.

We look forward to meeting you on the 28th!

Life and work in and around Nyamata

Murakoze (thank you) for checking out our blog.  We are back in Kigali for a day trip and it is time for another update.  We started the day off right by waking Alanna up with a birthday cake (actually it was just fresh fruit and candles) and singing.  A birthday in Rwanda will always be remembered! 

 
The reason that we came into the city today was to visit with a man named Charles and his group home.  Charles was an olympic runner (800m 1996 in Atlanta) from Rwanda who decided to do something about the world around him.  In 2005 he opened a group home for some of the street kids in Kigali.  He invited us to come spend the afternoon with him at the home.  Now we knew that they had planned some singing for us but we did not know what we were in store for.  The kids from the home and surrounding areas performed some traditional Rwandan dancing and drumming, followed by more modern hip-hop dancing.  They were awesome.  They brought all of us out to dance with them and taught us a few steps.  (ask for some demonstrations in New Haven).  We also did a couple of performances which may not have been as eclectic but were definitely entertaining.  

For the rest of the week our students have focused on projects.  Here is a brief description of the organizations we are working with in Nyamata;

AVEH is a home started by a woman named Cecile who was a nurse and saw a huge need for children with disabilities.  There are currently 16 kids who live at the home and AVEH serves a total of about 70 families in the area.  Here, there is traditionally a stigma against kids with disabilities and many people here do not know how to care for them.  The stories and the pictures you will hear and see will truly impact you, and certainly have impacted our students.  Our group has spent time playing/feeding the kids and working on the worksite of their planned building.  Both places were exhausting, one physically and the other emotionally.

Millenium Villages/Access is an organization based out of Columbia University that is overseeing the upkeep and advancement of the clinics and the public health system here in Rwanda.  Our trip coincides with a team of American medical students, a Nepalise doctor and nurse, as well as Rwandan doctors, nurses and community health workers, who are doing eye examinations to see who would qualify for cornea or cataract surgery.  Our days with the Millenium Village project were spent doing eye exams in the surrounding villages.  The Access component of our work here was lead by a Rwandan doctor, Jean Marie, and a Peace Corps volunteer named Jessica.  They took our students out to the surrounding clinics to give them an understanding of how the health systems work here in Rwanda.  All of the students (as well as Fiona and I) were l blown away by how well the systems are managed here, and we are excited to compare them to other areas of Rwanda.

AJESOV is a group that provides food for those in the greatest of need.  The students went out into neighboring villages to meet families and deliver food supplies for them.

Nemba is a resettlement village in southern Rwanda near the Burundi border.  The area was set up by the Rwandan government after former Rwandans were kicked out of Tanzania by the Tanzanian government.  The government, the Red Cross and TIG (former genociders who are now doing community service instead of a prison sentence) built the homes in the area.  We were brought down by the Prinicpal of the primary school who gave us a tour of the village.  As we were about to leave we witnessed the miracle of life as two baby goats were born.  

In addition to our above work, we have also visited a memorial at a church in Nyamata where over 30,000 people were murdered during the genocide.  It is a moving place and I can't begin to explain the impact with words.  I encourage you to discuss it with us once we meet again in New Haven.

So, that is a brief outline of what's been going on-- so much!  These are the major projects but they do not include the simple, smaller things that really affect our lives.

Tonight we are taking advantage of life in the big city-- we are about to indulge in some ice cream to celebrate Alanna's birthday!  Before I go, here are our students' thoughts/highlights from the past week:


 
Monica-Meeting the kids in the home
 
Sam- learning so much about the genocide
 
Alanna-getting to know all the kids at the home and spending time in the village
 
Tricia-cooking with the cook was a blast
 
Kendall- I liked playing with the kids at the home
 
Allegra-finding an entire community where we got water for the home was really cool
 
Catherine-meeting and playing with the kids at the home
 
Campbell-I loved forming great relationships with the children at the home despite the language barrier
 
Maddy-I loved playing with the children at the home and seeing them smile
 
Frances-working at the site and dancing with the kids who used to live on the streets
 
Chrissy-Working with the doctors during the vision screenings with the Millenium Villages
 
Melanie-visiting the clinics
 
Alessandro-i enjoyed bonding with wth children at the Aveh home

Marebeho,
Fiona and Dan
 

Hello from Nyamata

Muraho,

We have been busy soaking in all of the amazing wonders this country has to offer. We have already had many adventures since we have arrived but I will try to highlight a few. . .

After a long journey we finally arrived in the capital city of Kigali. It is a lot like other East African cities where there is a main city center surrounded by farms and smaller villages. We spent our time in Kigali visiting the genocide memorial which gave us a framework to understand the events that happened here in 1994. We visited a radio station that produces public health programs, explored the country's second most popular radio station and were hosted by Rwandan's own Mr. Bean. We have also met with Dora and Aime who talked to us about the history of Rwanda, but more importantly its plans for the future. We ate dinner with a Yale professor and expert on African studies who enlightened us with his talk.

While in Kigali, we also attended a movie and concert in a small sports stadium, an event where we saw many of Rwanda's youth in action. The movie was produced by an American but the singing was most definitely Rwandan. The stadium was full to standing room only with dancing teenagers and and captivated adults. Don't be surprised if you get a few requests for a Sargent Sherbert CD this holiday season!

After leaving Kigali we traveled to Nyamata, a rural town of about 7000 people, home to one paved road and much opportunity. Students are splitting their time between clinics, the home for the disabled, and a building project. On top of the daily activities they are learning to wash their clothes by hand, cook Rwandian food, bathe by bucket, and learning at least one new Kinyarwanda word every day.

Although we do like writing about our experiences I am sure you'd like to hear what your children are saying so the following are some quotes from them:

"We are discovering that Rwanda is a quickly developing country that is more focused on forgiving genociders rather than punishing them."

"We have been playing with children from the home for the severely disabled for the past two days and it has been really rewarding to see how happy and appreciative they are."

"Working at the clinics has revealed a complete shortage of doctors in the country but also the passion of these few doctors and the realization that every helping hand makes a difference."

"We went to the genocide memorial in Kigali and it was hard for all of us, especially the room with the children and how they were killed. The memorial really opened our eyes to their history even more."

"From meeting with all the different NGOs we have learned how committed and passionate so many Rwandans are about rebuilding their country."

"Though the memories of the genocide are still painful, Rwanda is an incredibly optimistic country that is very focused on its future."

"It is incredible that a country best known for its history is making so much progress towards a better future."

"According to the Kigali Genocide memorial, after the massacres "Rwanda was dead". However my experience thus far with the warm and welcoming people here has truly proven otherwise, and the reconciliation process taking place is setting an example for the rest of modern world."

"The amount I have learned is incredible. The people have proven to be strong, forgiving and inspiring. I love this country."

"I am having the time of my life in Africa. The children are a complete joy to play with."

All of this, and to think we haven't even been here a week! We will keep you updated as much as we can.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful kids,
Fiona and Dan

The group is together in Kigali

We've received word from the leaders that the delayed students and Dan have arrived (at long last!) in Kigali.