The First 24 hours

I was met @ the Kigali Airport by Dr. Terry Konn a Senior Fulbright Scholar who is on her 2nd term to Kigali Health Institute, the Radiography Program Director John Ndahiriwe, one of the Radiography Instructors Patrick Maina and the KHI driver Abdulla. It took a bit of time to get my two luggage trunks to fit into the trunk of a Toyota Corolla.

A short drive and we arrived at the guest house where I'm staying in Kimihurura. Each of the houses in this area have high brick walls surrounding the yard with a locked gate. A "house boy" is always at the guest house and watches over the property. When you want in you beep the horn or pound on the gate until he hears you and unlocks the gate from the inside to let you in.

There are 5 bedrooms and 2 half baths. One bathroom has a sink and shower/tub and the other has a sink and toilet. Water is provided. The toilet paper is not. It was 1:00 pm so the folks who picked me up were ready to eat. I begged for ten minutes to change out of the clothes I'd slept in that night and to take a quick shower. Clean hair and fresh clothes made me feel ready to tackle the rest of the day.

First stop was to a money exchange so I could get Rwandan Francs. Then to eat and on to a grocery store to buy my supplies.

The water, light bulbs, refrigerator, cupboard space and linens are provided. Everything else I supply. Meals are on my own but that's not too much of a problem because I enjoy cooking. Last night was eggplant pomodores on noodles and this evening tuna casserole, fresh avocado (from the tree in the yard) carrots and pineapple for desert.

Dr. Konn gave me instructions on sleeping under a misquito net and helped me understand some of the vagueries of Rwandan electricity and getting the plugs to work without burning up the American electronics.

There are four of us, besides Philbert (who takes care of the house), who are here now but that number is constantly changing as people come and go. House-mates at this moment include Ike (an anesthesiologist from St.Louis), Dr. Konn, myself and Zachariah who teaches/works with environmental services.

We made arrangements for Abdulla the driver to pick us up in the morning to deliver us to Kigali Health Institute. I hope I don't get a quiz on the names of all of the people I met today. Three different Deans, the Rector (KHI President), quite a few instructors from other programs. The Dean of Nursing cornered us about teaching sonography to the midwives. We'll try to fit that into the schedule somewhere in June. I also met quite a few expatriots who are serving the country either through the Ministry of Health or KHI. We went and met Radiographers and Radiologists from at both of the hospitals where I'm scheduled to serve.

After visiting with Seth the radiography manager @ King Faycal Hospital (which has the only CT scanner in the country), I walked the mile back to the guest house. I definitely got quite a few stares. As a muzunga (white foreigner), I sort of stood out. By American standards there is a huge amount of poverty but I felt absolutely safe to walk. (well at least from the people, , traffic is a totally different matter)

Tomorrow I start working for 8 days @ Centre Hospitalier de Kigali (CHK). Later I'm scheduled to work ten days @ King Faycal Hospital.