Field Update July 27, 2014

Update from the Field (and elsewhere!) – July 27, 2014

Well, it has been a crazy three weeks but very productive!

At the end of June I returned to Canada from Bukavu for 7 days in order to attend a wedding. But while I was there I was able to spend 2 days in Quebec City in order to pick up this sweet suitcase of donated medicines from Collaboration Santé Internationale!

These medicines will be used to help Dr. Imani and the Afya Bora clinic open their doors to the public in Kavumu in the near future.

I was also able to drive to the New York border to pick up this Solar Suitcase donated to us by WeCareSolar

I had a lot of trouble bringing it back across the US/Canada border, but eventually was able to sweet-talk my way through. I had absolutely no problem bringing it back with me to Congo though, despite crossing three country borders in the process.

Unfortunately, the last donated item that I was hoping to bring back with me did not arrive to Toronto in time for me to bring it back with me. It made it to Canada a few days after I arrived in Burundi. But we’ll find a way to get it here, eventually.

The suitcase will also be used at the Afya Bora clinic so things are really moving and shaking with the clinic plans. There’s still a lot left to do before Afya Bora can open its doors, but its really neat to see the pieces falling into place.

It was nice to be home in Canada for a few days, but honestly, Toronto is hot and humid in July and I was aching to get back to the lovely Bukavu weather the moment I stepped out of the airport ;) It was a great trip through, and a lot got done. Now that I’m back in Bukavu, there’s a lot left to do during the final six weeks of my time here. We’ve got to find funding for our container, the medical supplies for Kavumu and Mwenga, and get the 501c3 application off to the IRS asap so that we can  get our status straightened out. 

The past week has been pretty busy, but unfortunately I don’t have as many photos as usual of what we’ve been up to.

The week started off with a great meeting of the staff at Panzi Hospital and Panzi Foundation. Dr. Mukwege gathered us all together to explain the One-Stop Centre model at the Panzi Hospital that Channel Initiative is trying to replicate on a smaller scale for smaller health centres in the region. It was really interesting to hear Dr. Mukwege talk about the overarching vision for enabling sexual violence survivors to receive all their care in one place through a unified organization. Representatives from the medical, psychological, legal, socio-economical, logistical and maintenance arms of the foundation/hospital were able to explain to the rest what their function is and how that function fits in with the overall goal of making available a high-quality package of health and restoration to the survivors of sexual violence in this community.

After the official parts of the meeting, members from the different arms of the Foundation’s work, including Channel Initiative, were able to meet more informally in groups in order to discuss ideas and plans.

We at Channel Initiative are always looking for opportunities to liaise with the community – especially when it comes to brainstorming and discussing ideas with both local and international actors involved in the same local empowerment work that we are working on. On Sunday at Church we met an American Psychologist who is a specialist in trauma-informed care – an area of medical/psychological care provision that we are hoping to make a part of the one-stop centre model. So of course Dominique took the opportunity to toss ideas back and forth with her on our walk home.

Other than that its been more e-mails, inquiries with regards to possible partnerships, and planning. Lots to do in my last few weeks in Bukavu, I’m trying to make the most of it!