Final Congo Update - August 22, 2014

Field Update – August 22, 2014

Well, it’s hard to believe that 5 months have gone by already here in Bukavu and that this is my last update from the field! It has been a crazy mix of busy and laid-back here from day 1 but I think in the end I can say that we have accomplished a lot since I got here and Channel’s work on the ground continues to build upon itself and the work of its partners, which is encouraging.

For me in particular this last week has involved a lot of wrapping up of half-finished items. I finally put the finishing touches on our IRS 501c3 application, got some final prices on things we are still trying to get for the shipping container, finished putting together some medical forms for Dr Imani in Kavumu, and spent a lot of time making the rounds and bidding farewells. This last activity has definitely taken the most amount of time, which it always seems to. And I find you can’t start too early. If you try and say good bye to people more than 7 days before you leave, they will almost inevitably insist that you come again to say goodbye closer to the date, which makes it tough when there’s a lot of people involved! But I’m getting there.

The Pastor at the church that I’ve been attending here with Dominique had a baby last week and that was exciting. Here is a picture of little Beniah which means “God builds”, a particularly apt name in a country in the midst of pulling itself out of the ravages of poverty and war:

This week, one of Panzi Foundation’s other partners, the International Centre for Advanced Research and Training (ICART) held its first ever research symposium at Maison Dorcas. It is going on here as I type this and it seems to be a huge success so far! Scientific minds from Congo and all over the world have gathered here to present and discuss health and food security issues and innovations. Dominique and I were able to make ourselves useful during the symposium registration time, during which each participant received one of these nifty handmade ICART bags full of abstracts written by the symposium presenters:

Hopefully the symposium will help to inspire the doctors and other scientists who participated and spark some new development-oriented research initiatives in this part of the world. 

One incredibly sad yet inspiring part of the symposium was Dr. Mukwege’s presentation of his new system for classifying sexual-violence related trauma to the bodies of children under 5. That’s right, he’s treated so many cases of fistula over the years that he has developed an expertise and a whole new system for classifying the trauma done to the organs of rape victims under 5 years old. Here you can see two slides from his presentation. They are in French and indicate that of the thousands of cases of rape trauma that he has treated over the years, 3100 were people 18 years old and under, of which 171 were children under the age of 5.

Dr. Mukwege and his team are truly amazing people doing a much needed work in this part of the world, but as the ICART research symposium demonstrated, their work has and will continue to influence the work of doctors and other health professionals all over the world, which is awesome and neat to have been a small part of these last 5 months.

Well, I’ll wrap this post up here by saying it’s been an excellent experience to have worked with Channel Initiative on the ground in Bukavu these last 5 months. Getting to see how Channel implicates itself in the empowerment of communities here (including the local communities, the developmental aid community, and the Panzi community), has been an education in and of itself and an exercise in adaptability! I am sad to be leaving the work on the ground here at this point, but look forward to seeing where the work in the DRC with Channel Initiative goes in the next few months. 

P.S. Update September 30, 2014

My sincere apologies for the lateness of the last two updates on my blog. They had been written and uploaded while I was still in Congo, but didn't get published unfortunately. Well, now you can see what my last couple of weeks there involved. 

I arrived home in Toronto just at the end of August and was there for about 3 days before moving back to Quebec City where I am now. I am doing a masters degree in Law at Laval University to hopefully improve my French to the point where I could work with young offenders and kids in care with CAS here in Quebec once I have finished. If not, I imagine I will be heading back to Ontario next summer to work there instead. We shall see! Either way, I am looking forward to being back in Canada for a while and putting my passport away for a few months :) It has been an amazing year, but I am looking forward to a little less international excitement for a little while at least. 

Thanks so much for being a part of my little journeys. I have really appreciated all your prayers, encouragement, and support through it all. Now that I am back from my year+ abroad, I will retire my e-mail updates, but will still be updating the blog from time to time if something newsworthy comes up... 

All the best,

Genna.

Field Update - August 17, 2014

Great news! Dr. Imani and the MSD team (Medecins au Service des Demunies) were able to open the new Afya Bora Medical Clinic at Kavumu this past week! It seemed to be a great success and the community was clearly excited about the opening.

As part of the grand opening Dr. Imani and his team provided free consultations for the first three days so when we were there it was quite packed.

The solar panels from the solar suitcase I brought back from WeCareSolar had been installed on the roof by Dr. Racine. You can just see them there at the top left of this picture.

They had also begun putting the medicines from Collaboration Sante Internationale to good use as well at the little pharmacy.

There is still a significant list of needs for the clinic that need to be addressed. For instance, these curtains separating the reception area from the patients are not adequate to provide privacy or to prevent infection. They really need the resources to build proper walls to separate the spaces.

There are still important medicines that the pharmacy does not have in order to provide a full range of care to pregnant women among other things. Dr. Imani is also in need of various pieces of gynecological supplies and equipment in order to do his consultations.

Also, the “fence” that was built around the clinic in order to allow them the security necessary to be able to open is woefully inadequate. With the valuable medicines and equipment being housed in the building, it is very worrisome to not have proper fencing around the perimeter.

But one of the biggest needs at the centre at this point is water. There have been problems connecting the centre to the community water source because of a dispute with some of the people from the surrounding area. Without access to an adequate supply of clean water, the clinic will have serious problems maintaining a good level of hygiene and preventing the spread of infection. This a huge need which we are brainstorming over at the moment.

But despite the challenges, Dr. Imani and his team as well as us at Channel Initiative are really excited about the opening of the clinic and are confident that the MSD team will be able to surmount the challenges encountered in providing dignified care to this community.

Congratulations Dr. Imani and MSD!