A productive week

(Tim writes) I’ve been challenged time and again since we’ve been here about trying to be a human BEING not a human DOING. It’s hard when you see so many things that need to be improved, changed or begun not to become completely task-focussed, and instead to keep in mind that relationships are nearly always more important than tasks. It goes against our cultural bias as Westerners, which is often to measure our success by our busyness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having declared my bias, it’s still really nice when stuff happens like you hoped it would! The last few weeks I’ve been working to get a test for Helicobacter Pylori, the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers, functioning in our hospital. Treating this bacteria stops patients getting more stomach ulcers later, but knowing who to treat without a test is tough. Imported tests are too expensive to be practical, so we’ve been making our own, using a method pioneered by an Australian professor in the Pacific. Getting materials was tough, but in the end, the University Pharmaceutical Laboratory took pity on us and is making up our test reagents fresh each week. The above photo shows 2 of our first batch of tests, each containing a stomach biopsy: the left one negative and the right positive. It’s really exciting to be able to contribute to improving patient care here, and I’ve learned a lot through this process about the need for consultation, involving key people, and getting a protocol established so that things run smoothly.

Here’s Leonie, our endoscopy nurse, placing a specimen in the test tube, and also a little shot of our endoscopy room setup. to give you a picture of one of the places I work:

This week I’ve also managed to get a Letter of Guarantee from the hospital enabling us to register our car, get registered for tax, get a stamp made up (stating my name, registration details and qualifications) for the many scripts and forms I fill out at the hospital (scripts are ALWAYS sent back if not stamped – to my patients’ frustration up to this point!), and get accepted into the hospital’s “free call’ phone network (mainly so other doctors can call me regardless of their phone credit). We also have managed to get the hospital and university connected with free access to a great online medical database called UpToDate, which should help the students and postgraduates learn a heap better. All in all a very productive week!

I’ve been chipping away at many of these tasks for a while, and a few days after sending out our prayer letter, they have all happened. Thanks to those partnering with us – as you can see your part in this work is real and needed.

Also, today I got the chance to play basketball… with the Bishop! A group of us including some visiting Americans from a church in New York City, who have been doing some leadership training with the Diocese, got together with the Bishop and his sons for a 4v4 match at a local catholic school. One of these Americans is VERY good – easily the best basketballer I’ve ever been on the court with. He played at an elite level in the US, where he was the only white guy playing at that level in his conference.

The bishop’s sons, Darius and David, are keen basketball players, and it was good to spend some time with them – they are great young Christian guys and I hope to catch up some more with them. Here’s Darius, David and me, after our game – just to prove my life is not all about tasks at the moment…

And finally a photo that shows something of Rwanda’s beauty in the late afternoon: