My Last Blog… In Africa

I feel like I accomplished time travel. I was able to travel back in time to when things were simpler, people humbler, and life easier. As I look out the window as we drive through the many hills of Rwanda I see goats grazing, kids playing, and women carrying large buckets of fruit and vegetables on their heads. This is Africa.

Visiting a health center... in Africa.

Perspectives, it’s all about how you look at something. Some people may say that I’ve changed lives of the people in Rwanda, but it was really they who changed my life. Working in a developing hospital is the most rewarding thing I will ever do in my life. I can’t even being to explain the emotions I felt after repairing a piece of equipment, no matter how large or small.

Assembling a dental chair... in Africa.

After we wrapped up our end-of-the-program conference, we were given some statistics. Between the three different EWH SI programs in Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Rwanda, we were able to save millions of dollars on medical equipment. My team alone was able to repair 27 different devices and perform preventative maintenance on another 40 devices. We helped organize the BMET workshop and took inventory at 14 different health centers across the northern province of Rwanda. Furthermore, we completed our secondary project, which was to secure the oxygen tanks in the oxygen room to make it safer or as the COO of EWH put it, we diffused a ticking time bomb.

Protecting the hospital from a giant, potentially exploding oxygen tank room... in Africa.

Looking back, though; Rwanda gave me more than I gave it.

I will never forget the people I’ve met, the places I’ve been, or the things I’ve learned, and I’ve learned many things throughout this journey.

1. I’ve learned that the most important things in life are family and friends. They will carry you through tough times and be there for you for all the merry moments. Never take them for granted.

2. There is a difference between being philanthropic and being a volunteer. The main difference between the two is the experience. You can donate millions and millions of dollars without ever knowing what your money really goes to. When you volunteer, you are donating your time and effort and you know exactly what all your hard work is going towards. It gives more meaning to your contribution.

Learning how to repair a patient monitor... in Africa.

Finished product of our PPM... in Africa.

3. The only things worth spending money on are experiences. I spent about $100 each on my trips to the rainforest in Nyungwe and the safari in Akagera but those experiences were once in a lifetime and things I will never forget. On the other hand, I spend so much money on clothing and shoes back at home and at what price? I used to believe that I needed new clothes or shoes to feel good about myself, but do I really need to spend money on new clothes or put on a ton of makeup to feel confident in myself? If I do, then that is really sad. In the past two months I’ve been makeup free, lived on seven different outfits and three pairs of shoes, haven’t straightened or curled my hair and I’ve never felt more good about myself and the things I’ve accomplished here.

Having fun on a safari... in Africa.

4. Giving is always greater than receiving. I receive the greatest joy when I help others.

5. The key to easy packing is to just donate all your clothes after your trip.

Rwanda is truly an enigma. Staying in one country, you can climb a volcano, you can go on a safari, you can hike through a rainforest, and you can go boating on a lake. It has a sad history but a bright future. After a genocide that occurred less than 20 years ago, people can still forgive. I’ve seen the happiest kids play with trash, the most beautiful women wearing rags, the strongest men eat nothing but rice and beans, the friendliest people living in the loneliest places, and the humblest people living in mansions on mountains.

This experience would not have been possible without the help of some very important people, and I’d like to take the time to formally thank them and their contributions to helping transform my lifelong dream into a reality…

Thank you to my family and friends who have been supporting me throughout this journey. A special thanks goes out to my parents, who paid for the majority of my trip and who have supported me and my extravagant dreams since my childhood.

Thank you to the Delta Iota chapter of Gamma Phi Beta at Purdue, who also helped sponsor my trip through the Dorothy McCaw scholarship. Love, labor, learning and loyalty are constant bearings that I keep in mind at all times and these values help me to remind myself to best version of myself.

A Gamma Phi... in Africa.

Gamma Phi Beta also gave me my best friends, who have kept me company throughout this entire trip via emails, iMessages and Snapchats. I seriously cannot wait to return to Purdue for my last semester so I can see their beautiful faces and relate all my stories to them over some Baltimore Zoos at Harry’s.

Thank you to the Purdue Global Engineering Program, the International Program, and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, for graciously donating to my dream. Attending Purdue University has honestly been the best decision I have ever made. Purdue has opened so many doors for me and I am so immensely proud to be a Boilermaker.

Thank you to Irwin for writing the most thoughtful letter of recommendation and for supporting me throughout my application process. I am fairly certain that your recommendation was the reason why I was accepted into the program or at least it was the piece de resistance of my application, so thank you for your extremely kind words. I am thankful to have worked with you during my co-op and also thankful for our continued correspondence.

Thank you to Lorin for your generous contributions to EWH and for sponsoring my participation in the summer institute. You have inspired me to help future EWH-SI participants through continued donations.

Thanks to Josephine for being an awesome seamstress and a great friend in Rwanda. I am going to wear my new jumpsuit all the time! If any of my readers find themselves in Rwanda someday, you HAVE to go to Kimironko and find Josephine. She can make you just about anything your little heart desires and there are tons of beautiful prints to choose from. Going there and picking out fabric was one of my favorites things that we did in Africa.

Trying not to buy all of them... in Africa.

Thank you to Dustin, Sarah, Ben, Dr. Coté, and Dr. Maitland for having our best interests at heart and for planning this program in Rwanda.

Thank you to Avit and Agnes for inviting us into your home and acting as our guardians for a whole month. Thanks Bob for also helping us get settled into life at IPRC and Kicukiro.

Thank you to Jean-Claude, for putting up with us for a month. I know we were lost and confused in the beginning but with your help we were been able to accomplish everything we have done. I learned so much from you (especially the importance of PPM!). You have been a great leader and I admire your dedication to your job.

The best boss... in Africa.

Thank you to Alex for all your help. This trip would have been much more difficult if we had never met you. You and your family are some of the kindest people I have ever met. Your kindness makes me want to be a better person myself and the impact you have had on my life is immeasurable. I know we will be friends for a long time and I hope to see you again some day in the future!

Thanks to the other Rwanda SI students: Kristen, Jamie, Romi, Jami, Lindsay, Astride, Mason, Alvin, Ibukun, and Taylor. You guys have been my family for the past two months and I am so thankful to have gotten to know each and everyone of you. I wish you all continued success in your engineering careers and I know you all will accomplish great things in this world.

Group photo... in Africa (courtesy of Mason).

And finally, thank you to Engineering World Health for believing that I could have some sort of impact on the lives of people across Rwanda. EWH and I have shared the same goals since I realized my dream of helping people using my theoretical knowledge and technical skills and I was ecstatic to be part of the program.

I know I will look back on my life and carry a fondness in my heart for the two months I spent in Rwanda. I have always been a firm believer in “everything happens for a reason,” and I am so thankful that by some stroke of luck I was able to participate in this amazing program.

No one knows what the future may hold and I still have no idea what I’ll be doing after I graduate in December, but as for now, I am excited to return home to my family and to return to Purdue in August for my final semester.

Murabeho, au revoir, goodbye, see you again, and thanks for following along!