A stopover at the Muganza Health Centre

A stopover at the Muganza Health Centre

Tomorrow I am off to Kigali after about 3 weeks of life at Rugerero. I have mixed feelings about leaving this peaceful setting and go to the ‘big’ city. I have no idea what is happening in the world... World War Three could have started, I would be quite blissfully unaware of it... How is Federer doing in the Australian Open??? I spend the night in Muganza, where Soeur Josephione works and lives. The Sister superior has allowed me to stay there since the taxi/bus to Butare leaves at 5:30AM. I ride my motorbike, with my suitcase attached to the pillion seat with stripes from and an inner tube of a car tyre and my back pack – a delicate balance on the rough and slippery 11 km road. I am writing about it, so I must have survived.
Soeur Josephine has arranged for Soeur Adeline to show me the Health Centre. Soeur Adeline is a nurse. She is in charge of running the Health Centre but she is much more than an administrator: she is the brain, the heart, the lateral thinker and the soul of this incredible community service that she is providing. This tiny place is about birth (local women come and deliver their babies here), it is about sustaining life to those under attack from Third World countries diseases such as paludism, malaria, HIV-AIDS, and I am sure , occasionally it is a place about death.
It is not the Royal North Shore hospital, it is a very small area with tiny rooms allocated to the delivery of babies, to emergency treatment, to a mini laboratory for blood and urine tests.
A couple of solar panels bring the minimum of energy required to run basic equipment. Soeur Adeline takes me through the complex circuit a patient goes through when visiting the Centre. She keeps a record of absolutely everything: how many pills against diarrea were given last June? She knows. How many women were treated positive to HIV-AiDS in December? She knows. How much health insurance was paid over any three months period? She knows. She tells me that quite a number of locals can’t afford the 2000 RWFR (4 Aus$) per year to cover their health in surance and have access to free medical treatment.
As I am explained all this, even though consultation time is officially over, a few emergency cases (including an old lady being brought in on a makeshift stretcher) bring a few more customers. Soeur Adeline remains calm, factual throughout the entire visit. She is totally committed to the wonderful and vital service she is providing to the community. There is no doubt in my mind that the spiritual dimension attached to her work is a key to the success of her mission.
Royal North Shore Hospital, you have serious competition!!!