Busy, busy, busy!

     Every Monday when I arrive at work, I automatically ask myself why I haven't done more work over the weekend. Then I realize that I'm not required to do work on the weekends and I really ought to stop being such a work-a-holic. So this past weekend I took it easy in hopes of taking better care of my mental health. Vanessa had a surgical department meeting on Friday in Kigali and so Julie and I tagged along. Upon our early arrival to the "big city" Julie and I ran an errand or two before settling into a cushy couch at the Serena Hotel (basically the nicest hotel in Kigali at $400+/night) and did work until Vanessa's meeting was over.
     Kigali is a pretty bustling city. It has a population of 1 million and didn't become the capital of the country until independence in 1962. Initially with independence, Astrida (aka Butare, my town) was the leading contender to be the capital of Rwanda. As I've previously mentioned, Butare was the intellectual capital of the country and as I've learned since then, it was the colonial seat of power prior to independence. Kigali was chosen over Butare to become the new capital due to its more central location. Let me me also explain the naming of towns because I can't remember if I have or not.
     As we all know, there was a war and genocide here in Rwanda just over 20 years ago. The worse part of the genocide occurred in April 1994. Kigali was initially the center of the genocide before it eventually spread to the souther province and Butare. After the 100 day war, as locals will sometimes refer to it, the country went through a type of purging process. Wanting to focus on the future and not the past, just about every city and town in Rwanda was re-named. Butare is the name post-genocide of where I live. Astrida was the pre-genocide name. Kigali stayed the same. I'm not sure why, but so it goes. Many of you reading this I am sure have seen the movie, Hotel Rwanda, which focused on Kigali and the Hotel Des Mille Collines. Speaking of which, Julie and Vanessa decided to stay there for the weekend. Rwanda is known as the Land of a Thousand Hills. Kigali, is certainly one of the most hilly areas. The Hotel Des Mille Collines is situated on top of a hill with a beautiful view of the city.
     Friday afternoon the three of us ran errands got a fabulous lunch and went our separate ways to relax for a bit before gathering for dinner and drinks and dancing. I stayed with Jessie and her roommate Dana, which was quite fun. Jessie and I of course ended up working and brainstorming and obsessively editing these forms we've been collaborating on until 7 pm and then I forced her computer closed and we headed off to meet the Kigali crew for a cocktail at Heaven. Heaven is the Kigali, go to Friday night happy hour bar, which caters to wazungu (white people, muzungu = white person). After a cocktail (or two) we were ready to hit the town. We went dancing. It was so much fun. Francis, is our neurosurgeon here in Kigali. He is originally from Cameroon and is a big, suave man. We walked into the club at Hotel Des Mille Collines and the next thing we knew we were in a private room just off the dance floor and it was a full blown dance party. Who would have guessed that Francis is secretly twinkle toes too. He spun us all around the dance floor as a salsa king and for once in my life, I let a man lead. We danced for hours and had so much fun. It was just fabulous to get dressed up, go out, probably spend a little too much money (though nothing compared to fancy drinks in DC or San Francisco), and have a blast. It was much needed all around for the Butare Girls. We all work way too much, partially because there isn't much else to do in our town, but also because there has been a precedent of previous HRH staff members. We don't mind it, but we need to let our hair down once in a while.

Dance Party

Francis took every lady for a spin

Francis & Becky
(Becky taught my sister in nursing school)

Twinkle Toes & Me

We stayed up WAAAAAAY past our normal bedtime!

     Saturday morning was a little slow for all of us. But I eventually made it back over to the hotel to meet Julie, Vanessa, Jen and Ashley for breakfast. Jen and Ashley are our UT colleagues. Jen has been here since January and is located far South East of Kigali near the Tanzania border at a district hospital and does pediatrics. Ashley, is new like Julie and I and is located at the private hospital, King Faisal in Kigali doing Internal Medicine. Jen is preparing to go home shortly, which is so sad for us! She has been so incredibly helpful before we arrived in helping us pack, giving fabulous advice, and encouragement. I am really going to miss her. But also completely understand that she is ready to get on a plane home.

UT Nursing Faculty
Julie, Jen, Ashley, Me

I had to be taught how to "Hook 'Em" being the
only non-Texas resident in this photo

The rest of Saturday turned into a pool day. I fully intended on working by the pool, but to my great disappointment, there were no outlets. And my ridiculously old computer has a battery life of maybe 1 hour. I had to settle for relaxing, napping, have a nice cool drink, swimming, and playing cards instead. Life is rough sometimes. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the rains didn't roll in until late afternoon. Saturday night I took it easy, but my other 2/3s went out dancing again until almost 3 AM. They successfully napped in the afternoon, which I did not. But it is a little pathetic my lack of motivation when I am the youngest of the group.

Poolside at "Hotel Rwanda"

     Sunday was errands and driving back home and nothing very exciting. It was just so very good to get away from work. Monday per usual was crazy busy. I feel as though I am juggling about 17 projects right now and have nothing accomplished. Plus, now I feel as though there is a major time crunch. Steph is leaving us at the end of January as I mentioned before, so now we are trying to finish two pediatric projects I've been working on with her in the next 2-3 weeks. The first is a pediatric reference manual. My nurses take care of ICU pediatric patients all the time, but have never had formal education in pediatrics, so Steph and Veronica are going to give 2 weeks of lectures before winter holiday and we are going to (hopefully) have the manual done by then. What started as a little project has turned into a 30+ page (in English, still need to translate it into French), 2 MB project. We are excited to finish it and get the book bound.

Working with the A0 students
Julie playing patient

     In addition to the pediatric projects we have nursing students of two different levels so we are doing two different classes/activities with them during the week, I am still lecturing my staff, redesigning the emergency trolleys for the entire hospital, helping my twin and in-charge write their report on last months visits to the other ICUs, all HRH nurses need to teach 120 staff members CPR and certify them prior to our external survey next month... the list goes on and on. The other day I worked for 15 hours until my daily internet allowance was all used up! Last night however I decided to chill and watch a movie. Life is busy, which is good. I like being busy. I work better under pressure and it keeps my mind off of other things that may not be going the way I had hoped.
     Finally, as we approach Thanksgiving back home in the States, I really encourage you to support a project that some German medical students started in August when they were working here. They are feeding patient's because as we all know, good nutrition leads to better healing. It is a great project, sustainable and the matron of surgical nursing is trying to expand the project hospital wide. Please look at their website and consider a donation. A donation of $10 will feed 7 patients a substantial meal. One meal = ~$1.45. If you have questions or want more information please contact Oswald Benimana, Matron of Surgery Department/CHUB at:

benoswaldino05@yahoo.fr
https://www.betterplace.org/en/projects/21664-eat-to-survive-your-disease

Thanks so much in considering supporting this project!
     My next post will maybe be from Italy! I am really looking forward to seeing old friends. Julie has forbidden me to take my computer with me tonight when I leave, which will be much appreciated. I feel a little guilty ditching my nursing colleagues to teach Monday, but I need the break.

Lessons Learned:
1) Multitasking is a well learned skill
2) A night or weekend off never hurt anybody
3) Wazungu make a very good, 7200 miles away from home support system. I am so thankful for all my colleagues here.

Delicious Kigali Food!