My Site!!

It has been an exciting week for sure. Last Thursday we had our site announcement, when names were drawn and we got to go and put our names on the map. It was nice to see where everyone would be. I am at Gakoma Health Center, in Gisagara District, in the South. There are three other Health volunteers from my training group in the South, although none are particularly close to me (at least three hours away).

This week we went to Kigali for a few days to meet our supervisors. Mine is a man named Aime who is in charge of all the Community Health Workers (CHWs). Our health center serves over 34,000 people and has 141 CHWs. (I am told that's a lot). Aime is very nice and was extremely helpful during the conference and when we traveled together to Gakoma. We left the hotel in Kigali on Wednesday at 10 and three buses and a lunch break later, we arrived at the Health Center at 4. I met the head of the health center, who is a nun. The Catholic Church has a huge influence in Rwanda.  

Thursday I got to visit all of the services in  my health center. Gakoma is unusual because the hospital is literally right next door. So unlike many health centers, mine does not have wards for patients because if anyone is seriously sick they get sent to the hospital. My center provides the following services: a laboratory to run tests, HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, an IT department, delivery center, pharmacy, nutrition and vaccination programs, and general disease prevention and control. (You go to the health center if you are sick to get medicine, if you are extremely ill or need surgery you have to go to the hospital). I met all my coworkers, briefly, they seem very nice and I am excited to get to know them better! 

My attempt to do a panoramic of my health center, it consists of three small buildings. 

While at site visit I got to tour around Gakoma and the surrounding areas. It is very rural with lots of rice fields. Malaria is epidemic here and one of the biggest issues. I will most likely be working on malaria prevention, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. Which is awesome because those are the three areas I am most interested in! 

Mamba is the town closest to where I will be living. My house is currently under construction so I don't have pictures. It is  in a compound with other families and is two rooms, a bedroom and a living room. (The bathroom and kitchen are outside). Luckily I will have electricity and a water tap in the compound. I am only a few minutes walk from the town center which consists of some shops, resturants, and bars. It still seems so surreal that I will be living here for two years!! 

Also, I have an education site mate who works at the local secondary school. His name is Bob and he walked me around and gave some great advice. Overall I had a great site visit. Obviously this can't really tell me how the next two years will go, but I am optimistic about it! 

This is the river that flows between Rwanda and Burundi