Good morning

What a beautiful place to wake up for a couple of the Baxter kids!

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa...::beats chest vigorously::

Dear friends, loved ones, snoopers, and others genuinely caring about our progress,

I am Goose, our intrepid blog boss.  I was trying for a title that sounded less self-aggrandizing, but I'm a sucker for alliteration.  After some bumps in the road, some my fault, some beyond my control (I'm going to blame most of my inadequacies on the latter...) it appears that the blog is up and more or less running.  Or crawling, depending on the typing speed of the day's blogger.  Internet-related troubles aside, things are going particularly well in the Southern Hemisphere (the water really does spin the other way down here!) or at least in the part of it in which we currently find ourselves. 

Luckily for me, I am surrounded by a crew much more technologically-savvy than I, and so they have, by and large, been able to update despite my electronic ineptitude.  That said, you have my solemn vow on a stack of pancakes that I will do all that is within my considerabl(y miniscule) power to see to it that our blog keeps you daily appraised of our progress. 

As always, we thank you for your financially supporting our coming, your prayerfully supporting our working and the constant encouragement which you bring to each of us with your emails. 

Hold fast, and keep the Faith (but not to yourselves.)

I remain yours in Christ,
--Goose!

Sunday 2/23

Hello. The internet has been down at the university (where we get access), so these posts may be out of order.

Today (Sunday) is a beautiful day - sunny and clear, with a slight breeze - the perfect day for rest. The weather has been getting progressively nicer with each day.

In the morning, we went to the local church. The doors lead into a huge room (like an auditorium) with hard wooden benches that radiate from the pulpit located in front of the church. In the hour or so that we were there, we heard various choirs. None of us understood the words, but that was definitely not necessary to appreciate and enjoy the singing. We also introduced ourselves to the congregation at some point.

We left before the sermon, which we would not have been able to understand, and came back home to listen to a recording of one of Tim Keller's sermons. He spoke about how our approach to life's difficulties is determined by what we focus on.

The afternoon was spent in various ways. Some went to the hospital with the Albertsons for spiritual rounds, some went to town, some went to a soccer game down the hill, and some just spent the time relaxing.

Annie

Muraho from Rwanda! This is Sarah Kelley updating. I have not had a chance to read what Bragg wrote, so hopefully I won't repeat what she said. For those of you who don't know, Sarah Bragg and I have been roommates for 4 years in Mobile, both have red hair, and are going into Med/Peds and Peds, respectively. We are both working in the NICU with Dr. Whitehurst up here. All in all, we have a lot of the same stories.

Today wraps up three days in the hospital. It's amazing the perspective us team members have gained in such a short period of time. The conditions with which the families and patients cope while here are truly mind-boggling. For instance, in the US, patients' family members often complain because someone doesn't like the lunch provided by the hospital. Here, family members must cook and provide food for the patients themselves. This can be a real problem if a family member is not able to stay 24/7 and is only able to visit once a day. Can you imagine breast-feeding twins on one meal a day, or recovering from major abdominal surgery with so little nutrition? We've already seen these scenarios first-hand.

In addition, family members are forced to sleep in the bed with the patients, or even worse, on the ground. They must also do the patient's laundry. (Side note: this makes for some very "distinct" smells with cloth diapers in the NICU.) I say all this not to be negative or sad, but to admire the resiliency of the patients and their families staying at Kibagora Hospital. We don't know how good we have it back at ole USAMC/ USACW.

And finally, patients can't leave until they pay in full. Wow. Nothing more I need to say about that.

On a lighter note, this place is straight out of a movie - absolutely serene. (See picture below. Sorry if it's grainy.) It is so lush and tropical, so green, and the views are breath-taking. Out schedules are a little less strenuous than at home (maybe not true for the 4th years), and it is so refreshing to have such wonderful conversations with one another and make new friendships. To me, that is one of the most rewarding and memorable aspects of a trip like this. If you are ever worried because you haven't heard from your loved one, take that as a sign that we are enjoying our free time too much to take an internet break. It's nice to unplug sometimes.

And now, some last minute observations. I'm trying to be somewhat concise because I could write 10+ pages. I always used to get in trouble because I was too superfluous in high school.
-Every Rwandan hospital must have a cow on facility to provide milk for the nutrition program, which is only available to some kids. One time the cow got loose and kicked a toddler but he was ok.
-Goose gives great massages, just ask William Black.
-Grass is cut by men swinging machete-like instruments hacking at the ground. It's wild and makes my back hurt just looking at it.
-Here is a picture of me doing a lumbar puncture on a newborn, because my boyfriend doesn't believe that I've ever done one. I was not successful. Dr. Whitehurst got crystal-clear CSF on his first try, using his non-dominant hand. Boss.

 



Today was our team's first day working in Kibogora Hospital. Our day began by joining the hospital staff during their daily morning devotional. Although the entire service, including musical worship, was in a language completely foreign to me (Kinyarwandan), there was one thing that became extremely evident during this time of worship:

Our God is a wonderful creator who deserves the worship of His creation.

How unfathomable, yet how awesome, is it to realize that for every moment we sit in our home churches or have a private meeting with God through quiet time that, at the same time, there are people all across the globe doing the same. People who were made perfect in God's image, yet who are so different than us. People living within a different cultural atmosphere, with different economic resources, raised with a different way of thinking about the world around them. However, despite all of these differences there is one fundamental thing that does not change...the fact that He deserves our worship.

"For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Revelation 15:4

This time of worship was so humbling. To see the joy of the Lord reflected in the hearts and faces of strangers living half-way around the world from everything I have ever known and to realize that we all love the same Father. What could make your heart more full than to have the privilege of worshiping the One you love surrounded by a diverse family of believers who share your deepest love?

Lord, I pray I will never forget to give you the worship you deserve. I pray that during times of discouragement that I will remember that the body of Christ does not consist only of the visible Church around me, but instead it is composed of a diverse, powerful body comprised of believer from around the globe. All who are made in the perfect image of Christ. Amen.

-Jennifer

First Day in Kibogora

Today we woke up to a rain storm on our first morning in Kibogora. It is so nice to sleep when it is raining, especially when you can hear it through the open windows with the cool air coming in. Yesterday we traveled around 5-6 hours from Kigali to Kibogora. Rwanda certainly lives up to its name:"The Land of a Thousand Hills." This made for beautiful scenery for our drive! The land is so lush and green here - certainly not what I was expecting of an African nation. In place of deserts and grassy planes, there were hills upon hills - some covered in trees and others covered with crops of coffee or banana trees. This is certainly a beautiful place! Our drive included an hour segment through the rain forest. This was a very exciting part of the trip because we got to see Colobus monkeys right by the road - they did not seem afraid of humans or our cars! After we got through the rain forest, we came to a more rural area of the country where the people where very intrigued by our two buses of clearly non-native people. The closer we got to Kibogora, the more excited the locals were to see us coming through. The children would shout the word "muzungu" at our buses with laughs, smiles, and waves. Muzungu is a word that literally means foreigner but in more recent times the connotation has changed to mean "white person." The Rwandan people have been very welcoming to us and seem generally happy about our arrival. One of the main things I have noticed since my arrival here in Rwanda is how joyous the people are! What a beautiful way to live - I hope to soak some of that joy up while I am here.

Today was our first day in Kibogora hospital. It was quite an experience. We started our day with a morning devotion in the hospital with all of the native workers. It was complete with a sermon, prayers, and songs all in Kinyrwandan. It was an honor and a joy to witness the Rwandans worshiping our Lord in their own way! We were given the opportunity to stand up and introduce ourselves to the people we would be working with and then it was off to our respective sites for the day.

Our students, residents, and attendings are working in 5 different areas - OBGYN, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Orthopedic surgery. I spent my time in the NICU today which was a very interesting experience since I just came off of a month of NICU in the states. The level of care that we are able to provide here in Rwanda is limited due to a lack of supplies and technology. In the states, many of these babies would be getting lab work (electrolytes and complete blood counts) daily as well as various imaging techniques as necessary. We had one baby in need of an echocardiogram which could have been completed within the hour in the states. Here in Kibogora, it is not an option. This is not to say that the medical personnel here do not provide great care - you can see the compassion in their eyes and smiles as they care for their own sick and wounded. It is simply an interesting comparison to the complexity and thoroughness of care in the states. It makes you wonder if all of the lab work and imaging that we spend many precious dollars on in the states is entirely necessary.

I can't wait to see how my time here in Rwanda will affect me as a physician and a human. I hope to learn many things - spiritually, professionally, and personally - during this journey. I am sure that God has many great and challenging things in store for us while we are here!

Sarah Bragg

And So it Begins

Today we will start our adventure to Africa. For many of us, it will be our first time on this vast continent. It has taken much thought, consideration and effort to the logistics of this trip – travel arrangements, lodging, and editing of luggage. As we sit on this plane headed from Chicago to Istanbul, I feel like I am beginning to realize that this journey I have talked about, thought about, and certainly prayed about is finally beginning. At this point, we have checked all of our luggage, successfully navigated security screenings in Atlanta and Chicago, and are nearing the halfway point of this trans-Atlantic flight to Istanbul. There were two calls for medical attention while aboard this aircraft for passengers not involved with our group. Lucky for them, we had 5 MD’s and 11 almost-MD’s on board. They ended up being minor concerns and the rest of the flight went smoothly.

Parents, friends, and loved ones: I can happily report that all of the team members, albeit sleepy, have arrived in Istanbul safe and sound and are doing well at this point. Please continue to pray for our safety and for smooth passage as we continue onward towards Kibogora.