It began like any other night. The sun was setting over the
mountains like a runny Spanish omelet on a cheap diner plate. I was alone.
Well, as alone as one can be in Rwanda. I had just finished eating my supper,
rice and wild mushrooms (delicious, but also a gamble every time you eat
them…one of these days I’m probably going to ingest a poisonous one). After
supper I decided to walk over to my Health Center to use the internet. Thanks
to a grant from Partners in Health, we
have WiFi all over the center. It’s not exactly high speed, but really I’ll take what I can get. The strongest
signal can be found in the waiting room, which usually means you’ll have a
small crowd gathered around you to see what you are doing. On this particular
night I could see from out my window that the lobby and waiting room were
empty, prime time to use the WiFi! I began locking my doors and heading down
the hill.
Now, somewhere along the way, the power went out. Living
here in Rwanda I’ve realized there’s a big difference between ‘having power’
and having power. For example, I ‘have power’ in the sense that there’s a light
bulb in my bedroom as well as a [single] electrical outlet to charge my things.
But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I have power, because really it’s out about
50% of the time. When the power goes out at night, it’s dark. Very dark. Because of this I’ve become accustomed to always
carrying around a small flashlight in my pocket so that I can see where I’m
going. As soon as I saw the lights die, I began fishing around in my pocket for
my flashlight when...WHACK! I had
tripped in one of the water drainage ditches that run around the health center
(a necessity when living on the side of a mountain) and hit my head on a brick
wall.
I was a little dizzy, and without my glasses (god knows
where they flew) I couldn’t exactly see what was going on, but when I went to
pick up my computer case I saw that it was a bloody mess. As were my pants and
shirt. Not sure if the blood was coming from me I put my hand up to my forehead
and…yup it was me alright. A little scared I then remembered that I’m at a
freaking health center! I began walking
down the corridor to the on call room hoping to maybe get a band aid and be on
my way. As I began walking the blood was shooting out of me like old faithful
and I came to the realization that I may be needing more than just a little
gauze. Upon reaching the duty nurse’s office I saw that she was with a patient
but nothing could stop me at the point, I busted open the door with all of my force and then realized I had
no idea what to say; I simply pointed my tiny flashlight at whatever was going on up on my head and much to my dismay I
got a ‘ya baba we!’ {oh my god!}
from both the nurse and the patient!
They quickly cleared off the stool that was stacked mile high with papers and
began putting gauze on my forehead.
Now, maybe I suffered a mild concussion, or maybe I was just
a little scared, but in that moment I couldn’t speak a word of Kinyarwanda. Or
French. Or Swahili, or any of the languages swimming around in my head right
now. Another nurse entered and they were checking out my head and then motioned
for me to go lay on the bed, the next thing I know they were whispering to each
other and I distinctly heard the word kudoda {verb:to sew}. I realized I needed stitches, but I could remember our
Peace Corps doctor’s stern warning to never use the local Health Centers for
medical care, and so I immediately pulled out my phone and called him. The
nurse looked at me like I was crazy, making a social call at a time
like this!
Hello, he said. Dr. Elite I’ve fallen and busted my head and
now I’m here in the Health Center and I can’t speak Kinyarwanda and I think I
need stitches and they showed me in the mirror and it looks bad and I’m scared
and I think I want you to talk to them and maybe tell them what I should do I
just don’t know, I say. Okay give her the phone, he says. [brief interlude
where they talk in rapid Kinyarwanda, then, phone is handed back to me] Okay
Ian, it looks like since you are so far away from me we’re just going to go
ahead and let her give you the stitches, but I should warn you that these are
really bad stitches and there’s a possibility you’re going to have a big scar.
Good night, and good luck!
Not exactly comforted by his words they laid me down on the
table and began cleaning out the wound. Keep in mind the power is still out and
so she put the flashlight in her mouth, bit down on it, and began sewing me up.
Now, without any kind of numbing or pain killers I’m not afraid to say that I
began crying like a little baby. It HURT!
But survived, and after washing all the blood of my face (head wounds bleed
like crazy!) I realized it really doesn’t look all that bad at all. I also feel
stupid for crying, because everyone here survived a genocide and I was scared
about a few stitches. But it was a pretty horrible experience and I think I’m
going to start following my roommate’s advice from this morning to watch
where I’m going (what kind of advice is
that?!) because I don’t want any more incidents.
and now for
something completely different
I’ve been at site for just over a month now and so far (last
night aside), everything has been going really well. Before we left training we
were assigned with drawing up a plan for our initial three months, a blueprint
for integrating at site. While glancing over the plan yesterday I realize that
I’ve already accomplished a large portion of the things that I had wanted to.
Since being here I’ve successfully gotten my home in order, gotten aquainted
with everyone working at the Health Center, met and spoken with dozens of
community health workers, introduced myself to local officials, and met with
NGOs working in the area. Miranda, another volunteer in Kirehe district, and I
have also arranged a meet and greet with hospital staff in the provincial
capitol. We are looking forward to meeting with them and building a
relationship over the next two years.
So things are looking up…but maybe from now on I should
start looking down more often. You know, to see where I’m going.
I'm glad you survived your first medical accident, Ian! I hope to hear lots more of your stories when you return!
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