Our meeting with President Kagame

The craziest thing happened last week Tuesday.

As part of our project for Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), we have been tasked with writing a preparedness plan for cholera and viral haemorrhagic fevers. Additionally, we are working on a risk management communications plan for the country that will be used to support the outbreak preparedness plan. Since nothing is in existence for Rwanda in terms of these two projects, Carmen and I have been working in collaboration with various people within RBC to try and gather the necessary information needed for these projects so that we can put together the final document.

We found ourselves in the office of the Director of Behaviour Change Communication, Jean-Marie Gatabazi. It was really informative to hear from him the existing communication tools and the chain of command that seems to effectively work for RBC and Ministry of Health. As we all know, we live in the age of technology and Rwanda is definitely not being left out. They have a RapidSMS program in place that enables community health workers to relay information directly to the ministry, concerning the patients they see, the types of ailments they present with, etc. At the end of our conversation, he asked about our internship with WHO, the collaborations we had with MOH and RBC, the projects we were working on and our general experience of being in Rwanda for the first time. We told him that if we met President Kagame, it would definitely be the cherry on top of the cake because we have been thoroughly impressed with the progress of the country and the good leadership he has exhibited. We went on to tell him that when we had gone to Musanze for the gorilla naming ceremony, we had hoped to see him there so we could catch a glimpse and possibly take a picture of him from afar.  However, the Prime Minister was the one who showed up (not that it was a bad thing because the Prime Minister is also a great person—but seeing the president would have been more amazing). He was more intrigued that our plan b to see the president was to ask our WHO country representative if we could accompany him to the 4^th July liberation day celebrations at the stadium where the President was bound to be present. He was really fascinated by our attempts to see the President and just laughed the whole time we talked.

Later that evening, Carmen’s aunt reposted a tweet on Carmen’s facebook. Mr. Gatabazi tweeted about meeting us, and the enthusiasm we had shown about our time in Rwanda and our desire to meet the President. At about midnight, we got a text message from him saying, “You are lucky. His Excellency has agreed to meet with you for some photos”. Now you can imagine the excitement. We were laughing and giggling like 2 little kids who had just got candy for the first time. Carmen replied to the text asking the time and date of our possible meeting but we didn’t get a response. We went to bed really happy. The next day was our trip to Nkamira transit camp. Our supervisor had to told we had to leave Kigali city by 8:30am as the camp was about 3 hours away. As we were finishing our last minute packing, we got a phone call from Mr. Gatabazi saying the President had agreed to meet us at 11:00am that morning!

The excitement was beyond words. At this point, the WHO driver was already outside waiting to take us to the office. I had to run to tell him that he would have to wait for a while. We quickly changed from our t-shirt and jeans into appropriate formal clothes. What do you wear to see the President? I think we spent like 15minutes rummaging through our suitcases trying to find the nicest formal clothing we had brought along (slim pickings here guys!). Finally, we both found something to wear and bolted out of the house.

I called my supervisor and told him that 8:30am departure time was to be moved because we were meeting the President. He laughed on the phone and asked me to repeat myself and I did. He then proceeded to ask me which President and I said the President of the Republic of Rwanda. I told him everything would be explained when we got to the office. We got to the office and explained to all our colleagues and they were beaming with joy.

It seems like it took forever for 11:00am to arrive but it did. Mr. Gatabazi came to pick us up to the President’s office. After going through all the security checkpoints we were escorted into his office. One of his personal assistants received us. She was relatively young and we were chatting it up and almost missed the President enter the room. He greeted us and sat down. Now you can imagine how nervous we were—two interns who were meeting the President because of a tweet?! How crazy is that? Multiple thoughts were rushing through my head, “what if he asks a question and I make a complete idiot out of myself?” were among the thoughts. I think he could sense that we were tense so he cracked a joke that had us laughing and he eased us into the conversation. In all, our meeting lasted about 45minutes (15minutes over the proposed time). He was genuinely interested in our work as interns, what we were studying in school, the projects we were working on, and our experience exploring Rwanda. The dialogue was pretty lively. It was almost as if I was talking to my father—he was really relaxed and was such a cool person to talk to. Before we left, he encouraged us to become ambassadors of our generation. He expressed the passion both him and the First Lady had for the youth. He went on to tell us that every learning opportunity was a stepping stone in shaping us to become the future leaders. He asked us how we were going to use our education and expertise to help the underserved and developing nations. Carmen and I have been thinking about that question throughout this internship and so it was nice to hear it resonated in this conversation.

We proceeded to take some pictures afterwards and he asked us to leave our email addresses so that his personal assistant could relay that to the First Lady’s office.

When we returned to the office, it was as if we were stars (hahahah). Everyone wanted to see the pictures and hear about the conversation. They were all marvelled that the interns had managed to see the President. Everyone shook our hands—it was a good feeling. This experience will never be forgotten!!

Carmen shaking hands with H.E Paul Kagame

                                              

                                                                                                         

With the President

                                             

L-R: Carmen, H.E, myself, Jean-Marie Gatabazi

                                             

Infront of the official seal of Rwanda

                                             

Refugee Camp Visit

The Disease Prevention Control (DPC) unit of WHO works in collaboration with UNHCR and other UN agencies to address the refugee situation in Rwanda. A couple of weeks ago, I attended an emergency meeting with my DPC supervisor at the UNHCR office to discuss the budget for emergency funds that UN headquarters had agreed to provide to help the refugee situation in Rwanda. I had expressed interest in going to see at least one camp because I think I had to see the refugee situation to fully understand the magnitude of the problem.

We took a trip to Nkamira transit camp in the western province of Rwanda. The refugees in this camp are mainly from D.R Congo and have fled because of the unstable conditions mainly in the part of DRC closest to Rwanda. The camp is set up as a transit camp where initial waves of refugees are received and later on sent to the various established camps located around the country. However, Rwanda is a small country and the issue of land is a bit problematic so some of the refugees at this transit centre have been there longer than expected.

We entered the camp gates and immediately my heart sank just seeing all these innocent children who had been displaced with their families. We went into to see the resident physician to talk to him and learn about healthcare within the camp and the type of activities that other agencies conduct to keep the camp running.

There were bout 9000 refugees at this site with one resident physician and 5 trained nurses. They also had community health workers comprised of refugees who had been in nursing school or were midwives, etc who aided the nutritionist in distributing the food and followed up on those who were recovering from illness.

The agencies concerned each had activities planned. Save the Children was holding a meeting with some of the youth. The morning sessions for family planning and antenatal clinic, held by the nurses had already taken place. UNICEF also had activities but we were told more of the activities such as educational activities for the children took place at the established camps.

We decided to walk through the camp. The children were playing and going about their lives as normal. Some of the mothers were cooking and others were washing clothes. One young lady was kind enough to bring us into her tent to show us her living space, which wasn’t much.

I thought to myself, in a parallel world, I could have been the one in that situation. My emotions went from elation from seeing the President to just sorrow to witness first hand the effects of war on people, especially women and children.

The drive to Gisenyi (where we lodged) was a rather quiet one. I was angry and sad at the same time. Angry at the fact that in this day and age people still fight and the ones who suffer are the innocent. Sad because no one should live in such conditions—to be forced out of your birthplace to another in a bid to survive is inhumane.

Gisenyi borders DRC—the border is pretty much a fence. We were starring right into DRC and saw people going through border control to enter Rwanda.

Seeing the Lake Kivu made me smile (must be my love of water growing up by the coast). Carmen and I just took the time to absorb the scenery and the calmness of it all and reflect on the instability going on right across the fence.

We spent the night at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel. The view in the morning was breathtaking!! I took this time to reflect on how God has been good to us on this trip. Two months ago, if I didn’t envision that I would come to Rwanda to meet the U.N Sec. Gen, the World Bank President and the President of Rwanda! But this has indeed been a true blessing in disguise. This holistic experience will forever be remembered and cherished.

 On our way back to Kigali, we passed by the camp to see if we could catch any on going activity. A little party was taking place as the contract of Save the Children had ended. To bid goodbye, a celebration was organized. The children were getting ready to recite poems, sing and of course dance. Children always seem to bring out the best in every situation—in the midst of everything that they have been through; they were having a good time! That put a smile on my face J.

View of the camp

Food supplement for the children

Sunset over Lake Kivu; Congo in the background

L-R: Dr. Andre (head of WHO DPC), Carmen, myself, Peter (WHO driver)

Our view from our hotel balcony in the morning

Lake Kivu Serena Hotel 

                                      

Save the Children party

More of the hills close by the DRC border

Kwita Izina--Gorilla naming ceremony

Up until 2 weekends ago, I didn’t know that the gorilla naming ceremony was a big deal in Rwanda. Before I came to Rwanda, I was always on Google trying to find out what other tourists had done. Visiting the gorillas seemed to be one of the number one things so I told Carmen we were definitely going to see these mountain gorillas that are unique to this region. When we were told how much it cost to see the gorillas we crossed that from the checklist.

So when I heard how big of an event Kwita Izina was, I really wanted to go in hopes of catching a glimpse of the gorillas. We later learnt that the gorillas are not present at this event but we still decided it would be nice to partake in this tradition of naming newborn gorillas.

The itinerary said the program was to start at 8:30am so we left at 6:30am. No one warned us that it was going to be cold at the location. By the end of the day I could barely feel my toes.

The drive up to Musanze had the most beautiful scenery ever! Indeed this is the land of a thousand hills! Hills were just emerging all over the countryside and the little farms on the hills looked like beautiful patchwork. We could see the volcanoes behind the even location.

It was very a colourful lively ceremony with music performances by local stars and traditional dance performances by the National Ballet. In attendance were many dignitaries including the Prime Minister of Rwanda and the esteemed gorilla namers who came from all walks of life.

A reception followed the event and we were able to snag a couple of pictures with some of the celebrities that were present.

It was an amazing experience to be part of a tradition deeply embedded in the Rwandan culture. 

The gorillas that were named

Traditional dancing (Intore) by the National Ballet

Trying to capture the volcano

With Ramsey Noah (Nigerian actor)

Entrance to the event..trying to capture the volcano in the background

One of the namers

             

                                   

                                          Humans dressed in gorilla suits

With Isaiah Washington

Scenery from our drive