The required disclaimer!

This blog is NOT an official Fulbright Program blog. The views expressed are my own and not those of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State or any of its partner organizations.







Saturday, June 18, 2011

Murabeho

Kinyarwanda is a difficult language.  I can just now begin to pick out a few words in a conversation, and can manage a dozen or so things that I would like to say.  The language is spiced with a bit of both French and English and my ear is more used to the sounds and meanings.  I've learned that there are any number of ways to greet people depending on the time of day, how well you know the person, and how long it's been since you last saw the person.  Goodbye is similarly complicated and now that I must say it, I understand just how complicated it is, not linguistically, but practically and emotionally.  Over the next few days I'll be saying "Murabeho" because that is the good-bye used when you won't be seeing a person for a while.

I'll tell you about a few of the people who make it hard to leave and who have touched me during my time here.

First of all, meet our house staff:  Chantal, Nelson, Sylvan and Patrice (I don't have a photo of Patrice, works for us a couple of days each week and is also a student at a university studying business)

Chantal has been our housekeeper, cook, shopper, and resident comedian.  She took care of us during our stay.  She is tremendously kind, caring and often came to work or stayed to work later when she didn't have to.   Chantal adores Nava and always threatens to keep her after we leave.   Chantal is studying English right now and one day, we hope to help her get a college degree and a new line of work.
Chantal and Nava

Chantal a little more pensive than usual








Nelson is one of our guards, our gardener and the hardest working individual I've ever met. He never seemed to know how to rest when he was at our house. He really doesn't speak English but we had fun trying to communicate in a gibberish mix of English and Kinyarwanda. The other night, Nelson, Nava and I stayed up late to watch the lunar eclipse together and he taught us the words for moon and stars in Kinyarwanda.


 
Nelson




Sylvan, Christine and Diana
Sylvan does the majority of our night guard work and he is a handyman fixing our plumbing and lighting problems. He lives in the house on the back of our compound (really right on top of us) with his wife Christine and his newborn baby Diana (the little guard). Diana was born during our stay and this photo was taken on the day of her christening and naming.
The little guard on duty
When we arrived in Kigali we were told by other expats that we would never survive without a car.  Well, we did.  I was lucky enough to have a driver from KHI who brought me to work and back every day.  This is Pepe; I had more conversations about more things with him than almost any other Rwandan.  He doesn't really speak English, I certainly can't say much more than good morning and how are you in Kinyarwanda, but we managed throughout the term with his and my limited French to communicate about life, politics, Rwanda, KHI, the genocide, music, sports - just about anything.  I still owe him a brochette and a beer so I'll be back to visit him one day soon!
Pepe
I was lucky enough to teach all 3 years of physiotherapy students at KHI, here are a few photos of the fantastic and hard-working physio students.
A great group of 3rd year students

4th year students working in the clinic with me
Vyvienne is a senior lecturer in physiotherapy at KHI.  She is an expat from Zimbabwe (Zim).  I worked very closely with her on a number of research projects and in the research methods/biostats module teaching.  Vyvienne has a great sense of humor and always gave me the inside scoop on all things KHI or Kigali.  I'm quite positive that Vyvienne and I will be collaborating for a few years to come and I'm hopeful she'll make a visit stateside to share her incredible knowledge and skills in the area of CBR.
Vyvienne
Elias had the role of Acting Head of Department (HOD) while I was at KHI. Elias is a therapist from Tanzania (T-Zed). He had an incredible number of administrative headaches on a daily basis that I was happy to have left behind when I started this sabbatical/Fulbright.  He is quick to remind me that starting at the end of June, his headaches in Kigali will be my headaches in Springfield.  Speaking of having those headaches, Manu, a therapist from India is Deputy HOD soon to be HOD.  I have great faith in Manu's ability to lead this department forward and wish him luck.  He is just back from presenting at a conference in Baltimore on ergonomic issues, his passion in physiotherapy.
Manu
Elias
My office-mates were Jean Baptiste and Gerard both of whom got their initial physiotherapy training at KHI some years back in the diploma program.  I'm still not sure how all three of us managed in the tight little space we called an office but they were always gracious to make space for me when I came to work.
Jean Baptiste
Gerard
Hey, who is that Muzungu guy? This is Joel, a recent DPT graduate from Arkansas who taught anatomy at KHI this past term and who is planning on starting a PhD program in the U.S. when he returns.
Joel
David
David is busy completing his PhD dissertation work while he is teaching at KHI.  He and I did some clinical supervision together and I gave him some Stata tutoring.  It doesn't show well here but David has a great smile and always brightened the day.

Maurice is also doing independent work toward a PhD, naturally when I consulted with him I spent my time encouraging him to consider multivariable approaches to his analysis.  We'll see where that goes.  Maurice is a great critical thinker and debater with strong and often valuable opinions about how the department should be run.
Maurice
Princy
Princy and Hetal are both from India.  Hetal is actually Manu's wife.  Hetal and Baptiste run the KHI Physiotherapy clinic.  Princy often assists with department managing issues such as assigning clinical sites and setting up class schedules.  I got to do clinical supervision at two different sites with Princy and Hetal.
Hetal








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Sadly I'm missing photos of a few more of my colleagues, Juvenal and Nuhu with whom I worked in the clinic and on some research projects.

Finally, meet the woman who actually brought me to Rwanda...Jeanne Kagwiza.  When I first inquired to KHI about doing a Fulbright it was Jeanne with whom I conversed back and forth over many months about the possibilities and needs.  On my first day at KHI she came into the room where I was being introduced and excitedly walked up to me hugging me and shaking my hand and hugging me again in her excitement that I had arrived.  Jeanne is the former HOD in physio at KHI.  She was gone for a good part of my time at KHI as she is in the final stages of her PhD dissertation work.  I did some consulting/advice giving for her about her dissertation and I'm quite sure that she and I will continue to work together though at a distance until I return here.

Jeanne
Who did I miss? Plenty of folks and to all of them, murakoze, asante sana, jambo and most importantly turongera - see you soon.

1 comment:

  1. i really thank you for keeping the memories.

    ReplyDelete