We're talkin about bed nets...bed nets

As some of you may know, PC Rwanda does things a little differently than other country programs regarding PCT integration into the community and culture. As most country programs will assign each volunteer to live with a host family, here in Rwanda we are given a Resource Family who we visit throughout our PST (Pre Service Training) but do not actually live with. Although there are pros and cons to this approach, it matters more the time and effort each volunteer is willing to put into making our RF an integral part of our understanding of the Rwandan culture.

At first it seemed a bit of a hassle. Our schedule typically goes something like this: Breakfast at 7, classes from 8-5, with breaks for meals, and then home after dinner around 8:30. Fitting in a few family visits each week, especially on Sunday, our “day off”, hasn’t settled well with everyone, myself included. Despite what might have seemed like an extra task on a full plate, the visits have been educational, insightful and inspiring.

I have also been blessed with a great Resource family, with Francine, Manuel and their two daughters Kevine and Helvine. Francine has been the one who has mainly facilitated my visits. She attended the introduction party at our Training Managers house to greet me, and is always setting up evening or day visits with her and her family. Although sometimes our schedules haven’t worked, she has been a great friend, helping me with my Kinyarwanda and discussing Rwandan culture. The last two visits have been especially interesting, touching on Rwandan school systems (she’s a primary school teacher), health policy, and the complicated subject of family (umuryango). After each visit I feel more inspired to learn more about this culture, language and more thankful that I was placed in Rwanda.

I’d been waiting to have the family discussion until I had learned more of the language and history because I knew the genocide would play its role in shaping our discussion. I wanted to be educated and prepared to ask insightful questions without probing too much. Whether I wanted it to or not, we discussed her family, which was sadly too short. Her story is one I’m sure can be replicated thousands of times throughout Rwanda, and its one I don’t chose to write about. It’s as if there was a life before the genocide and now one after. People often make the distinction of ‘before’ or ‘after’. It’s a time marker that sadly seems to change their story, often to a somber, sobering tone. It’s a reminder that it is still early in the healing process for individuals and the country as a whole. The idea that “Time heals all wounds” will surely be tested here.

During my most recent visit, Francine and I discussed the use of bed nets, a discussion brought on from her youngest daughter’s recent diagnosis of malaria. We discussed her family’s health insurance and what typically happens in a Rwandan household when someone becomes sick. Our conversation soon reached the tone of a lesson on development health however, as we discussed the relationship between health and education. Francine very bluntly and honestly stated that “education helps people understand the value of a life”. A true statement that I think has even more meaning in a country like Rwanda.

I have been thinking about her statement since our talk and how education will play a role in my placement as a health volunteer. It was a reminder that my success as a volunteer is not based on an arbitrary act such as distributing bed nets, but rather to collaborate, educate and be educated by the people whom I will work and live with. It was a reminder that the physical bed nets is just as important as understanding how to use them, why we should use them and why health needs to be inherently valued. Understanding the why and how questions are just as important as the action itself.