Into Africa

Tuesday — a bit jet lagged, but enthusiastic and dressed in OR scrubs, we drive from where we are staying, at Maji, to the HEAL Africa hospital.  Our transportation back and forth is in a vehicle marked ambulance, although in Eastern Congo, rarely are ambulances used. The vehicle is sometimes used for the rare transport of very sick patients.  It’s not that sick patients are rare -- they’re not -- it’s just that people usually don’t come to the hospital via ambulance, if they are able to come at all. Riding in the ambulance to HEAL Africa. The road is paved for most of the way, a huge improvement over the past years.  Four wheeled and two wheeled vehicles dart in and out, dodging one another daringly, like dragonflies.  Near the hospital, the road turns to dirt with a predominance of pot holes. The sound of horns and motors and people is in surround sound. Our first day starts out with a worship service at the chapel, called the "Tabernacle," on the ground...

Maji Matulivu — it means Still Waters in Swahili.  It’s where I sit tonite, on the shore of Lake Kivu, in the Eastern Congo.  It is the home of our host and the extraordinary doctor and founder of HEAL Africa, Dr. Jo Lusi.  Last night, we arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, via Amsterdam, from Chicago, and now we are in Goma.  We are a traveling team that consists of my husband, Todd, a Plastic Surgeon, my oldest daughter, Mary Ella, two General Surgeons, Marc and Chris, a Family Practice doctor, Steve, and his son, Tom, and a board member for the  HEAL Africa  organization, Jack. Marc began this journey to Goma, on his own, 21 years ago, and has been instrumental in helping found HEAL Africa, coming yearly, teaching surgery and actively involved on the board.  Chris and Todd have come many, many times to help teach surgery and to encourage the staff here, too.  And for some of us, it's our first time.  It is my first time here. Today, we t...