The End.

 Howdy from Texas, y’all.

Well, I’m back. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought I might not make it – on several occasions. But, here I am. I actually arrived home on the 1^st of August, about two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been insanely busy at home; I had many naps to take, a lot of food to eat, Olympics to watch¹, and a lot of nothing to do.

There is no caption which is worthy of this picture.
Just know this: that container is now empty.

The Last Days

After my previous post, Richard and I only had a few days of work left. We used these days to wrap up our secondary projects and say goodbye to the friends we had made.

At Kibilizi, we reorganized Vincent’s workshop. The project was a success; I’ve included some before/after pictures. Basically, we got rid of some junk, reorganized the room, hung up Vincent’s board of keys, installed a lightbulb, and installed an outlet. It was a fairly simple task, but one that will hopefully improve Vincent’s work long-term.

 Before

Did we turn that chair upside down to make the room
look messier? What? No hablo ingles.

Andrew, this reminded me of your room.

After

oooooooooh. ahhhhhhhhh.

Look at that key board. And those upright chairs.
This was basically Extreme Makeover: BMET Edition.

At Kabutare, our project was a little more interesting. Richard and I hired a carpenter to craft a new shelf and desk for John’s office. That’s it – I lied about the interesting part. Our secondary projects were pretty simple because we spent most of our time working on equipment.

Actually, I don’t have any pictures of them. The carpenter was late finishing his work, and we had to leave before the project was completed. That being said, John was able to pick up the finished furniture himself, and EWH was able to cover the expenses. Instead of furniture, here are some pictures of some great people:

Maybe you'll need to zoom in, but never will
you see a facial expression as intense as Gatete's.

Me, Vincent, and Richard
Yeah, maybe I needed to use one more button.

Me, Jean Pierre, and Richard
I think it's an unspoken law that Rwandans
 do not smile in photographs.

Richard, John, and Me
Not Kabutare John, the administrator
 John - we only met like 20.

Me, John, and Richard
The Kabutare BMET John.

The Conference

We spent our last weekend in Kigali. Each EWH partnership gave a presentation over their work for the past month, and we all got to meet EWH’s CEO. After the presentations, we all had exit interviews with either Leslie (the CEO) or Jet (a representative from Johnson & Johnson)².

Lots of emotions and sadness followed; the next thing we did was leave³.

Me and Jeff
I miss the beard :[

Megan, Me, Gaby, Peter, Sav, and Jeff
We are the squad-est of squads. Sorry for
making you look less tall than you usually do, Megan.

The whole EWH group
Y'all rock.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, this is a short blog post. Sorry – I’m typing this on a flight to Oregon.

This was an incredible trip. Explaining my experience in Rwanda has already proved nearly impossible since I’ve been back. I truly believe that I could spend another two months talking about my time abroad. I learned unexplainable lessons from the people, culture, and my work.

Work ethic. I butchered my explanation of this in my conference presentation, so this is my attempt at redemption. Rwandans are hungry for improvement and success. Rwanda is one of the fastest developing countries in Africa, and it is very apparent. From hospital directors to gate guards, everyone is striving for a better life. They work tirelessly at their respective jobs, their vision set intently on a better world just over the horizon. Rwandans are not complacent – a word which I believe unfortunately describes many Americans. We expect what we are given, and we don’t work for more. Many of us live comfortable lives, and we’re content with settling. It’s true that Rwanda has examples to follow, while America is on the forefront of development. However, let’s not use that as an excuse. Everything can always be better; everyone can always be better. Let’s hunger for improvement again. There’s no reason for every person not to make the world a better place.

Don’t take things for granted⁴. Believe it or not, things can be worse. I don’t pretend to have witnessed the darkest part of the developing world – I certainly did not. But, the truth is, Rwandans have a lot less than us. Less opportunities, less possessions. And guess what? They’re some of the happiest, kindest people I’ve met in my life. My OTGC, Maddy, shared with me a lesson she learned: negative experiences are nothing but great teachers. Next time you want to complain – don’t. Learn something instead. Positivity goes a long way, and simply taking a second, relaxing, and appreciating life can get you through many of your daily struggles. Trust in the Lord, appreciate what you’ve been given, love people, and just be positive.

Talk to me guys, I want to hear from y’all. I’m back in America now, so I’m sure I can make time to meet up with you. I’d love to hear about your summers, too. Call, text, Facebook, tweet, smoke signal, Morse code⁵ – I don’t care!

To my friends who I met on this trip: thank you for existing⁶. Seriously, this trip would not have been what it was without the incredible people. I definitely feel like I made lifelong friends on this trip, and I look forward to hearing what great things you guys go on to do with your lives.

To everyone: thank you so much for reading my blog. Y’all’s support has been greater than I could have ever hoped for, and it’s something I could not have done without.

Water you up to in America, Bryan?
Left: Aaron (my bro), me, Phil and Donna (April's parents),
April (sister-in-law), my mom and dad.

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2)

-Bryan

¹ Alex Morgan, call me.

² Just saying, I’m looking for a job for next summer…

³ I want to go ahead and apologize to everyone I said goodbye to. I suck at goodbyes. Just picture me saying goodbye to you in a way which is not terribly awkward.

⁴ I tried to think of a more cliché way to word this lesson, but alas, here we are.

⁵ Don’t.

⁶ A poet, I am not.

Here There Be Monkeys

Howdy y'all!

I am sorry to inform you guys that this is probably my next-to-last blog post. I’m also trying to type this while watching The Office¹, so we’ll see how this goes.

Since my last post, Richard and I have accomplished a lot of good work at our hospitals. We spent the first weekend in Butare, and I spent this past weekend in Muhanga. Also, we had the opportunity to visit the Murambi Genocide Memorial with a friend we made in Butare.

Hospital Work

Working in hospitals has been incredibly rewarding. I am continually surprised by the amount of knowledge I have acquired over the past month in regards to hands-on problem solving. I have developed a strong sense of confidence in my ability to handle myself independently, and I certainly feel prepared for the upcoming semesters of college back at Texas A&M². Truly, the experience I have gained this past month has been life-changing, and I would not trade it for anything.

Since my last blog post, Richard and I have been tying up loose ends with hospital equipment. As I mentioned before, training hospital staff has become an important task – and it’s one that we have been busy with during the past days. Early this month, we managed to return three infant incubators to operable condition. Initially, we were excited to have fixed several important pieces of equipment, but we quickly realized that none of the incubators had ever been used. The hospital had been unable to use them ever since they were donated. However, Richard and I were recently able to meet with a neonatal nurse and train her on the usage of the machines. Finally wheeling the incubators into the NICU, hooking them up, and seeing them used was super exciting and inspiring.

Richard: warming babies and warming hearts since ’16.

Moving forward into our final week, Richard and I will be focusing on our secondary project at our hospitals. Basically, we have recognized a need for the reorganization of the BMET workshops at our hospitals. There are tools and machines piled up around the rooms; everything is hard to find and this can hinder the ability of our BMETs. Richard and I plan to clean up the offices and install a new desk and new shelves in Kabutare. Hopefully, we can improve our BMETs’ work environments so they can be more efficient after we leave.

Side note: last Friday, the maintenance worker at our hospital – Joseph – took us into town to speak with woodworkers for our secondary project. Afterwards, he invited us to check out his house. He showed us around for a bit, and then showed us his work-out area! He had a barbell welded together out of a pole and some flywheels, and it was held up by two wooden posts. When in Rwanda, do as the Rwandans do… right? A short³ work-out followed.

Do I even lift? No. In fact, I’m pretty sure

 I started sweating when I touched the bar.

I am very excited for our last week of work, and I look forward to updating y’all on our final progress.

UPDATE: Since I’m slow at typing this blog, the last week of work started before I published this post. On Monday, we fixed an electronic scale for the pediatric department! Last week, I took apart the bottom of the scale and realized that the transformer jack was very rusty. Using a multimeter, we were able to measure the voltage output from the jack, and it was considerably low. Thankfully, our star OTGC, Maddy, was able to find us a replacement jack in Kigali. I was able to solder the new transformer jack into place, and now the scale works like a charm⁴.

The old transformer jack. It may or may not have 

been this melted before I un-soldered it.

I am weigh too excited about this fix. 

Sorry, I’ll try to scale the puns back a bit.

Murambi

This was one of the most impactful experiences of my time in Rwanda. I cannot describe this visit appropriately with words; all that follows is a concise summary of the memorial. If you ever spend time in Rwanda, you need to see this – and if not, I urge you to learn as much as you can about the genocide.

The Murambi Genocide Memorial is situated atop a tall hill surrounded by breathtaking landscape. It is the site of a half-built secondary school which was under construction during the Rwandan genocide. The Tutsi people were told that they would be safe from violence here, and as a result, thousands of Rwandans flocked to the top of the hill. However, the organization of this “safe haven” was such that there was no escape. That is, the school was visible from any surrounding area; no one could flee without attracting attention. After the citizens arrived, water was cut off and no food was available so they would be too weak to resist. At this site on April 21^st, 1994, over 50,000 Rwandans were murdered. There were 34 survivors.

At the memorial, we were able to walk through and read about the genocide on the walls. After we finished, the guide showed us the site of several mass graves. Lastly, we visited approximately 20 “classrooms” which were full of genocide victims. Their bodies were preserved in lime, and each victim’s final facial expression was still intact.

One of the rooms was full of children. Gazing over the small bodies, I could hear kids laughing and playing from the bottom of the hill on which I stood. The juxtaposition of life and death was a brutal reminder of what was lost, yet I could not help but be inspired by the perseverance and the progress of the Rwandan people. Often, this scene replays in my mind.

“Remember the bad times as you struggle to build a better world.” (Fr. Modeste Mungwarareba – Murambi survivor)

The beautiful landscape which surrounds Murambi.

The main building (right) atop the hill. Much of 

Murambi remains perpetually under construction.

Butare Weekend

Two weekends ago, starting on the 15^th, our friends came and visited me and Richard in Butare. We had a great weekend which involved some great restaurants, hiking a mountain, and chilling at the local pool!

On Friday, we saw monkeys!!! An entire pack of monkeys came through and visited our hotel, Mere De Verbe. I have evidence – I know y’all are just here for the pictures anyway…

Hard to believe these guys recorded the

classic “I’m a Believer” back in 1967…⁵

Monkeying around. I h-ape that pun.
I'm driving myself bananas.

Saturday morning, we decided to climb Mt. Huye. It isn’t a huge mountain, but we had no idea where to begin our hike. We ended up wandering through a nearby village until someone guided us to the base of the mountain. The only thing is – our guides were a bunch of children. I don’t know how this happened; it was one of the stranger experiences of my life, but we ended up with a small mob of small kids leading us by the time we reached the peak.

For real though, we started off with about three followers. We kept running into more children just chilling in the forest. Everyone proceeded to follow us all the way to the peak. ~in sandals!!~⁶

It was a fantastic hike. I even got to hammock again.

I posted this on Instagram. Go like it.

Muhanga Weekend

This past weekend, I traveled northward for Savannah’s birthday. Nine of us showed up, and it was a great time. Why was it a great time? Because food. So much food.

Seriously, all we did was eat. It was awesome⁷.

Saturday morning, we woke up and planned. Then, we spent a few hours at the market and various shops buying ingredients. We took a quick break when we got back to the house – we watched The Office, of course – and then we got cooking. The results are as follows:

“Why is Bryan so tall?”

See those vegetables? I sautéed those. Call me Master Chef.

Also, Grace made some deep-fried banana balls and they were possibly the greatest things I have ever eaten⁸.

Until (one more) Next Time

Thanks for reading again! I’m extremely excited to see what I can accomplish during my final week in Rwanda, and I know that I will never forget my time here. Expect one more post – this time, from America!!! As always, feel free to message me if you want to talk more. And regarding Spades, I think the ongoing game died out. Oh well, Sav and I won :]

“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5-6)

-Bryan

¹Grace recently helped me “find” seasons 5-7 on my computer. She's great.

²Ask me about this again during mid-terms.

³Okay, I did two reps. It was just for the picture. No gainz.

⁴I’ve gained 2 pounds since arriving in Rwanda. Don’t be surprised – have you seen how much I talk about the food here?

⁵Hopefully y’all get this one… if not, at least my mom will.

⁶This is my version of double-italics. It’s, like, super emphasized.

⁷See footnote 4.

⁸I will be making these in college. Roomates – y’all are welcome.

Two-Thirds Through

[Insert cheesy greeting]

I hope y'all are doing well! I’ve traveled a lot since my last blog post – three holidays happened during six workdays, so my friends and I took advantage of the free time. Two weekends ago (July 2nd), we bused out to Kibuye where Peter and his partner, Brian, are living. During the few workdays, Richard and I dominated hospital equipment (as usual). This past weekend, I took a very exciting bus trip out to Kamembe where Jeff, his partner Josh, Anastasia, and Miles are living.

EXCITING TEASER: This post contains many monkeys and a particularly perturbed chicken.

Kibuye

Well, this actually started in Butare.

Butare

Friday, July 1^st, was Rwandan Independence Day¹. So, Gaby, Jenny, and Savannah traveled down to Butare on Thursday night to break up their trips to Kibuye between two days. Friday morning, we explored a little bit of Butare, ate stellar ice cream, and saw some monkeys!

 

Look, I don't know Kinyarwanda that well - but I do
know Texas food, and none of those words are "BBQ".

Being a New Yorker, Richard was the only one not
included in the above picture. Here's proof he exists.

This wouldn't be a good blog post without
Sav scaring away a random animal.

Friday evening, we set off for Kibuye.

Kibuye (actually this time)

This town is right on the edge of Lake Kivu. It is beautiful.

This was supposed to be a picture of the Loch Ness
Monster, but she went under just before I took it. Trust me.

This was a pretty simple trip, honestly. Lake, views, busting a fat chill. 

Saturday was beach day.

I don't have much to say about this pic... I'll just wave.

Sunday was boat day. We hired a guide to take us out on his boat for the day; he drove us around to a couple different islands. On these islands, we were able to hike around and enjoy the views.

More importantly, I had the opportunity to climb a tree and jump from its branches into the lake. Amazing, bucket-list-worthy experience. 12/10; would recommend.

This was before I did an unintentional back-flop.
You can tell because I'm still smiling.

After the long weekend, I headed back to Butare on Tuesday morning. As it turned out, Wednesday would be a public holiday as well. How many of y’all had a two-day workweek?

Back to Saving Equipment

This past Thursday and Friday, Richard and I managed to fix several more pieces of equipment. At Kibilizi, we finally finished setting up three infant incubators which have never been used. Additionally, we were tasked with the duty of figuring out how to use an ECG machine – its only issue was that no one in the hospital is trained on the machine. Richard and I were able to use the ECG; we hooked up the electrodes and confirmed that it recorded an accurate heart rate. However, further staff training will be required if the machine is to be used clinically.

How To Be Stared At In Rwanda:

1. do literally anything as a foreigner

2. not wearing a shirt awards x30 multiplier

At Kabutare, we worked on a couple more infant incubators. Whenever I visit the neonatology department, it is common for me to observe multiple babies being cared for within the same incubator or infant warmer. This overcrowding is especially common in the developing world because of a lack of working supplies coupled with high rates of premature birth. Thus, working on neonatology equipment has been my favorite job so far – the impact that Richard and I are able to make is obvious. We set up a never-been-used incubator, and we were also able to identify a burned-out heating source in different incubator. Richard and I will hopefully be able to add the second incubator to our “fixed” list, pending a replacement part.

Regarding certain equipment, I have realized that my efforts in the hospitals must extend beyond repair. Sometimes, donated equipment cannot be used because it needs to be calibrated or programmed first. Often, the instructions for these tasks are in English, and the hospital staff doesn’t have the time to figure out how to read them. Richard and I have encountered this dilemma with a particular model of infant incubator. We have since realized that even after equipment set-up, Richard and I are responsible for training the nurses on how to use the equipment. This has been a rewarding experience as well; the nurses are always very eager to learn how to use new devices.

Luckily, infant incubators don't require
 us to take off our shirts. Yet.

On Monday, Richard and I hit the ground running. At Kabutare, we were able to fix/reprogram the only ultrasound machine in the hospital. After our magic touch, the machine is now able to estimate gestational age of the fetus based on specific measurements. The doctor whom we met, Sad, was very happy². He took some pictures with us.

The fetus on the ultrasound screen actually
does not belong to any of us... believe it or not.

Kamembe

This weekend, I decided to visit Lake Kivu again – in a different town. Kamembe is also a very laidback town; my friends and I visited some hot springs³ and spent time catching up with each other. We even made grilled cheese sandwiches!!! Getting there was another story... when was the last time your bus driver had to stop in the middle of the road for a pack of monkeys?

Am I in Africa? The answer is a resounding "yes".

Fun fact: my friends who live in Kamembe are the proud owners of a live chicken. It was the result of a grocery list misunderstanding… His name is Joey.

Sav probably would have scared Joey away,
but he was picked up and handed to her. 

What a fowl glare.^4,5,6,7

At the hot springs, I finally got to hammock! I’ve been carrying around my hammock everywhere I go in Africa, and it finally paid off.

I posted this on Instagram. Go like it.
(Also, shout-out to Gaby. She hung the hammock.)

Spades?

Well. We haven’t played Spades since my last post. Sorry to disappoint. But – on the bright side – my team is still winning :]

I’ll Be Back

That’s it for this one! Admittedly it was a shorter post, but I think it was a pretty relaxed week. As always, please feel free to message me if you want to talk more! I can’t wait to finish out this trip strong.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)⁸

-Bryan

¹ I messed up. I thought July 4^th was Rwandan Independence Day, but it’s actually Liberation Day. My Instagram caption is a lie.

² I cannot stop laughing over this sentence. You can’t make this stuff up.

³ Hot is an understatement. Pretty sure the water was actually boiling. In light of Pokémon Go – there were probably fire Pokémon here.

⁴ Alternate caption: “Don’t make me go Cluck Norris on you.”

⁵ Alternate caption: “You’re ruffling my feathers.”

⁶ Alternate caption: “This won’t fly.”

⁷ Alternate caption: “Please cock-a-doodle-don’t.”

⁸ Big shout-out to my brother, Aaron, for writing down a bunch of bible verses on index cards for me to keep in my wallet during my trip. Most of these verses have been ones that he wrote down for me.

Butare-mazing

Howdy!

These have been an eventful past couple of days. I’ve been adjusting to life in Butare so I haven’t had much time to blog. Also, I couldn’t blog without some funny picture material… here we go!

But first, it's Butare. Boo tar ray. The title makes sense.

Muhima Hospital

Last Thursday, I was among a small group of EWH students who visited this hospital in Kigali. This was the smallest hospital we visited, and it did not own much equipment. That being said, we were shown the maintenance workshop (a shed) and the several pieces of broken equipment it contained. There were several lights, patient monitors, and a lot of infant incubators.

The maintenance office. Everyone prefers the outdoors here anyway...

Story time:

Our workstation was located right beside the morgue. While we were working, a car pulled up to the morgue and bodies were moved from the building into the vehicle. I noticed that several very small caskets were among the transported. I presume these caskets held babies, and witnessing this was a morbid reminder that healthcare in developing countries is not at all what most of us are used to in America. I do not know if the incubators we were working on could have helped, but nevertheless, the importance of a technician’s work in Rwanda is more significant than I could have imagined.

On a lighter note, our group was able to fix multiple incubators, Richard and I fixed a couple lights and a suction machine, and Savannah and Grace found a dead (very dead) rat!!

Richard and I with our friend, Joseph.
What you can't see is the other side of this light. It's 90% tape.

I'm trying to look like I've done this before.

If you look closely, you'll find our late rodent friend.
Not Jeff. Look closer.

Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village

On Saturday, our EWH team volunteered at this village by building heart rate monitors with the kids. This village was home to some of the “most vulnerable” youth in Rwanda, and the atmosphere it creates is quite incredible. I encourage you to read more about it here: asyv.org

The students were extremely kind and enthusiastic, and many of them became my Facebook friends :]

Obligatory "make a stranger Gig 'Em" picture

Moving

Again! Much farther this time, though. This past weekend marked the end of our first month and the end of classes. To kick off the second month, all of the participants were paired off and sent to various cities around Rwanda. Richard and I were sent to the great town of Butare. If you're reading this Claudine, I'd like to thank you and your family again for being amazing hosts during my first month.

My roommates, host family, and I - minus Augustin.
Miss y'all already!

Butare is a much calmer town than Kigali. It contains the University of Rwanda, and is thus very similar to a “college town” back in America. The people are young, the restaurants are amazing, and everything is much cheaper. I am eating better than I ever could have imagined, and I love the town so far! In fact, just today I ate a hot dog and drank a mocha latte. What is ethnic food?

We are staying in Mere De Verbe Catholic Center. It is a really nice place (running water for showers¹, soft beds, and free breakfast)! The breakfasts are amazing; usually we have bread, coffee, milk, omelets, and a plate of passionfruit and oranges. If you didn’t know, I like food.

Kibilizi Hospital

During our month in Butare, Richard and I will be working in hospitals every weekday. We were lucky enough to be assigned to two different hospitals: Kibilizi (M, T, TH) and Kabutare (W, F).

Kibilizi is a small hospital with some amazing staff. The biomedical equipment technician (BMET) is named Vincent, and he helps us out every day. I will introduce our other new friends as necessary. We’ve only worked at Kibilizi for three days, but Richard and I have already managed to repair:

·         Infant Incubators (x3)

·         Ultrasound

·         Anesthesia Ventilator

·         Dental Chair (so many issues)

Side note – if anyone² wants to know about my equipment repairs in more technical detail, just let me know! I would be more than happy to share.

Kibilizi Hospital.
I have 34 of these pictures on my phone from trying to catch
the flag while it was blowing in the wind. Appreciate it.

Kibilizi Ambulance.
Safaris? Saving lives? Get you a vehicle that can do both.

Emile (“eh meal”) is the anesthetist at Kibilizi whom³ Richard and I met while repairing his ventilator. He speaks very good English, and he was very excited to work with us. In fact, we exchanged contact information, and he has invited to come watch his surgeries⁴ whenever we are working.

Working Anesthesia Ventilator.
The Crocs were for sanitation. Also manliness.

Now for the dental chair. Diana is the dentist. She’s great. Her dental chair is not great. When Richard and I arrived on Day 1, the issues were numerous:

·         The chair movement controls were broken – Diana was unable to properly position her patients while she was working.

·         The chair’s sink did not work – when the appropriate buttons were pressed, no water flowed out of the sink spout.

·         The suction tools did not suck⁵ – the suction motor never turned on.

·         The compressed air was not strong enough – self explanatory.

·         The light was covered with a very thick layer of dirt – this probably doesn’t deserve to make the list of issues, but I wanted 5 bullet points.

I am happy to report that Richard and I are awesome and we fixed everything. Whoop. The repairs were as follows:

·         We found that the connection was ripped out of the motor. We re-soldered the wires back into a plug and tied it in place so it would not be torn out.

·         We reprogrammed the chair buttons (this took extensive instruction-manual-reading)

·         We found more wires ripped from a circuit board. These didn’t require soldering though.

·         We tightened an internal connection between a tube and the chair instruments.

·         We… cleaned it.

Diana is very happy.

Vincent and I.
Ironic how a dental chair can make you
want to pull your teeth out.

While Richard and I have had a successful week, there is much more to accomplish in this hospital. The constant line of patients (aka people who benefit from our work) outside Diana’s office is extremely rewarding and motivation for us to continue our efforts.

Kabutare Hospital

Compared to Kibilizi, Kabutare is much bigger and has much more medical equipment. Richard and I have only worked here for a day, but the opportunities are numerous. The BMET at Kabutare is John, and he remembers the EWH participants from last year (shout-out to OTGC Maddy) which is nice. John is really cool, and he loves to take pictures with us. We spent most of our day touring the hospital, but we still had time to fix an oxygen concentrator and a surgical lamp!

John and I.
This picture made the blog because it makes my arm
look big and like I have muscles.

An interesting note about this hospital: almost everyone speaks French??? Thankfully, Richard is the best ever and can speak French pretty well. I mostly sit around while Richard handles all the translating, but my hand-gesture communication is becoming stellar.

Not much else to say here, except that I am excited about the opportunities at Kabutare, and y’all should expect updates on all the equipment we repair!

An Inspirational Note

Toward the end of my stay in Kigali, I became acquainted with the guard who would open the campus gate for me in the morning. His name is Gallican. He spoke English pretty well, and would wait for my roommates and I to walk through the gate so he could talk to us for a while. When he found out we were leaving, he was sad. One of the last conversations I had with Gallican involved him telling me about his life. He explained to me that “life is not good for a young person suffering from poverty” whom⁶ he identified as. I wrote down this next quote on my phone as I was walking away:

“I stay here from morning until evening because I am patient. I have patience and I wait because I have a job and an objective to complete.”

I’ve noticed that the African work ethic is very strong, and I think this quote is evidence of that and applicable to my own life. So, stay in school kids. Set goals for yourself and stay patient and determined until you succeed⁷.

Spades Update

Refer to the last blog post if you don’t know what this is…

G&P - 2378

B&S - 3015

Told y’all a comeback was in the makin’.

Peter, Gaby, Sav, and I - the Spades Squad.
Gaby and Savannah have to read my blog now
because I included a picture of them.

The Last Paragraph

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted! I am doing well, and this trip is more incredible that I could’ve hoped. As always, feel free to message me over the internet. Friday, Monday, and Tuesday are actually all public holidays here in Rwanda, so I plan to travel this weekend! Undoubtedly, I’ll have more adventures and equipment repairs to update y’all on next week. ‘Till next time!

“By definition, Faith is not talking or thinking about or even celebrating god’s truth. It is the process of adapting your behavior, your decisions, and ultimately, your whole lifestyle so that it accords with what god has asked you to do – without needing to see the evidence that it will all work out in the end.” – my friend Kelly’s bible study⁸

-Bryan

¹Also, it’s a precisely-measured -680 degrees Celsius.

²Future employers? Please? I have a nice resume?

³Yes, that is the correct usage of “whom.”

⁴Mom, I’ll use gloves even though I don’t touch anything…

⁵So they did suck… because they didn’t… they sucked by not sucking. But now they do suck.

⁶I’m much less confident on this one.

⁷Insert Shia Lebouf’s “Just Do It.”

⁸Not the best MLA-citation, but y’all should ask Kelly for more information!