Day 1 Unpacking

This post is by Suzanne Momber, Pediatric nurse, Rwanda.

Once all the equipment had been cleared by customs officials (Side note: Mustaffa’s brother lives in Perth!!) we were able to assist Wendy (ICU team leader) and Jen (Theatre team leader) with the unpacking and putting everything into some semblance of order.

There are countless numbers of boxes all numbered with directions for ICU or Theatre. “Snuggles”, whatever they are (maybe nappies?!) were not to be found in as listed in Box 17 but we did find in the final unopened box of our team T-Shirts and Caps! Thanks Russell!

We were sustained by lunch provided by the hospital – a feast of spaghetti, beans, goat stew, fish and an unusual banana/capsicum/tomato dish which was delicious, plus potato of course. Finished up with a choice of fruit – bananas, tamarillo or passionfruit.

Mid afternoon, Cisco, Steve, Ele, Inga and I tried out the new addition to the hospital – the cafe – Dan, in charge of the cafe tested out his range of coffee bean brews as well as his english. Much better than our kinyarwanda! Will try the “Dido Fido” ice cream another time.

Team meeting late afternoon was a great opportunity to meet most of the team. Everyone is very friendly and keen to get on with the work.