Today I rounded on 38 patients on the pediatric service at
Kibuye Hope Hospital. Most have malaria or respiratory infections. A few have
meningitis or sickle cell disease. Six patients are premature infants in the
NICU and four patients have complications related to severe acute
malnutrition. Two kids have HIV and one
of those also has tuberculosis. As I evaluated these patients I also taught and
answered questions from the 7 medical students and 6 nursing students assigned
to the pediatric service. After rounds I consulted on a patient on the surgery
service and evaluated a rash with a Burundian doctor in outpatient. Then I
discussed the med student curriculum plan with the hospital medical director. This
afternoon I’ll follow up on patients (especially the 6 month old with severe
respiratory distress from bronchiolitis), evaluate new admissions in the
emergency room, and study Kirundi. I also plan to review a chapter on
pediatric tuberculosis so as to more effectively teach the students.
So all that’s a pretty normal workday – much the same as
most other days I’ve worked at Kibuye since January 2014. But… I also checked
the news and Twitter three times already today getting updates about the
current crisis in the country. I reviewed emails from the US embassy and from
the Serge Security team. There is a suitcase packed in the corner of my room
just in case we need to evacuate in a hurry. I hosted our weekly team prayer
time last night as we met once again to pray for Burundi and also to discuss
again the security situation and how we’re all doing with the current
uncertainty. I noticed a med student was distracted and not as on top of things
as usual and I wondered if that was because of fear or anxiety about the
political situation. I remember students’ stories from their childhood as they
grew up in a time of civil war and genocide. Some were orphaned; others fled as
refugees; all were significantly affected in one way or another. These harsh
realities and memories fuel the current pervasive fear in the country.
But it’s still all so hard to believe. I haven’t been to
Bujumbura since the protests began. I wasn’t there during the failed coup. I
haven’t heard the gunshots, grenades, teargas, or riots. I have helped host
missionary refugees who were in Bujumbura and came to stay with us for a time
before leaving the country. I’ve listened as they shared their stories of
holing up in their houses for days and weeks waiting for news as to whether
school would be open again for their kids or whether they could safely return to
work. And then I’ve waved goodbye to those missionary refugees as well as to
teammates who were planning to head to North America this summer anyways. I’ve adapted to having a smaller team here at Kibuye (currently 6 adults and 6
kids), though we certainly miss our friends. But it’s still quiet and peaceful and
“normal” here in rural Burundi. The construction work continues on the
Burundian physician housing and the hospital canteen. Heather and I still go
running and the countryside is still beautiful at the end of rainy season with
the usual sounds of birds chirping and kids playing. I still love living in my
home and welcoming friends for meals and social activities. And, as I said,
hospital work and medical student education still keep us all busy.
No one has any idea what’s next. I guess we never do, but
that seems more obvious these days. We are certainly not in control. We seek to
make wise decisions with limited information. And we hope to continue in our
work and lives here. But we hope for so much more for this country. We hope for
redemption and reconciliation. We hope Burundi will no longer be the hungriest
nation in the world or the second poorest. We hope there will be more than 3
doctors per 100,000 people. We hope that facing the risk of cholera in a
refugee camp won’t be a better option for Burundians than staying in their
homeland. We hope for justice instead of corruption and peace instead of fear.
We hope that God’s grace will transform this nation with us for His glory. Thanks
for daring to hope with us and to believe in God’s Sovereignty, goodness, and
love even (especially?) in hard times.
