Hello everyone! It has been a few months since our last update and we have a lot to catch you up on! First things first for those that have not heard, we have big news to share: We are expecting baby Sevigny April 5! Olivia is now 17 weeks pregnant, and besides craving US food like Chick-fil-A and pickles more than ever, she is doing great! Since there is no obstetrician here at Kibogora, we have been driving to Kigali for appointments. However, we are thankful there are midwives and ultrasound machines here at Kibogora for small check ups in between our Kigali visits. In about 3 weeks, we will go back for the 20 week anatomy scan. We are praising God for a healthy pregnancy so far and praying it will continue. It is crazy to think that when we get home we will have only 12 weeks until the baby arrives!
Apart from that, not much has changed for us here at Kibogora. We currently have some surgeons, a nurse and a technician visiting from Norway. Last weekend we took them to Top View restaurant along with Dr. Ronald, the general surgeon, and his wife Cissy. We had a great time, it has been nice to have company here!
Olivia continues to work in the NICU. One of her favorite things about working there is seeing the babies come in for follow up appointments on Wednesdays. Since it is toward the end of the year, she now sees the babies from her first few weeks coming back as 7-9 month olds. It has been so rewarding for her to see them flourishing and growing, and it’s a really great way for the nurses to see the lasting impact they're making on these families and kids. Over the summer with all the visitors, we got a lot of baby clothes donated. Olivia and I have put together the gifts for the NICU to leave with the nurses here to hand out at these follow up appointments. This is a great way for the nurses to encourage families to bring their baby back for a follow up-- they get a gift at the first visit (at 2 weeks-1month old) and the last visit (at 9 months-1 year old). One hospitalized baby recently needed surgery for pyloric stenosis. He was losing weight quickly and becoming dehydrated, and he was too small for surgery here, weighing only 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs). The mother was not able to afford a transfer to another hospital for this surgery. Thankfully, we have a wonderful social worker at Kibogora and the social services program was able to provide funds for this mom to take the baby for this simple life saving surgery. Praise God! There has been a lull the past month in NICU admissions, which has felt very strange after the busy summer! The past month there have been only 9-18 babies a week and NICU staffing has been adequate. Not a bad thing though, it hopefully means babies are being delivered well and staying healthy!
I have found myself working alongside our good friend Ephaste who is the National Director in Rwanda for International Childcare Ministries (ICCM). ICCM works to support children in need, helping to fund the child’s education, food, and other essential things. I have been working with Ephaste to develop something called Connected Communities in which US communities partner with Rwandan communities in a truly special relationship. Of course, any sponsorship is a blessing, but these communities allow the impact to be amplified across a community rather than one child at a time. These communities can range from a small group of friends to an entire church that helps sponsor almost 200 children. Connected communities can even have visitors from both sides and get frequent updates/photos from local pastors and leaders about how each side is doing. If this is something that you think you or your church or small group or friend group may have interest in, I would love to get in contact and talk more about it! Many of these communities are in rural areas where life can be difficult. Rwanda is a truly amazing country and while there are parts like Kigali that are very modern, there are also many places that have so much need.
As the year has started to wind down, we are also planning our return back to the US! We are planning to leave Rwanda around December and visit Europe (for our “babymoon”) before getting back at the beginning of January. Looking back at this past year, we are amazed at the amazing impact Kibogora Hospital continually makes on this community and region. And we can’t help but wonder how much more it will accomplish with the new Operating Theaters & Maternity Wards being finished! Maternity still needs to be fully funded, and construction may have to pause after the current construction phase if the rest of the funding isn't raised. Here is the link if you would like to help. Please be sure to identify your donation as going toward "Kibogora Maternity Ward" when contributing. If you have any questions/problems please let us know and we can help!
The monkeys at Kumbya helped announce our pregnancy- with the help of a big bunch of bananas :) We can't wait to meet our own little monkey!
Meeting with the Free Methodist Rwanda pastors and bishop
Current construction phase of the maternity building. the first floor and second floor foundation are being worked on
Top View with the Norwegian surgeons, Dr Ronald, and Cissy.