In 2008, Skagit Rotary began an international project in Rwanda. Through the extraordinary efforts of Rotarian Bruce Lisser, the fundraising efforts of Skagit Rotary, and a matching District 5050 grant, we were able to fund the creation of a health outpost in rural Rwanda. It was our hope to provide healthcare for the Gashanda region so that people wouldn't have to walk over 60 miles to the nearest health outpost. The project, which began with Bruce's heart to serve and a small sum of money, has blossomed into an expanding health outpost serving a large portion of the population. We recently received a letter detailing some of the expansion of the project. Here are some of the outstanding excerpts:
In 2008, Skagit Rotary began an international project in Rwanda. Through the extraordinary efforts of Rotarian Bruce Lisser, the fundraising efforts of Skagit Rotary, and a matching District 5050 grant, we were able to fund the creation of a health outpost in rural Rwanda. It was our hope to provide healthcare for the Gashanda region so that people wouldn't have to walk over 60 miles to the nearest health outpost. The project, which began with Bruce's heart to serve and a small sum of money, has blossomed into an expanding health outpost serving a large portion of the population. We recently received a letter detailing some of the expansion of the project. Here are some of the outstanding excerpts:
 

1)  People from many sectors come to the Gashanda Health Post, not just those from the surrounding area.  It's located in a great place and it has been viewed by the government as one of their most successful health facilities in Ngoma District.

 

2) After a government audit that identified "mismanagement of funds" by the Anglican church, the facility became under control of the district and sector governments.

 

3)  Two years ago, a new maternity building was built just to left of the original health post.  It's large and also contains a big reception/registration area (it can hold over 60 people).  Although the labor/delivery equipment has not arrived yet, the plan is for this to become the primary birthing center for a four-sector area.

 

4)  This past year, a very large clinic expansion was built to the back/right of the original health post.  This building is now being filled by a laboratory, the health insurance office, pharmacy, and a number of patient consultation rooms.

 

It is a wonderful health complex that is now transitioning from a government  "health post" to a "health center".  Whenever we go to visit, it is very busy...and the people say that they get very good care there...the reason why people from far away walk all the way to this facility.  

 

For the past five years, HFC has had a solar study lamp project at the primary school across the road from the Gashanda clinic.  This was the result of our investigation into why so few Gashanda-area students were going to secondary school.  A major factor was that they scored poorly on their national exams and were therefore not qualified to go on.  Why poor scores?  Their reading competencies were very low.  Why so low? They spent little time reading -- no schoolbooks, no library, and no time to read. We found that most students would like to read more but that the only time they had to read was after dinner when it was dark -- fetching water from a source a few miles away, gathering firewood, helping in the fields, watching younger kids, and tending the family cow or goats gave them no time to read during daytime hours.  A few families could afford kerosene so the kids could read at night but the health impact (eyes and lungs) of kerosene made this a bad alternative.  So, we have been distributing solar study lamps to Primary 5 & 6 students for the past five years and have seen significant improvement in reading scores in their classes and on national exams.  Each student has to "earn" their lamp by planting, shading, fertilizing, watering and weeding their tree in the "school orchard" we established next to the school.  They can also checkout books (300 from HFC in collaboration with Trees for Life) that are in the new school library.  We wouldn't be working with that school had you not funded the Gashanda clinic.