Final week in Africa

Hello everyone!

Last Monday, I spent the day with the team from Gardens for Health. GH is a small non-profit that operates a 5 acre farm and nutrition program outside of Kigali. I met the country director Solomon at a conference last year and was thrilled to be able to see their work during this trip. The farm is a beautiful and productive testing ground for their work improving nutrition and preventing malnutrition in the communities they serve. On the farm they grow a variety of crops including mushrooms, fruit trees, amaranth, kale, sweet potato and corn. They share cuttings and seeds with the families they work with and also sell some of their produce to local hotels and restaurants for income. They also use the farm to test agricultural techniques to improve crop yield during the dry season.

In the community, GH staff partner with community health workers to enroll families at risk for malnutrition in a multi-week course on nutrition, cooking practices, healthy pregnancy, and sanitation and hygiene. GH created the One Pot, One Hour initiative which has been adopted by the Rwandan Ministry of Health. This is an intervention which teaches families how to make a nutritious, balanced and low cost meal using one cooking pot and time saving cooking techniques. I accompanied the GH staff on home visits with women who recently graduated from the course. One mother discussed how she learned the importance of prenatal care through the course and noticed a difference in both her health and her second child's health as a result of receiving more frequent care during her pregnancy. Another mother proudly showed off her chunky, happy infant and described the nutritional improvements she has made for her family as a result of her enrollment in the program.

Local people are hired and trained to run activities on the farm. These folks are tending to the fruit tree nursery.

The community table on the farm where the team shares a delicious meal together everyday.

GH also provides childcare for staff and local workers on the farm. The older kids were eager to impress us with their multiplication knowledge!


I spent Tuesday and Wednesday with Partners in Health. PIH's work in Rwanda has been supported for many years by CFP and it was a such a privilege to finally be able to see the work on the ground. I visited two sites that PIH covers in coordination with the Ministry of Health and was so impressed by PIH's commitment to excellence in healthcare, flexibility and ingenuity.  Far up into the Rwandan hills, PIH works with the government to run a state of the art hospital and cancer treatment center (one of the only cancer care centers in the country). They are also building a graduate school that will train Rwanda's next generation of doctors and public health professionals. At the community level, PIH trains and supports a cadre of community health workers who reach thousands of families each year providing basic preventative and curative care, education and support. I was especially taken with the mental health support that CHWs have been trained to provide. We went on a home visit with one CHW who has been working with a mother for many years who suffered significant trauma after her husband was killed in the genocide. Building a trusting relationship, this CHW was eventually able to get this woman to see a counselor and begin a course of treatment for depression. She talked about how she went from not speaking or being able to care for her six children, to being productive and able to integrate back into the community again as a result of the CHWs intervention. 

Entrance to Butaro Hospital

The PIH team, CHW and mom that he has been supporting towards greater mental health.

On Thursday I flew to the the western edge of Rwanda to visit with Heartland Alliance International's mental health team working in Buvavu, DRC. CFP has been supporting the Fikra Timamu ("of sound mind") program since 2012 and this was the first time we have been able to visit this amazing group of mental health clinicians. I crossed the chaotic border of Rwanda into DRC and spent the next two days with the team in the field. The South Kivu region of DRC has a long history of civil war, gender based violence, and trauma from the brutal and exploitative gold and coltan mining industry. The Fikra Timamu program is designed to address this trauma at the community level by providing counseling and linkage to care at hospitals and local health centers. The team took me to visit a local health center and meet with several government health officials that they partner with.

The DRC health system is in much worse shape than anything I saw in Uganda or Rwanda. Families who cannot pay for their child's care for instance, are not allowed to leave the facility until they settle the bill. At the health center we visited, there were at least half a dozen small children living there waiting to be released. Basic medication is often not available and advanced care is difficult to come by.  Sexual violence and its tragic results are very common. A young girl of about 15 was resting in the maternity ward at the clinic having just given birth to a  tiny infant. She had come in complaining of abdominal pain not realizing that she was pregnant and in labor. She had most likely been the victim of a rape. No family was present to support her. It is in these conditions that the HAI psychologists work and provide a comfort to those who would otherwise have no access to mental health care. As a social worker myself, I was moved beyond words by this amazing team of professionals and the work they are able to do in such challenging circumstances. I am so deeply proud to play a small part in supporting their efforts. Bukavu was also the most beautiful part of Africa that I saw on this trip. Lake Kivu at sunset is astonishing.


The HAI team. So joyful and welcoming to me!