REPORT OF THE KIBIMBA HOSPITAL TRIP
By David Kellum
Mae and I left Oklahoma City on January 19th for Burundi. The first change of our trip came in Oklahoma City when they changed our flight. The Atlanta plane was delayed and we would miss our flight to Amsterdam so they sent us to Memphis. As soon as we arrived there we were escorted to our gate where the agent took care of our boarding pass and taken to the airplane.
We arrived in Bujumbura on Saturday and were met by several people from the hospital and the church. At Bujumbura airport you can no longer go inside the building to meet people without special permission. People wait in the parking lot that is across the street from the airport building. With the position Modeste holds in government she has security and protocol people accompanying her which gives her and her party permission to enter the building.
The hospital had purchased a Honda CRX for their guests to drive. It was just right for 4 people. They brought it to Bujumbura so we had transportation while we were there. We stayed in Bujumbura until Monday and then traveled to Magarama guest house in Gitega. On our way to Gitega we stopped at the hospital and took a tour of the grounds. We saw the new Pediatric, Maternity, Restaurant, Chapel, Morgue, Family planning and the Doctor’s buildings. In the doctors building there are offices for the doctors, for the business manager and assistant director of the hospital. Dr. Elisee has his office and a room for consultations. Each two offices share a restroom. There were two rooms empty so they gave them to us to work in while we were there. One room we used as our office and the other one was where we put equipment and supplies. It is where they checked out the equipment.
We went to see the new guest house that is being built. They built a big brick wall on the north side where they are building the guest house and the nurse’s dormitory. At this time they have about 30 student nurses from the nursing school in Gitega being trained in maternity.
After our tour we continued on to Magarama guest house. Since the Hospital guest house was not ready they helped fix up a room for us at Magarama. They brought in the bed and bedding for us. It was very nice and comfortable. It even had a while satin bedspread on the bed.
We traveled from Gitega to Kibimba everyday but Sunday. We ate breakfast and dinner at Magarama with morning tea and lunch at Kibimba. We were very well fed!!
The hospital needed a bigger Central Supply for medicine so the government suggested that they turn the storeroom, that was built for the last container, into a Central Pharmacy. So they had to move everything out of the building and put it in the old container. That was one of the jobs that they wanted Doris and Debbie to work on when they arrived at Kibimba. In the meantime they had to make preparation for the container that was in Dar-es-Salaam. There was another building which is next to the Central Pharmacy that they were preparing for a storeroom. The cement floor was old and damp so they put down wooden bed slats to set boxes on.
We had information that the container was in Dar-es Salaam so we told Doris Ferguson and Debbie Brown to come if they could. They arrived January 30th and stayed two weeks. We kept waiting and watching for the arrival of the container. The road between Muyinga and Gitega has been paved so it is now the main road for truck traffic from Dar-es-Salaam to Bujumbura. We watched many container trucks go by the guest house at Gitega. One thing that bothered David was that a lot of the containers the doors were facing the cab of the truck and he knew that we would be in trouble unloading the container if we couldn’t open those doors. On Friday, January 28 we heard that the container truck was at the border and it arrived at Kibimba the next day. That day we went to Bujumbura and stopped to see the container. David was relieved to find the doors of the container faced the back of the trailorand a strip of metal was put on so the doors could not be opened. The container had traveled to Burundi without any locks on it
We brought Debbie and Doris up country on Monday and stopped by Kibimba. The hospital officials were working with the custom officials to get permission to open the containers, but they would not grant it until they were at Kibimba. On Tuesday, permission was given and the doors were opened. It was packed full, and things were in good condition. Just inside the door of the container was the washing machine. It was taken out and sent to the laundry room, because the day before the motor of the old machine and quit working. God answers prayer. The next two days were busy unpacking. Some of the incubators were moved from the container to maternity and had babies in them a few hours later. There was a lot of excitement as the warming beds, IV poles, blood pressure machines were moved to the Doctor’s building for inspection or to be assembled and then taken to the different areas of the hospital. The X-ray machine was moved into our office. The Lord provides before we knew it. We did not have a manual for the X-ray machine, but Dr. Elisee knew an X-ray technician in Gitega so he asked him to come and help them set up the X-ray machine. This guy looked at the machine and said I know it because I spent four years studying portable X-rays in Germany. He set up the machine and before he finished there was a pastor from Mutaho who came in with a broken arm. So they took the X-ray in the storeroom with him sitting on the floor and his arm on a chair. It worked great. He has agreed to train two people from Kibimba as X-ray technicians.
Doris and Debbie spent time going over machines and setting up equipment. Then they spent several days sorting things in the old container. The last two or three days they finally got into sorting stuff in the new container storeroom. Brad and Chelsea came for a couple of days and helped us sort things. After they left we continued with the sorting. We did what we could with our limited medical knowledge but there was a lot of work to be done when we left.
David was able to visit both the Sabunda and Musama clinics. The Sabunda Clinic is going very well but the Musama clinic is not doing well.
The day before Debbie and Doris left Burundi we met with Dr. Elisee and some of his staff. We were encouraged with the plans that they have for the hospital. They are a teaching hospital and have both student nurses and doctors on the compound. They require them to attend Chapel every morning and to keep to the same ethical standard that they have for the hospital workman. Dr. Elisee is very concerned about the chaplaincy program at the hospital. They do have two part time Chaplains at the hospital.
The container was put in the Southeast corner of the Hospital Compound near the Aid’s buildings. Before we left most of the layettes had been stored in the new container, along with other stuff. They plan to put a roof over it like they did the first container so it won’t be too hot inside of it.
We praise Dr. Elisee and his staff for what has been done and what they are doing at Kibimba. They have plans to enlarge the guest house, make a parking place for the hospital vehicles and build a building with private rooms. Kibimba hospital is known all over Burundi for the quality of care they give to the people so pray for them as they meet these medical needs.
