A Timeline of DPMI Rwanda
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DPMI as a Rwandan
Naome Nyirahabimana is a passionate 27 year old research assistant working at Partners in Health since 2014. She has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Statistics and speaks 3 languages (English, Kinyarwanda and French). Originally from the Nyanza District, just 2 hours south of Kigali, Naome enjoys singing, fashion and giving back to Rwanda.
“Working for PIH, I really enjoy my job and the mission of helping the poor. I always like to help others. I have been in a rural area where I get in touch with different kids who were not able to go to school because their parents did not have enough money to pay for school fees, all these events shaped my mind.”
While getting to know Naome, the care and empathy is evident in her eyes, and through her commitment at the DPMI training. She continued by sharing a story about her dear friend, “My friend Solange, we went together to primary school, she dropped out in 3rd grade of primary school so all she knows is reading and writing and when she was 17, she got pregnant from a 19 year old boy and he left to Kigali.”
She continued to describe the struggles of her friend, who gave birth a second time; the profound challenges of having to raise these children with her mom who had a toddler as well. But what enrolled me the most, was when she described the look in Solange’s eyes when Naome returns home, the look of “today I won’t have to worry about getting food or milk to my kids because Naome will treat me to a meal or buy me some potatoes.” She further expressed how some women go days without food and even resort to prostitution just to put milk on the table.
“Through DPMI, I got to analyze and understand how I can provide help and ways to approach those challenges,” as she refers to young girls raising children, “I get to understand the struggles of behavior change, development and innovations. I know now someone to call on to connect them to different people what to do and who can teach them vocational education. So I am really thankful to those who provided me with this training and thorough it I think I will help more those young ladies and kids who are going through different poverty life.”
“Normally I go to the place where I grew up, to have discussions with these ladies who didn’t go to school, who don’t understand different government decisions, they don’t know how to make money nor how to use their resources. They don’t know how to manage the very little they have, but they should,” as she continues to articulate how someday she would like to reach out to this population because DPMI has allowed her to understand how to build a project, strategize and market it.
As Naome grabs my hand to go explore, my heart fills with warmth as she tells me with her adorable Rwandan accent that I am her best friend at DPMI. We smile because a new friendship has blossomed for us.
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Dr. Alex
The more I learn about Partners in Health, the more I gravitate, admire and learn from them. Their philosophy is represented in the name itself: partnership, collaboration and relationships. Their motto is “We go. We make house calls. We build health systems. We stay” where “We make long term commitments to the communities we serve,” notice the words ‘serve’… not ‘help’ nor ‘fix.’
While many organizations are motivated by publishing their research, getting funding or producing fancy and colorful graphs, PIH is motivated by improving quality equitable service delivery because every life matters. They begin by working in the most remote locations in partnership with the Ministry of Health. But this blog entry is not about its founders, or how it’s been in Rwanda for 10 years now, or how their staff is primarily built by local people, or how they have implemented the first University of Global Health Equity in rural areas for medical students and masters students…although I would like to take this opportunity to extend a massive THANK YOU to those who have built such a committed, beautifully orchestrated and sustainable system. This blog entry is about a man named Alex.
During class one day, Alex came to speak to us for a brief 30 minutes about PIH and this is when I felt invigorating tingles circulate my spirit: I was rekindled with Hope. Hope towards this complicated and messy world.
This man is Dr. Alex Coutinho, the man that emanated humility, wisdom and positivity. The man that sits with all of his colleagues during lunch, his colleagues that refer to him as a “cool guy.” A man from Uganda. And the man that prefers to be addressed by Alex. He kind of resembles James Earl Jones in his mannerisms. He practiced medicine for many years and has been in Global Health for the last 16 years primarily focusing on HIV. His advice to us students was that we cannot parashoot into Africa and find solutions. We must first understand population desires and as professionals working in development, we need to stop telling and begin by asking the community what it needs/wants. He then continued with reinstating confidence in ourselves by being aware and learning from our mistakes, because failure is a step to success. He said Poverty is a disease; if the fundamentals are not there, there exists health issues. He used the example of treating a child for diarrhea, but what use is this when they return to a home that has no clean water and no knowledge of hygiene? Rather than focus on treatment, invest and work towards prevention. Around the world, large populations that are utilized properly has many advantages, but big populations with insufficient resources has many disadvantages. This is where the collaborative effort is highlighted; the cooperation, friendships and teamwork can be used to serve the developing communities.
The environment of being in Rwanda, the DPMI training, being amongst the beautiful people, its history, and its culture, combined with Alex’s speech responded to my calling. I am so relieved and grateful to see that someone so kind, so experienced and so trusted as the executive director of PIH in Rwanda and influencing other avenues around the world. Witnessing this and more has opened my heart to feel more courageous and hopeful towards the field of Global Health and Development. Murakoze.