A trip to Rwanda was not high on Leif Penrose’s travel agenda until he became aware of a call for help from someone he had never met.  Dr. Terry Konn, a physician in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital and largest city, had emailed technology websites seeking volunteers to teach ultrasound technology to medical personnel there.

An instructor of ultrasound programs at Coosa Valley Technical College in Rome, Penrose would be among those to accept Dr. Konn’s invitation to travel to the strife-worn country. When he left Kigali after having worked with local medical staff, as well as local residents needing medical services, he would feel a deepsense of accomplishment. From time to time, he noted, he would remind himself that as “a single cog in a huge machine … I could impact only my immediate sphere of influence, and that I needed to let the rest go.”

Throughout May and June, the CVTC instructor worked with Dr. Konn and other volunteers teaching ultrasound to students, faculty and staff at the Kigali Health Institute. Upon his arrival, clearly seeing Rwanda’s struggles to rebuild, Penrose was told that some of the country’s hospitals had ultrasound equipment, but that no one knew how to use it. In fact, in some of the hospitals he visited, the equipment sat unboxed.The level of understanding about how the equipment was used varied dramatically from facility to facility.

Established in 1996 through Rwanda’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, the institute was created to train health care workers after the genocide in 1994 that devastated the country. The civil war wiped out many of the country’s professionals, including those in medical care. Many individuals now holding these jobs, especially in heath care, are from other African countries under contract with the government.

Penrose believes he was most productive when visiting district hospitals, where he made direct contact with general practitioners caring for 8-9 million Rwandan citizens. The physicians realize they are underequipped and undertrained, he explains, but they are “dedicated and intelligent people – Rwanda’s best.”

CVTC was “really accommodating,” says Penrose, who explains that college officials agreed that he could reschedule his classes, viewing his time in Rwanda as an excellent staff development opportunity. His teaching colleagues gladly offered to oversee his classes while he was away. The CVTC foundation picked up the cost of his plane ticket, which has been reimbursed by the Kigali Health Institute. Additionally, the foundation paid for the shipping of all donated items to Africa, discussed in detail on Penrose’s website, http://kigalisonography.blogspot.com/.

One of the major highlights of his trip?  Penrose answers, “Fixing the x-ray processor at CHK Hospital. For three months medical staff had been drying their radiographs on sheets placed outdoors in the sun. I was able to scavenge parts from other machines and buy motors and blowers from other sources around Kigali to get their processor to work.”

One of his major hurdles of his stay in the country was simply the difference in the cultures - a time and space issue. When a training session, visit or meeting were scheduled to occur, they might actually happen hours later than planned. As for personal space, this concept and reality were all but non-existent in Rwanda. Says Penrose, “I am now much more comfortable with a smaller … personal space with all those around me.”

To learn more about Leif Penrose and his experiences in Africa, visit http://kigalisonography.blogspot.com/.