My First Month In Ruli at The Ihangane Project

 

 


Occasionally I get to explore other communities outside Ruli

Nana Asare

Time does fly by indeed. Next week marks the conclusion of the first of my 3 months working with The Ihangane Project (TIP) in Ruli, Rwanda. The Ihangane Project’s mission is to empower local communities to develop sustainable, effective, and patient-centered health care delivery systems that holistically respond to the needs of vulnerable populations. They envision a world in which quality health care leads to healthy, inclusive, and empowered communities. Since its inception in 2012, TIP has been working with the Ruli District Hospital and its seven associated health centers to determine key strategies for improving health outcomes within their community.

Before I go any further, some introductions are surely due. My name is Nana Asare, I just completed the first half of my MPP degree at the Gerald R. Ford School for Public Policy. My interests in the intersection of policies, global health and international development is what motivated me to seek out this summer opportunity as a WDI fellow. My primary objective this summer is to support Ruli District Hospital (RDH) and The Ihangane Project through a strategic planning process by building upon work performed by the 2017 Ross Healthcare Delivery in Emerging Markets BA 685 team.

Ruli District Hospital

My experience didn’t start that well.  First, I wasn’t given the 90-day visa I applied for, which was a bit frustrating because Ruli is about 3 hours outside of Kigali and I had commute back and forth to solve this issue- it’s all sorted now. Second, I seem to have arrived at a time when the internet at the TIP office decided to stop working, thus I couldn’t access materials I needed to start brainstorming for my primary objectives- the internet is somewhat working now but everyone at the office claims it used to be better. Anyway, I expected the downside of this experience as this is my second time working in Rwanda and I’m glad to say everything is going smoothly now, I just needed a bit of Ihangane (patience).

Participating in "A walk to Remember"

On the positive side of things, Ruli is really beautiful. The town is in the hills so the skies are vivid blue every day and there are lots of stars at night. I live about a 5-minute walk from the TIP office which is on the premises of the RDH and I share a house with two Global Health Corps (GHC) fellows who work on different projects with TIP.  In general, I’ve been well received here and I am always reminded of the great work of previous WDI Fellows from the  University of Michigan so I definitely have a reputation to uphold. The Ruli community is very close knit so I am friends with pretty much everyone within proximity of the hospital. I had the opportunity to attend "A Walk to Remember" which is a day set aside throughout Rwanda to remember the 1994 Genocide. It was definitely heartwarming to be among the community members as they joined together to remember, unite and renew relationships and dedication towards one another.

View of the nursing school and administration blocks

I work with a very dedicated team that focuses on four aspects of healthcare delivery and management such as clinical care, community health, social enterprise and health systems management. The latter is where my I am mainly focused because the strategic planning process is to ensure that the RDH has a system that allows for the provision of quality health services while reducing costs, generating new revenue, as well as being financially stable and sustainable. It is definitely a lot of challenging work and I am learning a lot on a daily basis because I get to apply my previous experiences but through a different methodology that is specific to TIP. My next post will be more focused on the work I am doing and the additional objectives I’ve been assigned. Anyway I recently fine-tuned and completed the agenda created by the BA 685 team for the 2017 TIP retreat, which is next week. Wish me luck!