Back to Rwanda; Team Heart mission # 4

As i sit with my morning coffee and watch the snow fall i get excited at the prospects of leaving it all behind and joining my friends in Rwanda. This is my forth trip with Team Heart and i am realizing I am a veteran of this mission, not only because i have been part of each trip but because i feel a calmness, certainty of our work. I was surprised how quickly i was ready and packed; a backpack of clothes for 18 days; a 50 lb trunk of " gifts" and medical "stuff" for the many i know and care for. Even though this seems like i am traveling " light" it is still more than the vast majority of this country; who many could carry their life's belonging on their backs.

I must say i am so proud of Ceeya and Leslie, our co leaders in this project. They have shown a rare calmness during all of the airline weather cancelations and have always felt we could start on time with our surgery. I feel we are becoming a well oiled machine and i expects the process to go smoothly. Our cardiologist, Pat Come and resident Tafeak ( sorry about the spelling Tafeak) are already in Rwanda doing workups on our pre screened canadates for valve replacement surgery. Our supplies have arrived and the team that left on wednesday will organize them so we can start surgery asap. We will operate for one week and we will keep you posted on our progress.

A lot of colleagues and friends ask me " why do you keep doing this? Don't you have to pay for your flight and use vacation time?" Yes, this is true and sometimes i ask the same questions but something changed in me when i went over with Team Heart in 2008. I understood how blessed i am to have been born into a society of prosperity; poverty is cruel and unfair and i felt i have a moral obligation to give back; to the least of our brothers in Africa. Hope and gratitude are pure emotions in Rwanda; you can feel it in their handshakes, their eyes and their smiles. I am happy to go back and excited to see my friends and former patients well and thriving. I am ready to work but it never seems like work......keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Susan