Building a Hospital

Blog April 4, 2008 Building a Hospital by Hand

Imagine building a hospital by hand. It would be an enormous task. But if you got all your friends together, plus everyone in your town to help and you and worked for years and years, you might be able to put a dent in the project. Now imagine the hospital is in rural Rwanda, that you have no resources but hand tools and human muscle, and that you are buying building materials as the funds trickle-in. That's the situation in Momeya.

One of the most amazing things to us was that the villagers are building the hospital themselves. They have been organized by a valiant, some might say Quixotic, former refugee-turned Lutheran pastor named John Rutsindintwarane. In 2004, the villagers knew nothing about construction or building funds. They knew nothing about public relations or political lobbying. Many couldn't tell a shovel from a level, or a trowel from an agenda. But they learned. All religions and factions learned to work together on this ecumenical-interfaith project.

They learned how to conduct public opinion surveys, run meetings, make presentations and most importantly, to hold public officials accountable. They learned to assess their oun resources, dissect problems into issues and define actions they could take to deal with the issues. Oh, and by the way, they learned how to wield pickaxe and chisel, and broke-up over 500 tons of stone by hand in order to prepare the foundation.

Our small contribution to the project provided fifteen sacks of Portland Cement, which Pastor John will haul to the site next week. It's a small contribution, but it makes us an ally in the project. The projet may take years to complete. But as the people of Mumeya recruit more alllies, they draw one step closer to the day when the doors to their new hospital will open.