Todd McCormack's Blog
Thoughts from various PIH trips and adventures
When my son, Chris, was 4 years old one of his favorite activities was to stop at construction sites. Front-end loaders transfixed his imagination; he watched them literally move the earth for hours.
Construction never captured my imagination until I was standing on ridge in Northern Rwanda, watching PIH’s new district hospital being hatched. An army of workers, being choreographed by an invisible hand, reminded me of my first visit to Tokyo Station: everyone around me much more confident in their purpose and direction as I marveled at the shear scale what was in front of me—the number of people, the enormity of the project and the bustle of activity. This seemed a far cry from previous PIH site visits: viewing well stocked pharmacies, sparkling white tiles and hospitals filled with patients with renewed hope. In front of me, women balanced boulders on their heads which were wider than their slender frames; concrete mixers turned continuously; wheelbarrows, lined up like a freight train, delivered the fresh cement to masoners; stone walls emerged on top of previously poured foundations. About 50 yards away, teams of carpenters cut wood frame molds for the next set of concrete pylons to be poured. No one was standing around watching their co-workers; no water cooler here to discuss last night’s TV programming. The only non human labor was a solitary bulldozer leveling the ground for the next building which will be the largest hospital not just in the Burera District but in all of Rwanda—PIH’s most ambitious undertaking to date.
Peter Drobac helped me understand the magic of this invisible hand at work: a new dimension to PIH’s commitment to community-based healthcare. It was clear that this hospital would begin to pay dividends to the community well before it housed its first patient. Everyone working on the hospital was from the local community. We were able to double the average wages being earned by most workers in the area. With the 17% of Rwandans lucky enough to have job, the average day’s pay is still only $1. Being the general contractor and controlling the entire project (another PIH first) has allowed to not only double wages within our local economy but also build hospital complex for a considerable savings had we opted to hire a general contractor. More importantly, many of the workers are gain new skills and will receive certification in their given trades to allow them to find other work when the project is completed.
Of course, to accomplish this task we’ve reached out to a new set of partners: Michael Murphy, a student architect who has now been in Rwanda for 6 months. Having him in the field with us, allows us to source materials locally, further reducing costs while investing into the extended communities we are here to serve and to sustain.
Just beyond the construction site we walked past a series of workshops: welders worked on metal framed baskets to hold patients’ records at the foot of each hospital bed; curtains were being sewn, chairs and beds being built.
And, of course, Paul and Peter have even managed to find a local gardener to tend and build upon their first landscaping initiatives. Dozens of gardens are now budding up throughout the complex. Vivaan, who had literally staggered into the camp as the town’s drunk, has found a new sense of purpose. When my wife commented on the beauty of his garden he was tilling; he grabbed her hand and led her on his own little private tour to showcase his work.
As we made our way back to the current administration building/dormitory, we crossed paths with 30 soldiers from the Rwandan Defense Force. They had previously occupied the site upon which the hospital is being built but agreed to move their small base to accommodate their new neighbors. Moving military establishments to support healthcare for those Rwandans most in need is all you need to know about the commitment President Kagame’s government has to the people it’s not just defending but serving.
But, you have to know something more about the history of this region—and our own involvement in another sad chapter of American history—to fully appreciate the renewal that is taking place here.
On my way to Rwanda I read Philip Gourevitch’s haunting stories from Rwanda in his book We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families.
We were certainly informed and most of us now know something of the horror of the Rwandan genocide. But the story I was completely unfamiliar with was how western governments and multi-lateral organizations such as the UN aided, fed and re-armed those responsible for the genocide after they were finally toppled from power, continuing this horror show on a considerable scale for another 3 years.
It took our government almost 3 years before Bill Richardson, then US Ambassador to the UN, admitted publicly that the “failure of the international community to respond adequately to both the genocide and the subsequent mixing of genocidal killers with the legitimate refugee population in the former eastern Zaire only served to prolong the crisis.” Perhaps an even sadder fact Gourevitch highlights is that at the time we finally owned up to this fact and to what was over a billon dollars of mis-directed aid, the major media (from the New York Times, to The Washington Post and most wire services) who attended Richardson’s press conference didn’t even feel the story was worth covering.
Given this history, it is clear we owe a great debt to the Rwandan people. To contrast what Uganda’s President called the “mindless dispensation of Western charity” is the mindful process PIH—and its growing network of partners—are now undertaking, not just in Burera but throughout the country. PIH's network of financial backers, engagement with the local and national governments and the Rwandan people is a powerful tonic of which the entire PIH community can be proud.
Construction never captured my imagination until I was standing on ridge in Northern Rwanda, watching PIH’s new district hospital being hatched. An army of workers, being choreographed by an invisible hand, reminded me of my first visit to Tokyo Station: everyone around me much more confident in their purpose and direction as I marveled at the shear scale what was in front of me—the number of people, the enormity of the project and the bustle of activity. This seemed a far cry from previous PIH site visits: viewing well stocked pharmacies, sparkling white tiles and hospitals filled with patients with renewed hope. In front of me, women balanced boulders on their heads which were wider than their slender frames; concrete mixers turned continuously; wheelbarrows, lined up like a freight train, delivered the fresh cement to masoners; stone walls emerged on top of previously poured foundations. About 50 yards away, teams of carpenters cut wood frame molds for the next set of concrete pylons to be poured. No one was standing around watching their co-workers; no water cooler here to discuss last night’s TV programming. The only non human labor was a solitary bulldozer leveling the ground for the next building which will be the largest hospital not just in the Burera District but in all of Rwanda—PIH’s most ambitious undertaking to date.
Peter Drobac helped me understand the magic of this invisible hand at work: a new dimension to PIH’s commitment to community-based healthcare. It was clear that this hospital would begin to pay dividends to the community well before it housed its first patient. Everyone working on the hospital was from the local community. We were able to double the average wages being earned by most workers in the area. With the 17% of Rwandans lucky enough to have job, the average day’s pay is still only $1. Being the general contractor and controlling the entire project (another PIH first) has allowed to not only double wages within our local economy but also build hospital complex for a considerable savings had we opted to hire a general contractor. More importantly, many of the workers are gain new skills and will receive certification in their given trades to allow them to find other work when the project is completed.
Of course, to accomplish this task we’ve reached out to a new set of partners: Michael Murphy, a student architect who has now been in Rwanda for 6 months. Having him in the field with us, allows us to source materials locally, further reducing costs while investing into the extended communities we are here to serve and to sustain.
Just beyond the construction site we walked past a series of workshops: welders worked on metal framed baskets to hold patients’ records at the foot of each hospital bed; curtains were being sewn, chairs and beds being built.
And, of course, Paul and Peter have even managed to find a local gardener to tend and build upon their first landscaping initiatives. Dozens of gardens are now budding up throughout the complex. Vivaan, who had literally staggered into the camp as the town’s drunk, has found a new sense of purpose. When my wife commented on the beauty of his garden he was tilling; he grabbed her hand and led her on his own little private tour to showcase his work.
As we made our way back to the current administration building/dormitory, we crossed paths with 30 soldiers from the Rwandan Defense Force. They had previously occupied the site upon which the hospital is being built but agreed to move their small base to accommodate their new neighbors. Moving military establishments to support healthcare for those Rwandans most in need is all you need to know about the commitment President Kagame’s government has to the people it’s not just defending but serving.
But, you have to know something more about the history of this region—and our own involvement in another sad chapter of American history—to fully appreciate the renewal that is taking place here.
On my way to Rwanda I read Philip Gourevitch’s haunting stories from Rwanda in his book We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families.
We were certainly informed and most of us now know something of the horror of the Rwandan genocide. But the story I was completely unfamiliar with was how western governments and multi-lateral organizations such as the UN aided, fed and re-armed those responsible for the genocide after they were finally toppled from power, continuing this horror show on a considerable scale for another 3 years.
It took our government almost 3 years before Bill Richardson, then US Ambassador to the UN, admitted publicly that the “failure of the international community to respond adequately to both the genocide and the subsequent mixing of genocidal killers with the legitimate refugee population in the former eastern Zaire only served to prolong the crisis.” Perhaps an even sadder fact Gourevitch highlights is that at the time we finally owned up to this fact and to what was over a billon dollars of mis-directed aid, the major media (from the New York Times, to The Washington Post and most wire services) who attended Richardson’s press conference didn’t even feel the story was worth covering.
Given this history, it is clear we owe a great debt to the Rwandan people. To contrast what Uganda’s President called the “mindless dispensation of Western charity” is the mindful process PIH—and its growing network of partners—are now undertaking, not just in Burera but throughout the country. PIH's network of financial backers, engagement with the local and national governments and the Rwandan people is a powerful tonic of which the entire PIH community can be proud.
Posts