Public Health
About Rwanda: In 1994 almost one million Rwandans were killed by their former friends and neighbors in a span of one hundred days. Yet this small, mountainous East African nation has managed in recent years to make extraordinary progress in reconciliation, economic development, political stability, and provision of health care. Rwanda’s effort to respond to the effect of genocide, to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, and to address other health care challenges, is the central focus of this program. In 2005, the Boston-based organization Partners in Health, founded by Dr. Paul Farmer (subject of the best-seller Mountains Beyond Mountains), was invited by the government of Rwanda to bring its successful model for AIDS treatment to rural Rwanda. With funding from the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative and the efforts of other grass-roots groups, health care delivery in some of Rwanda’s poorest rural areas has improved dramatically. Students learn about and help with local efforts to control malaria and tuberculosis. The people of Rwanda are eager to put their tragic past behind them, to create unity, to heal, and to be healthy.

Kigali: The program begins in Rwanda’s capital, where students explore the nation’s troubled past, and its recent progressive initiatives. They meet with government officials, representatives of NGOs, and health care workers, and visit the Kigali Memorial Centre and Genocide Museum. Kigali is a bustling city, and students have time to explore its green hills, and shop for crafts in its colorful markets.

The Village Experience: The group spends two weeks split between two rural communities, first south then north of Kigali, where people live in huts made of mud and palm fronds. Student accommodations are simple; they stay in small guest houses or make camp in a hospital dormitory. Learning that grassroots healthcare involves much more than hospitalization, students can lend a hand by joining with caring neighbors and doctors as they call on patients, helping build shelter or clinic space, leading activities for children, and participating in AIDS survivors’ support meetings. These activities allow them to see first-hand the positive effects that improved health care is having on the process of rebuilding Rwanda.

Monkeys and Volcanoes: Before returning to Yale, students take a mountain trek into Volcanoes National Park to see golden monkeys living in the wild. Local guides lead students on a climb through the lush rainforest to see the monkeys up-close on the rims of extinct volcanoes.

Participants must be physically fit and prepared to go without many of the comforts of life at home. Living conditions are often primitive.