Nursing students provide health care in Rwanda during winter break

Students from Liberty University’s School of Nursing spent part of their winter break (Jan. 2-12) in Rwanda serving in partnership with World Help, Gleaning for the World, Rwandan Hugs, and the Anglican Church of  Rwanda. This was the school’s third trip to the country.

During the trip, nursing students worked in the Mont Cyangugu Clinic. Nursing professors Kathryn Miller and Heather Humphreys, along with their students, provided two days of community health education training to 80 village leaders, some who represent up to 17,000 village people.

Miller, assistant professor of nursing, led the trip and said the team’s goal was to assess and educate the villages on basic disease prevention and sanitation.

“One of the most rewarding things we were able to teach the people was the basic need for hand washing and sterilization of their water,” she said. “Many of these people get their water from a swamp, and they use that same water to wash their hands, drink, and bathe. Gastrointestinal disease prevention was one of our primary focuses.”

While there, the team was able to provide all 80 of the village leaders with supplies to build a step-and wash, which allows for individual hand washing where plumbing is not a viable resource. Residents step on a stick that is tied to a rope, tipping a jug of water down and pouring it into their hands.

Two days after delivering the supplies, the team revisited the villages to see the progress, and every single home visited had not only built a new wash system, but they could also use it proficiently.

After serving at the clinic, the team canoed to Nkombo Island, where 20,000 children live.

While on the island, students fed more than 700 children (who normally only eat two days a week), administered medication for deworming, handed out multivitamins, and provided treatment for their various wounds. Additionally, the team performed HIV screenings for 124 people.

“In the School of Nursing, we say often that we are the hands and feet, the heart of Christ to a hurting world,” Miller said. “Our prayer going into the trip had been from Ephesians that God would open the eyes of our hearts, that He would break our heart with the things that break His heart, and that He would accomplish this in and through us while in Rwanda. Our students were able to see diseases that we do not see here in the United States, and they learned many skills that they can apply as they continue studying.”

Miller added that this is the first time that the school had students from its resident and online programs participate. There were nine undergraduate residential students and three online students.

Liberty’s School of Nursing is committed to student success, upholding high academic standards and an atmosphere of encouragement in both the classroom and clinical areas. Last fall, 98 percent of Liberty graduates passed the National Council Licensure Examination on their first try — one of the highest passage rates in Virginia.