I’ve stared at a blank screen at least 3 times in the last month, hoping my fingers would just begin to type from my brain or heart. But I just stared. How can I portray what we saw, experienced, and the needs at Kibimba Hospital? But yesterday we received a newsletter update from Boaz’s family who just arrived at Kibimba a week prior to our arrival in Burundi. 

He said it perfectly in his newsletter, “the needs are great, but the opportunities are greater.” I love their perspective. I’m stuck by the needs, and they’re letting the needs drive them to see just beyond the need to the vast opportunities. 

Boaz and his family are answering his God-given calling to return to Burundi as a doctor. No small feat and no small sacrifice in this move in any way for his family and him. It was such a joy and a privilege to stay with them as their first guests at Kibimba, to help them unpack, and to simply enjoy ministering and being together. Our kids got along like they’d been best friends their whole lives. It was really indescribable how well we all clicked and how much joy there was each day.  

Having bonfires is a strange concept in Burundi. They have fires all the time, but why would you waste a fire if not for cooking, boiling water, or staying warm? One day Africa joked that they would roast marshmallows by a fire and eat popcorn, and our 3 boys were ecstatic! She didn’t realize she was joking about something they would take seriously, so I explained that was one of their favorite things to do when we lived here, especially. Then she was excited too and said. “You all make us a bonfire pit, and we will have a bonfire!” 

The boys went straight to work with Boaz and Africa’s kids making a pit for the outdoor fire. Then waited with sheer excitement for it to get dark outside. We didn’t have popcorn or marshmallows (kernels can only be bought in the city when they’re in stock-which I did purchase before we left to be given to Africa as a gift). We had Burundi tea and sat by the fire. It was a memory I trust will never escape my memory. Boaz brought his guitar out, and we all sang worship songs, requesting songs and Boaz teaching Josiah some specifics on the guitar. The sound of fire crackling, beautiful voices lifted in worship, the kids singing and running around playing and laughing, and the warmth of the fire and a cup of Burundi tea. Well, life doesn’t get much better in my opinion.

The next day we visited the hospital and were taken on a tour by Boaz and Africa. I’ve been in numerous hospitals in Burundi in my 17 years of traveling there. I remember going to another mission hospital in 2009, and it was comparable to this, but I think this one lacked even more. We visited the women’s ward (2 rooms), men’s ward (1 huge room), and the pediatrics wing (I believe there were 3 very crowded and hot rooms), and then maternity. All patients are in the same room; it was stifling hot with little airflow in each, and there aren’t mattresses on every bed. The sheets are brought by the patient, which is a fabric to lie on, and hopefully they have another one to cover up with if they get cold. Each patient needs to have someone stay with them or visit frequently to bring food and clean their laundry if the patient is incapable of doing. There’s no means to possibly provide a food or laundry service for patients. 

I knew pediatrics would be difficult for me, but it was also so wonderful. These precious children, one had his mama sitting next to him and he was skin and bones, literally I could see his bones perfectly. This precious mama was doing everything and all she could, still there beside her boy providing whatever comfort she could. In another children’s ward, a young teen girl, maybe around Josiah’s age, was on the bed, and when she looked up at me, her eyes didn’t have much hope; they were so tired and weary and had a yellow tint to them. I didn’t even notice, but she had a huge bulge on the right side of her neck. Boaz was taking us around the hospital as a civilian, not a doctor, but he has the heart of a doctor. Though we are in a sea of children in need, he sees the one that needs attention immediately, and he won’t turn away. He walked over to her and explained he’s a doctor and asked if he could examine her throat and eyes. Ultimately, he told the nursing staff this patient needs an ultrasound (there’s one ultrasound machine for the hospital), and as we departed the room, he said it is hopefully a very common disease we have here, or I’m afraid, based on some of her symptom explanations, it might be a cancerous tumor on her throat. 

So often in Burundi, because the people don’t have the means to get help quickly, whether that is due to transportation, lack of someone being able to care for them in the hospital, or lack of funding to pay the minimal fee every American would fall over at the inexpensive comparison, they don’t get care until it is too late. As we walked out of the ward, there was a little girl, younger than Neil probably (although malnutrition can make them look much younger), and she had her baby sister on her back. She came and asked us shyly and politely for money. Africa spoke to her, and she’s been there for a week with the sick baby who has already been treated and is beginning to get better, but their mom can’t pay the bill. The patient can’t leave the hospital until the bill is paid. It may not seem right in American eyes, especially if you were looking into this little girl’s eyes, but this hospital is surviving already and making do with what they have, and they have no means for mattresses and sheets for every patient, let alone for nice equipment or a nicer salary for any staff. Boaz said every staff member at that hospital is like a missionary because their salary is barely anything.

Boaz is a missionary with World Gospel Mission, and he raises a salary so he can provide for his family and serve in Burundi. A Burundian nurse or doctor does not make enough to put food on the table daily for a family. 

We moved on to see the X-ray room. An old, I’m guessing 1970’s machine that works sometimes, and the film is developed in a dark room just like film in the 70’s. Obviously not giving the clearest picture possible. A portable, digital X-ray machine costs almost $60,000, including people to be trained in how to use it. An echocardiograph machine (which they don’t have) is nearly $20,000. The hospital orders through a local supplier in the main city, and they typically get it imported from Germany or France.  

However, when I asked Boaz and the director about their most immediate needs, it wasn’t even an X-ray machine, and mattresses don’t even begin to make the list. It was oxygen. They have a few large “portable” machines, but if the power goes out (and it does a lot), due to fuel difficulty in the country, they only run the generator if they’re in surgery. Boaz has looked into an oxygen plant which would be solar powered and run oxygen by pipes throughout the hospital. It is a little over $100,000. Burundi has so many common respiratory illnesses. 

Their second need would be the  X-ray machine. Their third need would be an ultrasound machine, roughly $20,000. They have one machine, and it is in the maternity ward. So, like the precious young girl who needs the tumor looked at, she must go to the maternity ward, and due to short staffing, this could take a while for her to simply get a picture done. 

I suppose you’re already asking what most ask at this point: aren’t there organizations that donate to third-world countries like this? Yes, and if you know of them, please tell us! Typically, you still have to pay for shipping, which can be roughly $50,000. Burundi isn’t even like Kenya or Uganda; Burundi is much more underdeveloped, so even what can easily go into those countries is not even close to as easy to get into Burundi.

Some other needs are a bacteriology machine in the lab, surgery equipment like pins, etc. There’s an orthosurgeon who would be willing to come, but there is no equipment for them. They would also benefit from solar energy, and then mattresses were mentioned. There is one bathroom area, and all patients would need to walk or be helped to the bathroom. I took pictures for your enjoyment, or…not. Boaz said, “Oh gosh, please, don’t go take photos of that.” I said, “People need to know and see what this is like, and a photo may be as close as they come.”

So without further ado, here are photos of the experience at Kibimba.

I was so stuck trying to write this blog because the needs are so great. But Boaz and Africa said it perfectly. “The needs are great, but the opportunities are greater.” What can you do? Who can you pass this information on to? Can you get a group together, and we will share about Kibimba Hospital? Can you help with funding? We’re hoping to take a team next year; any medical personnel would be fantastic, but anyone going in can be a conduit God uses to bless this hospital. Because it is so difficult to get materials in, when we go in, we take many suitcases filled with needs and blessings.

Are you supposed to go? Pray about it. Don’t think that you have nothing to offer, because sometimes going is the spark that ignites a fire and passion to come back to the States and share and network in ways and to people we cannot. Is it not possible for you to go? That’s okay; God has a role for you. Please, don’t just give finances but pray for this hospital. Pray for Boaz. He is the only family doctor at this hospital with an ocean of needs. It will be God alone to sustain Him and keep him from drowning. Boaz has an incredible wife named Africa, who needs your prayers to know how to support and love her husband, homeschool the children, and minister to this new community also. They have 4 precious children who have just moved to a very different environment than they have known. And you don’t have to know every patient’s name, because God already does, and He knows their needs, so pray for their needs to be met.

If you have any questions or networking contacts/information to share with us that comes to mind for this particular hospital, please reach out to us at joshandmichelle@proton.me