We have trained 33 amazing Rwandan therapists. Our newly trained therapists are a remarkable group as are our translators. We enjoy them all and have the greatest respect for them. We have priests and teachers and directors of orphanages, directors and teachers of secondary schools, policemen, businessmen, and clinical psychologists (with their degrees but they tell us it’s hard for psychologists to find work in Rwanda.)

Following the training of the therapists last week came the pretesting of the 200 clients. All showed up and were administered the MPSS and the TSI and it went very well. Quite miraculous! Only one of the 200 could read and all therapists showed up to read the questions to them. The clients who are participating in the study are a rural and impoverished group and were appreciative of any help we might be able to give them. Carmen Fernandez has done an incredible job of entering all the names in the computer and assigning them either a numbered blue folder or a numbered red folder for the randomization. All names will be removed before leaving Rwanda so that the only identifiers will be numbers. Father Jean Marie has done an unbelievable job of organizing.

The next two days were spent supervising as the newly trained therapists treated the 100 people who comprised the treatment group or Group A, those with blue folders. All clients expressed that they felt so much better after their treatment and almost all of their symptoms were reduced to a 0. They all seemed so happy. You could see their faces turn from skepticism to amazement and joy as they experienced the transformative effects of TFT. The people who left looked so different than the people who walked in.

Father Jean Marie has asked that the Izere Center, where we meet for the study, be officially the ATFT Center of Rwanda and, of course, we were all delighted and agreed on ATFT’s behalf. One of our therapists and translators, Jean Baptiste teaches at a secondary school and already, the school administrator has been so struck by the results that Jean has been getting that his administrator has offered to pay Jean Baptiste’s way to the U.S. for further training. Caroline will be giving a training in Hawaii in April 2010 and we hope that Jean (We call him Big John) can manage to attend.

The word is around. Others not in the study are begging to be treated so tomorrow and the next day (Monday and Tuesday) we treat 30 plus people each day. In addition, we will be treating some of the newly trained therapists who have been through so much in their own lives and have already helped so many others. These people, treated on these two days by us will, of course, not be in the study.

Wednesday and Thursday will be the post testing of 200 people who are participating in the study. One hundred will have been treated and 100 not yet treated. This is the heart of the study. We hope to demonstrate that the group treated showed more improvement over the past week than the group not treated. Then Friday and Saturday the newly trained Rwandan therapists will treat those 100 people who are in the study who have not yet been treated. One week later, (Gordon, Carmen and Suzanne are staying behind to do this) those people who are participating and were just treated (Group B), will take a second post test to measure if they are now reporting improvement on the MPSS and the TSI which are our testing instruments.

You can see we are busy but it is a fun group. Gary and Cyndie are now known as “Auntie” and “Uncle”. They keep everyone entertained. Our three young interpreters, Chris, Prosper, Joseph are all young men who have lived through incredible losses and they have grown fond of all of us and we of them. However they have a special relationship with “Auntie” and “Uncle.” We call Carmen and Gordon the “kids” because they are young and the rest of us are so old.

We had a brief stay in Kigali where we celebrated Chris’s 25th birthday at an Indian restaurant that is incredible. It was his first birthday party. It was so fun. The whole restaurant joined in and it was like we were one family for a brief moment in time. Now Chris is officially 25. We celebrated again, the next night at an American owned restraint called Heaven. They are displaying and selling the orphans quilts, an offshoot of our work in Rwanda at El Shaddai Orphanage in 2006.

We are in Rwanda in the Northern Province in the town of Byumba. Our team is really working as a team and things are going well. Caroline and Suzanne feel blessed to have Gordon Barrett from Australia, Cyndie and Gary Quinn, from Hawaii and Carmen Fernandez from Mexico with us.

Gary Quinn, Caroline’s friend and videographer, is now known by Rwandan’s as “Uncle”. Everyone enjoys Gary’s quick humor. He makes the children smile and he keeps us all from taking anything too seriously. Gary’s wife Cyndie, a Marriage and Family Therapist, keeps him in line by being equally as funny. They are a great couple and have a real desire to serve their fellow man. They will soon be leaving on another humanitarian mission to the Philippines. Gary and Cyndie are exceptionally well traveled having been flight attendants on international flights for over 30 years. They now operate a bed and breakfast on the beach in Hawaii. That’s hard to beat, so Cyndie tells us that, these days, now that they are retired, they just like traveling where they can be of service to others.

Gordon Barrett is pretty funny himself, and fortunately, Gary, who speaks several languages, also speaks Australian so he can translate what Gordon is saying for us. :>) Gordon has taken the whole month away from his busy advertising agency so that he can help us help others. Recently Gordon helped Carmen Fernandez for several weeks, using TFT to work with the underserved in Juarez Mexico. Although Gordon arrived in Rwanda on August 2nd, two days ahead of the rest of the team, Gordon’s suitcases have not yet arrived. He is a master at laundering his clothing and looking fresh despite his very limited wardrobe.

Carmen Fernandez seems to never get tired of helping others. She is constantly working with the poor in her city, Juarez Mexico. Carmen is a hard worker and always there when you need her most. Carmen is magic in making the impossible seem easy.

Caroline and I are happy to be working in Rwanda once again. The group we are working with is amazing. Everything is going well. The countryside is beautiful. High mountains with terraced hills growing bananas, sugar cane, cassava, corn, potatoes and other crops. It is lush and green with roads lined with pine trees and Eucalyptus. Women in traditional dress, line the roads with baskets balanced on heads, children wrapped tightly on their back. Men push wooden wheelbarrows, or bicycles carrying heavy loads of bananas, firewood, potatoes, cassava leaves, potatoes and everything you can think of. On our most recent trip from Byumba, our new home, to the Izere Center in Nyinawimana, where we are working, we saw a large desk being wheeled downhill on a bicycle. Nothing is impossible here in Rwanda.

We were picked up at the Kigali Airport by Brother Augustine, Father Jean Marie, Vianey and a group of others. Unfortunately, Cyndie and Gary were not with us as there had been a mix up with Ethiopian Airlines and they had to fly out from Belgium a day later than planned. We were treated to a late night dinner at a local restraint on the way home. The Bishop has provided us with a car and driver to go back and forth from Byumba to Nyinawimana. So, the day after our arrival, the team returned to Kigali to pick up Gary and Cyndie. While the rest of the team waited at the airport, Suzanne, along with Brother Augustine and interpreters Joseph and Chris, went to change money and print the French training manuals. It was a difficult to get a printer to print the manual, nothing seemed to go right, but a printer related to Brother Augustine saved the day. He even had to purchase a new program to print our manual but he stayed late past business hours and got the job done. Another of Brother Augustine’s relatives gave us an outstanding exchange rate on our donated American dollars.

We were treated to a reception to launch the study on August 6th. We sat at a table at the front of the room with the Bishop, Father Jon Marie Vianey the parish priest of Nyinawimana and the local organizer and contact person for the study. Also up front with us was a Major in the Rwandan Army who spoke of how needed this treatment was for the soldiers of Rwanda. He stated that once, people were afraid when they saw a soldier but now soldiers are seen as the ones who are working for peace. A Police Officer from the military also attended as well as a top Government official. The Bishop gave a welcoming speech and expressed his deepest gratitude for our coming such a long way to help. The Government official did the same. Even Suzanne was asked to speak, and, after introducing the rest of the team she told the story from the Hassidic Jewish tradition which she had recently heard during a homily at Sunday Mass. The Rabbi asked a group of young students: “When is the exact moment in time, when night becomes day; when darkness becomes light?” The children guessed many things such as “When you can tell the difference between an olive tree and a fig tree?” But the Rabbi answered “No. The exact moment in time, when night becomes day and day becomes night, is the moment in time when you look into the face of a stranger and see your brother and sister.” Suzanne thanked everyone present for their warm hospitability, for having looking into the eyes of these six strangers and welcoming them as brothers and sisters. A magnificent dance troupe entertained with several dances. During the last dance, the team was invited to join in.

The road from Byumba to Nyinawimana each day is a little scary. It is narrow and very bumpy. Our driver Effran skillfully dodges the biggest bumps, and avoids running into men, women, and children along the road. He also avoids dropping us all over the edge of the road in places where the edge of the road has disappeared and the drop over the edge measured in kilometers. He does this without slowing down and miraculously without killing anyone. Our three seated van is often so packed that almost everyone has someone sitting on their lap. We were a happy group as we head to the training and also as we head home for a warm meal and a good night’s sleep. When we finally arrive home, Gary says “Okay everyone: “One two three” and we all say in unison “Murakoze Effran!”, thankful to have arrived safely to our new home once again.

It is surprising how quickly we all adapted to situations such as, having a toilet, a shower and bathroom sink in each room but no running water. In this area, even at the Bishops compound, one has a large yellow jerry- can in the bathroom and a bucket. You flush to toilet by pouring water into the bowl directly from the jerry can if you’re really strong and can lift it that high, or by tilting the jerry can when it’s full and filling the bucket with water and then flushing by poring the water from the bucket. When you want hot water, really hot water, you simply set the bucket outside your door. Someone picks it up and brings it back almost immediately. You then use the hot water to bathe. When finished bathing you can do laundry in it.
To most of the group, all seasoned travelers, the availability of water and especially hot water, is an unexpected luxury.

The two- day training went well. We trained 35 in all, including three interpreters. Caroline and Suzanne were the main instructors with loads of help from Carmen, Cyndie, and Gordon. Caroline has arranged for Gary to do video and Gary was busy during the training catching some great moments on tape. He even prepared a short show for the trainees to watch during the last break. Father Jean Marie Vianey did a wonderful job of selecting participants. Most were priests, nuns, teachers, police, social workers, business men who want to help, and orphanage administrators.

The last day of the training ended with Suzanne asking for a large round of applause for the trainees who are now the “best therapists in Rwanda!” and Caroline asking Father Jean Marie Vianey to pray for the success of the study. He gladly agreed and burst out into prayerful song with the whole group joining in with clapping and singing. It was, thanks to Caroline, a magical ending to a great training.

The trainees are enthusiastic about the study and most expressed a desire to participate each of the nine days dedicated to the study.

Today is a catch up day. The Bishop and Chancellor left their door open so we could all use the internet today in the reception area where they meet with the poor on a daily basis.

Tomorrow we begin the actual study with two days of testing 200 people who are participating in the study, followed by two days of treating participants who have been randomly assigned to Group A (100 persons) by being handed a blue folder. The blue folders are alternated with red folders so every other person gets a blue folder and the next a red folder. We will keep you all posted.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Suzanne and the rest of the team