Siena students learn from Rwandan orphans

Siena College student Amanda Wingle volunteered in Mother Teresa's Orphanage in Kigali, Rwanda with children who had little or no clothing.

Now, the parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena is home in Albany, having returned to a part-time retail job where money seems to be no object.

"People drop $400 for a new wardrobe for an infant," she told The Evangelist. "The contrast has been difficult."

Amanda was one of three Siena students who volunteered at the orphanage for seven weeks this summer. Their stint at the orphanage was part of their summer of service, a requirement of the Siena College/Albany Medical College program in science, humanities and medicine in which they are enrolled.

The program is an eight-year continuum of medical education with a special emphasis on service.

Care and concern

According to Dr. Edward J. LaRow, director of the program, the goal of the summer of service is to produce physicians who are genuinely concerned about those in need and who can see a need and act on it.

The orphanage where the Siena students volunteered housed 150 children, from newborns to five-year-olds. The children were all abandoned; some were found in gutters and others in toilets, said Delores Blais, a member of the Siena delegation and a parishioner of Ss. Anthony and Joseph in Herkimer.

Since most of the children were abandoned at birth, they didn't even have a birthday to someday celebrate, she remarked.

In addition to volunteering at the orphanage, the Siena students also taught English to street children in Kigali three days a week. Delores, known to her friends as Deedee, said her faith sustained her in being "out of my comfort zone. There was nothing to hold onto but my faith."

Amanda agreed, saying: "I went to church because Mass was the one thing that was familiar. I also prayed every day for strength."

Kids all over

Deedee wants to work in a pediatric specialty in the future. Working with the children in Kigali helped her see that childhood is in many ways universal.

"Working with the kids there was like working with kids anywhere," she said. "The little things made a difference."

The children in the orphanage had no toys, so they had to learn to entertain themselves. The children didn't seem to mind the lack of toys; what they craved was individual attention, Deedee said.

She noted that while two-year-olds in the U.S. usually have some vocabulary, it was common for the Rwandan children to have no language. It was also the rule at the orphanage that the babies didn't leave the building -- or even their cribs.

The experience helped Deedee learn that even a little bit of adult attention can make a big difference for a child. She shared the story of Geraldine, the smallest girl in the three- to five-year-old room at the orphanage.

Each day, when the children were given their afternoon snack of crackers, a bigger child would come and take Geraldine's. The small girl wouldn't say or do anything to stop them. Deedee began to pick up Geraldine, hold her on her lap and let her make choices for the rest of the group.

"By the end, she was completely different," Deedee said. "I was able to give her confidence through attention. You can help so much in little ways."

Culture clash

Amanda said she experienced culture shock both going to Rwanda and returning home. Kigali was more developed than she expected, but people are still working to recover from the 1994 genocide that killed nearly one million ethnic Tutsis.

Back home, she went to the movies with her mother and spent $18.50 on popcorn and soda at the theater.

"That is more money than most people will see in a long time in Rwanda," Amanda said.

Despite the challenges of the service project, Amanda said the experience was beneficial: "This was the most challenging thing I've done. If I can make it through this, I can make it through anything. I think I'll be a more compassionate physician because of this."

Deedee learned much from the Rwandans she met.

"At home, our point of view is that we want to be better. We want more and are never content," she noted. "The people there have nothing, but were still happy. I think I look at things differently now, and I want things less."

(08/21/08)