Martha and Vanessa

We hope to feature some vignettes of people we meet here in Rwanda. Please meet Vanessa, a patient with ASD (atrial septal defect). She came in for surgery on her 16th birthday. She lives with Martha, her guardian who is an American, single mother of one adopted Rwandan daughter and 3 more foster girls. Martha has been in Rwanda for a little over 20 years where she has done everything from helping women's cooperatives to teaching English. They live very near the Congo/Rwandan border. Vanessa loves to do traditional dance and teach it to younger girls as well. When she grew ill last August, she was too weak to dance. She is looking forward to being healthy again, dancing, swimming and eating chocolate! We hope she will return next year and dance for us! Vanessa and Martha happily went home to the rest of their family on Easter Sunday.