Hello, my name is MANIBAHO Patrick from Rwanda, I’m 31 years old and ther 6th medical student at UNIVESTITÉ DU KIVU DE GOMA/ UNIKIVU.
I am a first born from a very poor family of two parents and 6 children. My family has been classified in the first social category of poor families, that is a family that the government pay for health insurance because they can’t pay it for themselves. They all depend on me for survival.
From my childhood, my vision was to be a medical Doctor. But the time of starting university, I was not able to enroll in medical school because it was more expensive.
I preferred to do a 3 years program of midwifery hoping that I will get a job and earn money that will help me to join medical school. I finished this program in 2015 and get employment in Ruhengeri hospital where I am working. Since that time, I started medical course, a program of 7 years.
The journey of my studies was marked by complicated situations.
I only work by night and study by day. I cross Rwanda-DRC border on daily basis from the hospital to the university and vice versa.
I receive 190 $ monthly from the hospital. It is only from this amount that I have to pay my medical school, transportation cost, a rent, food of me and my young brother who lives with me, food for my family of 6 children and two very poor unemployed parents and school fees for my siblings.
All these expenses surpass the income, so that most of the time I find my self completely destitute to the level that I and my brother eat once or not eat all the day because of lacking money to buy food.
Sometimes I take a loan from bank but it becomes very hard to pay it back.
Because of financial problem, only two of my siblings are studying, other dropped the school. My family is suffering from hunger because they don’t have enough food.
In Musanze where I work, life is so hard for everyone who hasn’t his own house. The rents are expensive compared to what people can earn.
Given the responsibilities that are weighing upon me, I don’t know if I will be able to buy a small plot where I can build a small house to get rid of the monthly payment of rents and have my own family.
My dream is to become a neonatologist. In our country, preterm birth rate is 12 per 100 live births and 30% of neonatal deaths are caused by preterm birth complications.
My medical course along with NIDCAP training that I am pursuing will enable me to contribute to the improvement of care of newborns in Rwanda through training and mentoring my fellow caregivers.
