As recently as 2009, expectant mothers in Ngeruka sector in rural Rwanda had little access to even the most basic maternity care. The Ngeruka Health Post was small, poorly staffed and barely equipped, and the nearest maternity services were a three-hour walk away. Some women even gave birth on the side of the road, posing grave risks to mother and newborn. This was the harsh reality of health care in many of the rural villages around Rwanda when Jessica McGhie began working here as a Peace Corps Volunteer in 2009.

In her two years with the Access Project, Jessica became a valued member of the Access team as she worked to help women in Ngeruka and other villages receive proper health care services.  One of her proudest accomplishments was working with the Access team on a grant from the MAIA Foundation, which went toward building a clean and well-equipped maternity ward in the new Ngeruka Health Center. Now, the women of Ngeruka have a safe place to deliver their babies and access pre-natal consultations, family planning services, and a range of preventive and curative care for themselves and their children.

Originally from Oroville, California, Jessica attended the University of California—Berkeley where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies in 2007.  She began her Master’s Degree in Public Policy at the University of Denver soon after, and will graduate when she returns home from Rwanda.  Jessica was one of 12 Health and Community Development Volunteers that have been placed with the Access Project, and was part of the first group of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) deployed in Rwanda since before the 1994 genocide. Now back in Rwanda in full force, the PCVs have become an integral part of the Access Project and many other NGOs.

The volunteers undergo rigorous training before being deployed; for Jessica, this meant 126 hours of Kinyarwanda language training, 68 hours of health technical training including monitoring and evaluation and project development, and finally 43 hours of training on cross-cultural issues and working in post-conflict Rwanda.  Those hours of training paid off: Jessica speaks fluent Kinyarwanda and lived among the rural villagers during her first year in Rwanda. When she saw firsthand some of the living and health conditions that her neighbors had to endure, Jessica knew that her work here would help to improve their lives.

“When I first visited the Gashora Health Center in April 2009, consultations were being conducted in the dark, rooms were undersized, unhygienic and wasp-ridden, and patients were waiting for consultations in the harsh sun for up to five hours,” said McGhie of one of the facilities in her district. The Gashora Health Center was originally built in 1987 and could not adequately serve the local population of more than 20,000. With the help of a private donor, and in partnership with Rwanda Works, construction was completed on a new health center in Gashora in the spring of 2009. The Government of Rwanda provided the staff for the new center and the Access Project implemented its package of management interventions, designed to build capacity in eight critical management areas: human resources, infrastructure, finance, community health insurance (mutuelle), pharmacy, data management, planning and coordination, and information technology.  “The new center in Gashora is a model health facility in Rwanda where services are provided in a state of the art building, nurses and staff are organized and motivated, and patients willingly seek services with the confidence that they will receive quality care.” McGhie said.

However, Jessica could see that better health for rural Rwandans requires more than improving health care management and infrastructure.  “Even though I was primarily a health volunteer, the links between illiteracy and poor health decisions, particularly for women and young girls, are indisputable,” she said. “I wanted to implement a project to help promote literacy and a culture of reading in Rwanda.” So McGhie founded the Books for Peace Project, the first of its kind in Rwanda.  It was a collaborative effort between the health centers, the U.S.-based charity Books for Africa, the Access Project, and 14 PCVs who raised the balance of the funds needed on the Peace Corps Partnership Program website. The Access Project helped with the shipping costs for over 20,000 books that were shipped to Rwanda from the United States. The Gashora Health Center and the Musanze District Office opened their libraries to the public in October of 2010.

Two years have gone by since Jessica first started working with the Access Project in Rwanda.  A group of colleagues and fellow PCVs gathered at the Nyarutarama Tennis Club on March 4 to bid her farewell.  With remarks given by the Access Project Country Director, Dr. Felix Kayigamba, and some Access Project colleagues who worked closely with Jessica, the night was mixed with laughter and tears. Bertin Gakombe, one of the project’s District Health Advisors and the Master of Ceremonies for the night, also lived across the street from Jessica during her first year. “Jessica is a part of the family, she was very good to my wife and I and our children. We will miss her,” he said. Dr. Jean Marie Rukanikigitero, another District Health Advisor, credits her with helping him improve his English writing skills. “I have seen how smart and patient she has been in helping me write proposals for the centers, requests for equipment, and many other things. Jessica being here has been a tremendous help and I am very thankful for all of the hard work she has put into making the projects successful,” he said.  Many of the guests concurred with a loud “yes”, many remembering a time when Jessica helped them edit or proofread a document. Malick Kayumba who oversees Information, Education and Communications and Community Mobilization, said, “No, she can’t leave us, she is my editor, webmaster, English teacher … basically she is my everything.”

“My coworkers have never ceased to impress me with their kindness, motivation, ingenuity and support for one another,” Jessica said. “They have been a supportive and inspiring family for me throughout my Peace Corps service. My most successful moments came from working on the community level creating projects that can be implemented and sustained long after I leave. I can’t imagine a more meaningful, fascinating or humbling experience.”