Post Falls nurse is Burundi bound

POST FALLS - Amy Ford is off again.

The Post Falls woman who has traveled solo and with friends to Third World villages, who has delivered babies "in the absolute worst conditions imaginable," wants to do more.

"It has always been a dream of mine to open a women's clinic in Africa," she said.

Each time she has traveled there she searched for the perfect location - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Ghana, Togo, Kenya and Tanzania.

Finally, she found it.

Burundi.

Burundi, where the average annual income is less than $100, is in the middle of Congo and Rwanda. The village she has been asked to travel to is Imuhira Iwacu Village.

This area "unfortunately was right in the middle of all the genocide and suffered massive destruction of homes and mutilation of families between the Hutus and Tutsi tribes," Ford said.

"This spring, perhaps by divine intervention, I was introduced to Prosper Ndabishuriye, a native Burundian," said Ford, a nurse who specializes in neonatal-intensive care

Ndabishuriye has acquired some land and wants to open an orphanage and school.

"He has turned to me with an open heart and asked me to take full responsibility to open a full and sustainable working health care clinic," Ford said.

She agreed, and leaves Nov. 5 with friend Shelley Hurtado and will stay three weeks.

But before then, she could use a little help from her North Idaho friends.

She needs sutures, syringes, stethoscopes ointments and creams, bandages and pain medicines such as Tylenol and Ibuprofen. With any monetary donations she will set up the clinic and buy items such an examination table, linens, and waiting area benches. To build the clinic, Ford needs around $5,500.

"I don't have all I need so far or the funds," said the single mom of four.

Before she leaves Burundi to come home, Ford hopes to teach community workers about women's health care, how to deliver babies and train them on cleaner, safer techniques. She would like to set up prenatal and postnatal programs, too, and perhaps provide education about HIV prevention.

"It's a huge undertaking and I am extremely stressed out," she said, chuckling.

An account for donations has been set up at US Bank.

She said she is "a little nervous" about the trip because visitors have received warnings the area of the village she's heading to may not be safe.

Still, she'll go.

"It's in my heart, words can never explain," Ford said. "As soon as the plane wheels touch the tarmac, I feel such a peace come over me. I feel this is what I'm supposed to be doing."

Ford can be reached at: [email protected] and 651-6311