Oh, Rwanda. This country holds a special place in my heart and it was an exciting moment when I found that I could volunteer with Developing World Connections in this beautiful place! So happy. <3
I spent two weeks in the community of Gashora continuing work building The COVAGA Community Center, a project that at the time was supported by Building Bridges with Rwanda. The center will ultimately serve as a gathering place for the community with a library, a restaurant, and a weaving center where women make and sell their crafts. You can read more about COVAGA here (it’s so nice to see the faces of these women again!).
Our two weeks in Rwanda brought many special stories that will all be shared in due course. The delightful smiles of the children, the honest conversations about genocide, the beautiful wildlife, the hopeful eyes to the future…they combine to create a special atmosphere.
For now, a few of the moments captured below. 🙂
This is it! My first trip as a team leader from start to finish… Pressure? No. Just an immense amount of fun – awesome people and a beautiful place. 🙂
When I was deciding where to plan my first trip as a team leader, I was overwhelmed by the choices. So many places, so little vacation time… I’ve never been one to do the “popular” thing or to steer away from a challenge, so I picked one of the remotest and challenging destinations I had heard of – rural Kyrgyzstan. I reasoned that it had good reviews from my volunteer friends and I might as well put that Russian study to use. Right? Right.
I had a long runway for recruiting and managed to put together a fantastic group of 11 very “normal” volunteers…haha, maybe you had to be there to get that joke. 🙂 But seriously – it was fantastic. We stayed in a local home and despite sharing one working toilet, one outhouse and every possible minute together for 2 weeks, we managed to not only tolerate each other but become fast friends very quickly.
The stories abound – vodka and mustache nights, the bikini model in Lake Issyk Kul, the quote book…not to mention the incredible kindness of the family and community during our stay in Barskoon. This is location that I highly recommend. Then you too will be able to say “I don’t know anyone else who _(fill in your favorite memory here)_ in Kyrgyzstan!”
Whew – back to back weeks! Details coming soon.
When I returned from Kenya in August, I was happy and satisfied. Traveling always gives me a feeling of adventure, but I was ready to “settle down” for a while! However, that was not in the cards…
Shortly before I went to Africa, a good friend called with a request: would I be willing to take over leadership of a team she was planning to lead to Thailand in October? Wow. A 14,000 mile journey in August followed by a 17,000 mile trip in October? Could I survive? Well, might as well try. 🙂
This was a great way to get me “out of Africa” and into volunteering in additional destinations! I’m thankful that it turned out as it did. We had a small but mighty team that spent 2 weeks in Phuket building, helping, touring and taking it all in. It was also the first time I had “repeat volunteer” on a trip – what a great experience!
