2 months down, 25 more to go!

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We just completed week 9 here in Rwanda, with only 1.5 weeks with our host families before we move to our permanent sites! Although training has been a lot more challenging lately with more hours of language and additional activities to complete for training, I can't believe summers almost over and we are ready for our service to officially start! The craziest part is that I am probably now better at kinyarwanda which I've studied for 2 months then Spanish which I studied for 10 years!  It's pretty crazy how the class structure we are put through and of course being in country with host families significantly speeds up how quickly we are able to learn a language. I'm hoping to be comfortable enough in the language so I can also learn French and Swahili during my time here! We take our final language exam in a week from Monday where we are expected to be at the intermediate mid level. 

Many people back home have asked me specifically what I will be doing at my  health center, and as a community  volunteer the answer is whatever I make of it! For our first 3 months, so until the end of 2014 we will be working on a CNA (community needs assessment) to research our community to determine the most common health problems so we can develop our projects and interventions around the needs of our community. From talking with my titulare and community liaisons I learned that pregnant mothers, disabled children, malnourished children, and HIV/AIDS patients are the groups with the least resources in Gikonko, so I'll definitely focus my research on those areas. This gives me the freedom in our first 3 months to conduct home visits with the community health workers, to become familiar with our health centers and  their biggest issues, to integrate  with our new communities, and to read all of the game of thrones series :) 

As I'm preparing to transition to site, another concern is of course the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Unfortunately the peace corps programs in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia were all temporarily suspended because of the severity of Ebola in those countries. It has also been spread to Nigeria, and there was thought to be a case In Uganda which is the northern border of Rwanda and also has peace corps volunteers, but they now say that person tested negative for Ebola. Although there's always the chance that Ebola could cross into Rwanda, Im hopeful that it can be contained and kept out. The last thing I want is to be evacuated, especially only 2 months into service! 

Here are some photos from the past few weeks!


Me and my diva host sister! I'm definitely going to miss her the most once I leave my host family. 



Last weekend we traveled to butare to visit the ethnographic museum.

Proof that the struggle is real. 


Visiting the Genocide Memorial Kigali. 


Shoutout to Liliose and Moses (language teachers) for puting up with my cray!

Until next time!

Vanessa 


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