Queen V

Determined  but complacent. Productive but exhausted. Loved but isolated. Motivated but struggling. Thoughtful but stoic. Unsatisfied but full. Me vs. my surroundings. Me vs. my expectations. Me vs. myself, my identity, my home. Home. Home isn't here. There isn't home. A continuum. Not a place but a path. I am stuck. Lost. My continuum. My path. 8 months ago I detoured. A new path. A new place. Challenges. Knowledge. Opportunities. Loneliness. Determined  but complacent. Productive but exhausted. Loved but isolated. Motivated but struggling. Thoughtful but stoic. Unsatisfied but full. My new path. Places, People, Responsibilities: Obstacles on my path. I am the creator of my path, my continuum. I am determined. I am productive. I am loved. I am motivated. I am thoughtful. I am full.

As I've mentioned in a previous post- Black Americanah in Rwanda-one of my biggest struggles throughout my service has been my experience as a Black volunteer.   Part of a Peace Corps Volunteer's responsibility is to be an ambassador for America, sharing and promoting its values in our countries of service.  A few months ago two secondary school students knocked on my front door and told me they wanted to learn about America. They had found out I was American from some other students, and wanted to learn about the history and culture. They followed American news, and brought up the killings of black people in America, and the presidential election. One of the students asked me if black people were safe in America and if I would be safe when I go back to America. They told me to not vote for Donald Trump because he hated black people. It's 2016 and I was asked if black people are safe in America.  How are we supposed to share  America's values of ...

Yikes! It's been four months since I've blogged...my excuse is that I've been busy...watching Gilmore Girls, hanging out, finding creative ways to cook cabbage (I've given up), and napping. Close of Service Conference Last week my cohort attended our final Peace Corps Conference- Close of Service (COS). It is crazy that we have less than 4 months left of service! It was a week full of mixed emotions- excitement that I have almost accomplished finishing my service, sadness reflecting on the events of last April, and also disbelief in realizing that I will soon leave a community and country that I have grown to love so much. This conference was all about the logistical, emotional, and practical steps of closing out service, saying goodbye, readjusting to life in the states, and eating as much delicious food and enjoying as many hot showers as physically possible… Health 6 with Staff at COS Conference, April 2016 Wrapping up Projects Just before COS, I co...

  It’s been over a month since I’ve blogged, so here’s a much delayed post! A snippet of South Africa I visited South Africa for 10 days for a dental procedure. Although my med evac fell at an inconvenient time for me to leave site, I definitely won’t complain that I got a free trip to South Africa! Because I had a few appointments spread out over a 10 day span, I had a lot of free time. I spent the week seeing some of Pretoria, eating delicious food, taking hot showers, hanging out with some South Africa PCVs, enjoying a comfortable bed with multiple pillows!!!, visiting a family friend, eating grapes, and just enjoying my fakecation. I was hoping to be able to visit Johannesburg as well, but because of a last minute change in plans I wasn’t able to make it there this time around, but am planning to stop in South Africa as part of my COS (Close of Service) trip so I’m not too disappointed. Ndi Umunyamerika When I returned to Rwanda I was hit with a sudden case o...

This past week, my cohort and I attended our long-awaited mid-service conference (MSC). This conference originally scheduled for August was delayed because Peace Corps decided to combine parts of our conference with Health 7s In-Service Training.  Health 7s focus is on maternal and child health, specifically the first 1000 days of life, and they wanted us to be a part of those sessions so we could incorporate this new focus into the rest of our service. I would like to say that I gained a lot of knowledge from this conference, but to be honest, the benefits mainly included a nice hotel, a hot shower, a TV (I watched at least 3 hours of E! everyday, no shame) endless amounts of food and tea, and quality bonding time with my fellow volunteers. I’m generally positive about my experience in Peace Corps, however as I’m learning in this experience, you can’t please everyone and not everything will be perfect. Our cohort has felt somewhat overlooked in the past few months, especially...

Senegal Last week I returned from a two week trip to Senegal, where I attended the Stomp Out Malaria boot camp with a staff member and fellow volunteer. I had been looking forward to going to this training for awhile and was very thankful for the opportunity to do so. This training brought together volunteers and staff members from 16 countries in Africa who are involved in malaria work. We were able to receive technical training relating to malaria in more detail than I could ever imagine! There were a variety of guest speakers from different organizations that talked about their role in malaria work. One of these organizations, CommCare, is currently working in 4 districts in Rwanda to roll out a health surveying app with the IRS (Indoor Residual Spraying) team/ community health workers, and it turns out that my sector is one of the target areas for this program! In addition to full days of malaria related lessons, activities, and delicious food, many other volunteers and...

  Hello! I got back to site yesterday after 3 weeks away. If you keep up with my blog you're probably wondering when am I ever in my village and the answer is  not enough! I've essentially been living out of my backpack for the past two months. This time around, pretty much half of my community thought I was in America-which I am pretending I am as I eat these cheez-its (thanks Grace!) My time away was all in country, which included the following stops: Kigali (Meetings)--> Rwamagana (Assisting at PST)-->Ruhango (GLOW/BE Camps)--> Kigali (Health 7 Swear in). Although I was looking forward to all of these events, I was a bit nervous about leaving site for that long-it was the longest span of time I'd been away since moving here. With ongoing weekly projects like the WASH lessons and the community finance classes,  I had to put all my trust in my counterparts to ensure everything would continue smoothly, which it did! On my way to the health center this morni...