Joining PC Rwanda

As an (unofficially named) PCVR-Peace Corps Volunteer Refugee- when our Peace Corps Mauritaia program was "temporarly closed," I have decided to continue my service in Peace Corps Rwanda, joining about 50 current volunteers in the country's year of Peace Corps existence. From Mauritania there are 14 of us answering the call to work with this small and mighty East African country.

In 1994 there was a horrible genocide resulting froma conflict between 2 ethnic groups called the Tutsis and the Hutus; according to BBC, an estimated 800,000 people were killed in three months. For the past 15 years they have worked tirelessly to rebuild the country and learn from their past. As such, the Peace Corps opened in Rwanda in 2008 to help with the rebuilding process.

The current volunteers are all Health volunteers, and those of us coming in early October will be Education. The Rwandan government recently changed everything from French to English, so we're going to help teachers, students, and people with the transition in speaking, reading, writing, science, and math. As Mauritanian PCVRs, we have the oportunity to stay for either one or two years.

At this point in my life I could not imagine doing anything but this: serving people, getting to know others, seeing the world, and enjoying life.