Wednesday, January 28, 2009

His Excellency Wants to Party With You

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my plane to Brussels to take off. It has been a whirlwind couple of days in DC and somehow the long blog entry I had planned never happened. Needless to say, the last couple of days included a yellow fever shot, an invitation to go out dancing in Kigali with the Rwandan ambassador to the US, and getting to know my future BFFs. Departure day is upon us.

For those of you back in the US, adieu!

Monday, January 12, 2009

I Guess I Can't Be in Denial Anymore...

I officially hit the two weeks mark until I leave for Rwanda as part of the first Peace Corps group in the country since 1993, so I guess it is time for my first post. I first found out I was headed to Rwanda in June (yes June...LONG before I was scheduled to leave and completely unusual for the Peace Corps) and thought it was possible this day might never come. Originally, the program was slated to leave on December 5th, which was then pushed back to January 16th, and now I leave for DC on January 26th. After several days of staging, I will fly from DC to Brussels to Kigali. Eventually, I will be training in Butare, the intellectual capital of Rwanda and home of the National University of Rwanda.

So what am I going to be doing for the next 27 months in Rwanda? Good question. For now, what I know:

Program: Health, HIV/AIDS, Organizational Capacity Development
Job Title: Public Health Education Advisor

Not so much, huh? I do know that I will be learning a new language (Kinyarwanda), living a new culture, and embedding myself as completely as possible within my new community. Clearly I am going to gain more than I could ever give.