New Home, New Job!

So I can finally break the silence now that it’s official—I have switched organizations and domiciles. I now work for Never Again, a really awesome organization established in 2002 to promote conflict resolution, specifically among youth. Never Again exists in several countries, but of course, I’m working for Never Again: Rwanda. I’m really excited to be working for them. It’s a new organization but is well established, and officially became an NGO last year. The staff is small but NAR has so many projects. My supervisor told me I’ll be wearing different hats while working for them, but that’s more than fine with me! My official title is theater coordinator and part-time English instructor. I will also help to update the NAR website from time to time, as well as edit the newsletter. The people I work with are incredibly nice and professional—it’s almost like being back in America. On the first day, my colleagues taped a welcome poster above my desk, and have done so many favors for me since. I feel lucky and incredibly grateful. I just hope I don’t disappoint them, I’m definitely a little nervous.

I now live in a more central, urban location. It’s definitely less Peace Corps-ish, but it’s beautiful and comfortable. Can you tell Im happy?
The weekend went relatively well. I unfortunately wasn’t able to see my relative who was in town as he had trouble coming back into the country from the Congo (Visa issues). He’s a doctor who was working on a project in Goma, but flew in and out from Kigali. By the time I got a hold of him, he was already about to board the plane back. Such is life.

I got to talk on the radio! So NAR does a radio show every other Saturday, and my first Saturday working with them was going to be a show day. I decided to come along because I wanted to see what it was all about. I only meant to observe, but they gave me the opportunity to talk on the air which was pretty cool. The theme of their discussion was about human rights, what it means, etc. I was nervous at first but it’s actually pretty easy to talk on the radio because you don’t see your audience, it’s basically just you sitting down and talking into a mic. One thing I learned is that the microphone is heavily magnified, and EVERY little movement you make is heard on the air, which is why the radio announcer was getting irritated when some of the participants shifted papers around or whispered to each other.

I know my contribution to the show was very small, but I walked out of the station on a high. It really feels good to be a part of this.